Setting up CEDET/ECB for Aquamacs

Aquamacs 2.1 is now out.

UPDATE [2011/08/04]:

Aquamacs 2.3a (the latest at this time) has CEDET already in it; skip the part about installing CEDET. I still recommend creating the site-start.el file for CEDET but beware the differences between CEDET shipped with Emacs and the stand-alone version. When you get ECB, you need a version newer than 2.40, which at this time means getting the CVS version.

The new 2.x series no longer requires the Dvorak hack I posted about earlier (yay!)

2.1 has a nice new mechanism for plugins, so here are instructions for making CEDET and ECB work with Aquamacs.

Note before continuing: I’m using the version numbers I got installing these packages. If there are newer ones, use them. I also am assuming you installed Aquamacs.app into /Applications/

CEDET

CEDET is a collection of emacs tools to make your life easier. I don’t fully grok them all, but some are nice. Semantic is in-language completion, for example.

A full install of CEDET is required for ECB and Aquamacs doesn’t come with that (yet?!) so you need to install it yourself.

1. Download the latest CEDET from sourceforge

2. Untar the file in ~/Library/Application Support/Aquamacs Emacs:

   cd ~/Library/Application Support/Aquamacs Emacs
   tar xf ~/Downloads/cedet-1.0.tar.gz

3. Run make:

   make EMACS=/Applications/Aquamacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Aquamacs

4. Create a site-start.el file. This will be loaded automagically by Aquamacs. It should look like this. You should replace YOUR USERNAME with your OS X username.

   (load-file "/Users/YOUR USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Aquamacs Emacs/cedet-1.0/common/cedet.el")
   (global-ede-mode 1)                      ; Enable the Project management system
   ;; These two options below are only for the stand-alone CEDET. Not the one
   ;; now included with newer Aquamacs/Emacs.
   (semantic-load-enable-code-helpers)      ; Enable prototype help and smart completion
   (global-srecode-minor-mode 1)            ; Enable template insertion menu

5. Now you need to pull all the .info files into a directory called info with a dir file. Aquamacs is smart enough to figure out this is plugin specific info files, and will use it.

   mkdir info
   cd info
   find .. -type f -name '*.info' \
     | while read i; do \
       j="$(basename $i)"; \
       ln -s "$i" "$j"; \
       install-info --info-dir="$(pwd)" "$j"; \
       done

6. Restart Aquamacs and you should have the full CEDET available, including docs.

Emacs Code Browser (ECB)

ECB is the Emacs Code Browser. It basically turns Emacs into a full IDE like XCode.

1. Download the latest ECB from sourceforge. WARNING: If you’re using Aquamacs 2.3, then you’ll need the latest version via CVS:

   cvs -z3 \
     -d:pserver:anonymous@ecb.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ecb \
     co -P ecb

2. Untar the file in ~/Library/Application Support/Aquamacs Emacs:

   cd ~/Library/Application Support/Aquamacs Emacs
   tar xf ~/Downloads/ecb-2.40.tar.gz

3. Create a site-start.el file to load up ECB on startup:

   (add-to-list 'load-path
         "/Users/YOUR USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Aquamacs Emacs/ecb-2.40")
   
   ;; Choose one of the following...
   
   ;; If you want to load the complete ECB at (X)Emacs-loadtime
   ;; (Advantage: All ECB-options available after loading
   ;; ECB. Disadvantage: Increasing loadtime2):
   
   (require 'ecb)
   
   ;; If you want to load the ECB first after starting it by ecb-activate
   ;; (Advantage: Fast loading3. Disadvantage: ECB- and semantic-options
   ;; first available after starting ECB):
   ;; WARNING: This doesn't work with the CVS version of ECB unless edit Makefile
   ;; and run make.
   
   ;(require 'ecb-autoloads)

4. Symlink the info-help directory to info and create a dir file.

5. Restart aquamacs and you should have ECB available, including docs.

You’re done

I suggest you sit down and read some of the docs for ECB and CEDET. Especially A Gentle Introduction to Cedet and reading the info docs for ECB by using M-x info or the HTML version in the ECB directory we created.

Ciao!