Where to store the elot file on a Windows installation

[mhodki]

When I wrote the documentation for how to install and get ELOT to work - which mirrored what we did last week. I realised, on reflection, that it makes no sense to copy the ELOT subdir from GitHub to where we created the elisp subdir on my c: drive. Doing this means the elisp\elot subdir will be out of date as soon as you update any files.

However if I leave the elot subdir in my github drive and point to where it is by editing the (push (expand-file-name "~/../elot-package/") load-path) file in .emacs then when I start creating my own .org files then they will store in the github. I'll then have to set up some rules to make sure I don't push my files back to GitHub main. Hope this is making sense.

What I'd like to have is your elot files in my GitHub subdir where I can easily keep them updated. But any files I create stored in a seperate subdir so I can look after them myself.

I know this must be possible but how can I tell emacs where to find my files - when the time comes. thanks

[johanwk]

it makes no sense to copy the ELOT subdir from GitHub to where we created the elisp subdir on my c: drive.

This is correct!

1. Your startup .emacs file is by default located in your "home" directory, which on Windows will typically mean c:\Users\alpha\ for a user logged in as alpha. This is a sensible default, should not be changed.
2. It's common for Emacs users to have a directory, inside their home directory, for various Emacs lisp (elisp) files, and it's common to name it elisp. This is optional, there's a good chance you are not going to need it.
3. Inside .emacs, you add a path that points to where the elot-package directory is located on your hard drive, as you say. You don't have to point inside an elisp directory, ELOT can live anywhere.
4. You have checked out your local copy of ELOT to the "GitHub drive" as you refer to -- I'm guessing this is added by the GitHub Desktop application, which I don't use myself. So, in this case ELOT lives outside the elisp folder, which is fine. Add a path to this location in .emacs.
5. When you pull updates from the Git repository for ELOT, Emacs will find those inside the GitHub drive, and you stay up to date.

Your new .org ELOT documents should be stored alongside your regular work documents -- not inside the elisp folder, not in the checked-out ELOT copy.

What I'd like to have is your elot files in my GitHub subdir where I can easily keep them updated. But any files I create stored in a seperate subdir so I can look after them myself.

Yes, this is the right way to do it. It will work as long as .emacs adds a pointer to the ELOT checked-out copy (i.e., by adding the path to ELOT to the load-pathvariable that Emacs uses to find various extension packages).

[johanwk]

The readme has been updated with installation instructions. I looked at readme_installation.md and tried to work from that. I hope it's clear enough, but fear that it's too condensed for new users.

User documentaton will need to be developed. I'm not quite sure how to manage the files. The documentation should preferably be stored in org-mode format, to match the format that ELOT files use.

[johanwk]

To sum up: by default,

• elot should be checked out into the elisp directory in the home folder, i.e., as ~/elisp/elot/
• all binaries -- ROBOT, PlantUML, rdfpuml -- should go in ~/bin/

[mhodki]

I need to check that what I am doing is correct. I am geting an error about ROBOT when I run ELOT from the GitHub.

[johanwk]

Was the Robot issue solved by installing Java 22 instead of Java 8?

Can we close this?