~hedy's blogroll - BlogFlock

August - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-02T00:00:00.000Z

The sun shines through the silvery sky. I look up and around to see where blue might peek through the blanket that covers the sky. There is one space where I can see shades of blue through the silver. I think about how the sky invites me to look up, and then around: to be curious. What can I see today? I do this in all seasons and skies. On the warmest summer days, my eyes focus on the contrast between the green hills and the blue skies. On the coolest, clearest winter days, where the beauty of the clear sky warms the heart despite the cold, I search to see if I can spot a cloud. What can I see today?

A welcome cool air has been blowing over the last few days; the breeze has characterised my walks, the way it blows on my cheeks with every step and gust. I think about how much of walking is not only about what I see, but about what I feel: the temperature, the feeling of putting one step in front of another, the thoughts I have that make me smile or sing or curious or inquisitive; the feeling of joy from seeing and hearing animals – rabbits sitting still on open planes of grass, the calls of pigeons – and how they remind me I am one small part of the community that lives here.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

My morning was warmed by a message from a friend, a video that shared a fusion of musical styles I didn’t expect to find myself listening to. I thought about how much I love sending messages to people of things they find interesting, and how much I enjoy receiving them, too; tiny gifts that brighten a moment.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Sitting here hours later under the silvery sky of evening, I think back to the morning – the cool breeze under the shade of fully-grown trees, the warm sun, the music – and smile. And I look around to evening, and how the green tees look compared to the white sky above; how the clouds look lighter than light. I look forward to whether I will hear the call of a pigeon this evening – Oh! one just started to call! – and what colour the sunset will be. The amber of yesterday? Or the gold of today?

On the absolute other - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-08-02T00:00:00.000Z

A comment on the cosmic continuum.

1 The other is that which differs from the self in quality or degree.

1.1 Other and self with equal qualities in equal degrees are identical.

1.2 The other and the self constitute the dissimilar.

1.3 The constitution of the dissimilar is the formation of a relationship.

2 The absolute is that which has no degree.

2.1 The absolute other is that which differs from the self in quality.

3 Where there is a common quality, the dissimilar is not absolute.

3.1 The absolute other is that which has no quality in common with the self.

4 To have quality or degree is to exhibit pattern.

4.1 Pattern is that which presences have in common, regardless of quality or degree.

4.2 The absolute other is that which has no pattern.

4.3 The absolute dissimilar cannot be constituted, for relationship involves connection and thus similarity.

5 That which is reasoned about is connectable.

5.1 The connectable is the similar, at least in having presence.

5.2 The absolute other cannot be reasoned about and has no presence.

5.3 For as long as it is thought, the absolute other is not the absolute other.

6 The abstract is the common in a multitude of presences.

6.1 The absolutely abstract is that which is discerned in all presences.

6.2 Presences and abstractions, self and other, are on a continuum of pattern.

6.3 There is no absolute other as its absolute abstraction cannot be connected to the continuum.

6.4 The self and the other are equal in having pattern.

7 Pattern has no other.

A moment with a very warm summer - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-08-01T16:05:00.000Z

It’s a very chilling 38°C outside at the moment. Those are at least 35 more that the max temperature this dog considers acceptable. But he’s doing his best to ride the heatwave, like the rest of us.

Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.

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Countryside; Blaugust - James' Coffee Blog

2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z

With the window open and the breeze flowing through, I hear the calls and songs of birds. A calling pigeon in particular stands out. I love the calls of pigeons in the evening. The sound reminds me of childhood, looking out the window, onto Nature. A flock of birds fly by as the occasional person strolls down the street. While the sun set a little while ago, day is still here.

A gust of wind moves the leaves across a big tree, and then the breeze settles down, and picks up again. I think about the cycles of Nature: a breeze comes, and another. I watch the leaves that seem to dance with the wind; therein, a beautiful rhythm. The songs of other birds come to the fore, ones I don’t recognise but whose music is nevertheless soothing.

