Probably the very first thing you will want to do is to configure EMACS not to leave turds lying around everywhere. This way, you can then edit files with impunity and not have to worry about cleaning up Stallman's mess everywhere you go:
~/.emacs:
/root/.emacs:
Add, at least:
(custom-set-variables '(make-backup-files nil)) (custom-set-faces)
Or, if you prefer, set the global default to prevent emacs from leaving turds lying around. To do this, hack the file default.el, which is usually installed in the directory /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp (or on some versions of RedHat or CentOS, /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp). If this directory doesn't exist, look for the directory in the library path that contains the EMACS lisp modlues (".el").
/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/default.el:
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/default.el:
Add, at least:
(custom-set-variables '(make-backup-files nil))
Incidentally, if you are using CVS and you find EMACS trying to leave CVS turd files too, you might want to consider putting the following:
(setq vc-cvs-stay-local nil)
in one or both of the places mentioned above. The CVS turd files look like "filename.~1.1~.".
Another annoying feature (or should we say, non-feature) is the behavior of the latest EMACS versions whereby filename completion, which used to be bound to the space bar, no longer works. Apparenly, the whiners convinced the developers (in a rare display of political correctness stupidity) that an existing feature, which has been around forever, should be turned off, by default, to accomodate a small group of really annoying people who are dumb enough to want to put blanks in their file names. God help us. The Macintosh winkies are taking over.
At least we aren't so clueless to not know how to fix default behavior that we don't like by editing the config file. Heaven help us if those few guys who actually use blanks in their file names should have to figure that one out. Better to inconvenience the rest of us. Well, if you don't like it, try adding the following to the EMACS config files mentioned above:
(define-key minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map " " 'minibuffer-complete-word) (define-key minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map " " 'minibuffer-complete-word)