reddit / emacs

Best emulator for Kakoune editing?

puzzle-game · 2022-07-31 17:23
Just like there's the ["Evil" package](https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil) that allows you to edit using Vim's modal style within Emacs, I'm interested in editing just like [Kakoune](https://kakoune.org/). Problem is, unlike the evil package linked above, which was last updated 6 days ago, the only package I've found for Kakoune is [this one](https://github.com/jmorag/kakoune.el), which was last updated like a year ago. Is there a package for editing like kakoune for emacs that's popular and better maintained?
[deleted] · 2022-07-31 17:29
[deleted]
Moussx_ · 2022-07-31 17:41
You can also write it, since it seems you already done your research. Evil (and Viper) didn't come out of nowhere after all.
puzzle-game · 2022-07-31 17:44
Don't you tempt me :D Actually sounds like an awesome project if this doesn't exist yet.
SuciasAreMyFavorite · 2022-07-31 19:20
I'd just gotten used to going into visual mode to select. It's an extra step, but at least I always know what I'm going to yank/cut/delete
Axeman12 · 2022-07-31 20:30
I'm not sure it's perfect, but [meow](https://github.com/meow-edit/meow/) is also selection centric, and updated recently.
puntinoh · 2022-07-31 20:32
You can hack one using meow (a nice modal editing package) from Melpa. By the way, its example configuration is rather inspired by kakoune.
puzzle-game · 2022-07-31 20:32
YEP - imho, kakoune editing is superior to vim
refelgallo · 2022-07-31 21:36
Oh I agree, but none of the `org-*` plugins do org-mode justice. Nor can any plug-in compete with org-roam. But if you do figure out a viable kakoune-mode. I'd totally use it. I'm more of a prose writer than code. Other than ~~steali~~ cloning scripts from GitHub and correcting my `path/to/file` so my only usefulness is beta testing. I'm pretty good at breaking things
CorysInTheHouse69 · 2022-07-31 21:42
Imo kakoune.el is perfectly fine and doesn’t need to be maintained bc it’s not really it’s own package. It’s just a wrapper for ryo, multiple cursors, and a few others which are large and actively maintained projects. As long as those projects keep their interface the same, kakoune.el will work. And as backwards compatibility is a huge thing in emacs they won’t change anytime soon which means that kakoune.el doesn’t need to be changed
puzzle-game · 2022-07-31 21:43
>none of the org-\* plugins do org-mode justice. Nor can any plug-in compete with org-roam. :P which is why we're here on /r/emacs rather than /r/vim or /r/neovim, or even /r/HelixEditor which is what prompted this question.
puzzle-game · 2022-07-31 22:30
Ah alright, good to know. Thanks!
puzzle-game · 2022-07-31 23:41
You get where the concern might come from though, right? It just begs the question why the Evil package needs to be maintained so actively but not this one. I would imagine they're constantly working on fixing bugs, improving performance, adding features, and so forth, none of which the kakoune scripts would benefit from if it's not being maintained.
CorysInTheHouse69 · 2022-08-01 00:46
kakoune.el simply downloads and configures the packages for you to make emacs work like kakoune. It doesn’t write anything itself. As long as the packages kakoune.el requires are configured the same (which they will be) kakoune.el will be fine. When those packages are updated to fix bugs they have, those updates will be downloaded as kakoune.el has declared them as a dependency. However, kakoune.el is not a 1:1 of kakoune. It just makes emacs work like kakoune. Evil is a complete recreation of vim in elisp. It does not use packages like kakoune.el. It creates all of its behavior itself, which is why it needs maintenance. I hope that makes sense.
polo_zd · 2022-08-01 01:16
Z
jmorag · 2022-08-01 11:45
Author of the kakoune package here. I still use it every day, it just works for what I need it to and I haven't needed to tweak it since whenever the last commit was. u/CorysInTheHouse69 is spot on.
[deleted] · 2022-08-01 14:18
Oh nice hello, appreciate your work. Ok I'll try it out in that case, but I have to admit, when you say >This is not meant to be a feature-complete emulation of kakoune, like evil is to vim. Evil is a massive undertaking, which reimplements a huge number of editing primitives from scratch. I'm a little jealous of evil in that way :P I just like the idea of a virtually complete emulation within emacs. Why didn't Evil devs use ryo as well? What do you lose? Functionality? Performance?