Re: emacs problem: M-x write-abbrev-file does not seem to work.
On Wed, 18 Mar 2020, Default User wrote:
Hey, been working on this emacs problem all day.
It would have taken me all day just to write up such a meticulous
account.
TLDR; I have never used the "abbrevs" functionality of emacs. So, (fair
warning) you will not find a direct answer to your question in what I
say below.
I'm running Unstable, up to date.
Cinnamon DE.
64-bit.
dummy@dummy:~$ sudo aptitude show emacs
[sudo] password for default:
Just FYI, it would greatly surprise me if you actually needed root
privileges for aptitude's "show" command. I wager you could get the
same information with
dummy@dummy:~$ aptitude show emacs
and save yourself a password entry.
(I am wagering, not promising, because I use apt-get exclusively,
never aptitude.)
Package: emacs
Version: 1:26.3+1-1
[snip]
I'm trying to learn Emacs, using:
"Learning GNU Emacs".
Old, but it would still seem to be a reputable and authoritative source.
I am sympathetic to reading older, slightly out-of-date sources of
documentation. I frequently do it myself. So I know that it can be
informative (sometimes in unexpected ways), and I know that at times
it has downsides as well, can add an extra layer of confusion, etc.
That said, if I were you, and if I had not done so already, I would
enable the non-free component in your sources.list, and then install
the (non-free) package "emacs-common-non-dfsg":
| emacs-common-non-dfsg - GNU Emacs common non-DFSG items, including the core documentation
| This package includes the core Emacs documentation: the Emacs Info
| pages, the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, and the Emacs Lisp Intro.
| .
| GNU Emacs is the extensible self-documenting text editor. This
| package contains the architecture independent infrastructure that
| is not compliant with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. In
| particular, this includes some of the GNU Emacs info pages, as they
| are covered under the GFDL, and specify invariant sections. See
| http://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_001 for more information.
This should give you the info pages version of the Emacs manual, which
contains a section on Abbrevs (under Advanced Features, I think).
Then, in emacs, do
M-x info
This brings up a menu of info documentation properly installed on your
system. You'll want to traverse "Emacs" > "Abbrevs".
What little else I have to say would merely be bikeshedding or
poorly-informed speculation, so I'll stop here. Maybe I'll go read
about Abbrevs.
I hope this helps a little, while you're waiting for an emacs wizard
to show up.
Good luck with your project.
--
The day will come | Last words, August Spies (1855--1887).
When our silence will be | Hanged, by the U.S. state of Illinois,
More powerful than | alongside fellow journalists
The voices you strangle today | Adolf Fischer and Albert Parsons.
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