Hi folks! I just completed this literate org-mode on how to build Emacs. It’s “literate” because I try my best not to hard-code anything in the document, and if you turn off all org-babel caching, it will actually build GNU Emacs on either Debian or RedHat systems. This org document is also somewhat interesting, because with a few tweaks it can either generate a document that describes how to build Emacs on RedHat or Debian systems.

I’m presenting the techniques I used to make this document at the SeaGL conference in a few days, and I’m seeking feedback from folks on the document. In particular:

• Is any the elisp code I wrote in the doc dumb or wrong?
• Did I get anything technically wrong with org-mode? Did I miss something obvious? Could I do something better?
• Did I poorly explain anything in the actual content of the document on how to build GNU Emacs from source?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

The document has two distinct audiences, the first of which are people who want to learn techniques for creating literate org-mode documents

That’s me!

Nice work.

Years ago I wrote a script that fully automates the build process of Emacs on Windows and I honestly wish we had something like a cross-distro(or maybe even cross-platform) maven\npm\composer for autotools builds. So that people won’t have to spend time studying the somewhat esotheric(to a modern eye) build process.

P.S. I like using the autotools manual as a sleeping aid and I dream of someday discovering the difference between autoconf and automake.