My eyes are heavy. The day was busier than normal, occupied with studies and essay writing and time with friends and watching the joy of community pop up around the Blaugust challenge. It got me thinking again about what it means to write on the web. When we write on the web, we can do so in a broader context: as part of the communities we are in. Seeing all the people come around for Blaugust motivated me to write this piece, and to try and participate. With this challenge, we’re all writing together. Whether I will participate often or not, I am unsure, but I do know that, at minimum, I am abundantly excited to read what my friends write.

In the spirit of sharing, while I can’t bring the fresh air of a Scottish countryside to you, I can bring part of what I hear and see; a snippet of time, for you, dear reader. That is this blog post – a little part of the Scottish countryside, as seen through my eyes, on this evening, August 1st.

Mark Temple (Belghast), who started Blaugust, passed away on July 2nd, 2026. I didn't know Mark, but I am sincerely grateful to him for starting a challenge that brings the web together. Projects like Blaugust bring light to the beautiful potential of the web. May he rest in peace.

Mark Temple (Belghast) Blaugust

Emacs live with @linkarzu on his workflow, Org capture, and projects (2026-08-01 22:20 Europe/Athens) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z

In about 40 minutes from now I will do a live stream with Christian Arzu from the @linkarzu channel on YouTube. The video will be recorded.

The topic of our meeting revolves around how Christian uses NeoVim and Kitty to handle sessions and write fleeting thoughts. Then we will try to do something along those lines using built-in Emacs functionality.

Christian did a video a couple of days ago about this topic and here is my extensive commentary on it, with points that are useful in general: https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2026-07-31-re-linkarzu-what-i-need-from-emacs/.

Friday, July 31, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-07-31T09:54:59.000Z

My desk (2007)

Have you ever felt like you've simply run out of things to say?

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Emacs: tmr version 1.4.0 - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-07-31T00:00:00.000Z

TMR provides facilities for setting timers using a convenient notation. Lots of commands are available to operate on timers, while there also exists a tabulated view to display all timers in a nice grid.

Package name (GNU ELPA): tmr
Official manual: https://protesilaos.com/emacs/tmr
Change log: https://protesilaos.com/emacs/tmr-changelog
Git repositories:
- GitHub: https://github.com/protesilaos/tmr
- GitLab: https://gitlab.com/protesilaos/tmr
Video demonstration: https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2026-01-19-emacs-timers-tmr-demo/
Backronym: TMR May Ring; Timer Must Run.

Below are the release notes.

Version 1.4.0 on 2026-07-31

TMR is an efficient package that has been stable for years. This new version introduces some nice new features as well as several smaller internal refinements.

Create a timer that repeats

The command tmr-repeat prompts for a duration, like the standard tmr command but also asks for a number of times to repeat the given timer. When called with a prefix argument (C-u with default keybindings), tmr-repeat will also ask for a description for the new timer and whether it should be acknowledged or not after all repetitions have elapsed.

Thanks to Óscar Fuentes for contributing the original implementation of tmr-repeat (with many extra changes/features by me). This was done in pull request 16: https://github.com/protesilaos/tmr/pull/16. Óscar has assigned copyright to the Free Software Foundation.

Modify the repeat count of an existing timer

The command tmr-edit-repeat-count prompts for an existing timer and updates its repeat count. If the repeat count is set to 0, then the timer is no longer considered repeatable.

As with all commands that operate on existing timers, tmr-edit-repeat-count automatically applies to the timer at point when called from inside the tabulated list of timers (per tmr-tabulated-view).

Modifying a timer’s repeat count does not start a new timer. It simply updates the relevant data. Use the command tmr-clone to start a new timer using the data of an existing timer.

The tabulated view has more columns and all of them can be adjusted

The tabulated list of timers, which is typically produced by the command tmr-tabulated-view, now has extra columns for the data that pertains to repeatable timers.

Users who want to control which columns are displayed, and in what order, can modify the user option tmr-tabulated-columns. Its documentation covers the technicalities. The default value is to display all columns.

Completion metadata for the prompt that selects a timer

Advanced users can now modify all the completion-metadata associated with the prompt that reads/selects one among the existing timer objects (the function is tmr-read-timer). The relevant variable is tmr-completion-metadata. I am not providing this as a user option, because regular users will anyway not be able to do much with it as it involves custom functions.

Timers in the completion prompt are sorted by end time

The prompt for selecting a timer now sorts candidates by their end time. The closest end time appears at the top.

This affects all commands that operate on a timer, such as tmr-edit-repeat-count, tmr-cancel, and more.

In the past, there was no sorting whatsoever. Users who prefer that style can add the following to their configuration:

(setq tmr-completion-metadata
      (list
       (cons 'category 'tmr-timer)
       (cons 'display-sort-function #'identity) ; THIS IS THE RELEVANT PART
       (cons 'annotation-function #'tmr-completion-annotate)))

Miscellaneous

The manual is easier to read. I have rewritten it to group commands and user options under appropriate headings.
Lots of internal refinements to the code. I tweaks things to make the code easier to maintain and contribute to.
Thanks to Pavlo Lysov for adding a small example to the manual about using TMR hooks to send a custom notification on the macOS. This was done in pull request 25: https://github.com/protesilaos/tmr/pull/25. Pavlo does not need to assign copyright to the Free Software Foundation.
Thanks to Carlos Pajuelo Rojo for refining an earlier version of the function that produces a message about the repeat count of a given timer (I have since made lots of changes on this and other fronts). Carlos’ contribution is in pull request 20: https://github.com/protesilaos/tmr/pull/20. The change is small, meaning that Carlos does not need to assign copyright to the Free Software Foundation.
Thanks to f6p for use the appropriate face for the paused indicator in the tabulated view. This was done in pull request 17: https://github.com/protesilaos/tmr/pull/17. The change is small, meaning that the author does not need to assign copyright to the Free Software Foundation.

Of Day - James' Coffee Blog

2026-07-31T00:00:00.000Z

I hear the birds singing as I sit by the window and look out on the horizon. I like looking at all the colours of the sky in the moments after sunset, when ambers recede and the sky becomes ever more blue before night time. I hear the sound of my fingers typing on my keyboard, too: nature and words are my evening.

Nature and words are my evening, and so too is music. Moments ago I was playing on the piano, two songs I love but haven’t played in as long as I can remember. And one more song that I play often: one that always makes me feel free to improvise; one where the piano shines through the recording to which I listen while I play; one where I can be an accompaniment to the melody.

A cool breeze comes through the periphery of a window; I had a window open earlier while I played music, hoping that perhaps someone would hear a note or two and feel in wonder. I remember a story a friend told me about how welcomed their music was by a neighbour. I don’t know what it is about music that makes me feel confident: I don’t need to be perfect, as long as I can play a few notes that sound good. (If only, however, my singing voice were better – someone, guide me.)

My week has been full: of tasks and ideas, assignments and readings, writing and chatting. But now, sitting here, I am starting to wind down. I look out the window to see what I can see: the tiny birds dancing around the air (which reminds me that I saw two butterflies dancing together recently; I had to write that down); the sky taking on a new blue as the sun goes even further beyond the horizon; a canvas of green; of trees whose age I will never know and whose beauty grows by the day.

Lattes - James' Coffee Blog

2026-07-31T00:00:00.000Z

I watched the movie "Valentines Day" (2010) for the first time today, which stars, among others, Taylor Swift. The energy in this scene (especially the enthusiastic and excited way in which the words are said, while Taylor carries a huge bear) ¹ fills me with joy:

[call out: "Save the Lattes!"]
Taylor: They're putting lattes in the vending machines? Finally!
Taylor: Robbie, I am so glad you are taking care of this.
Robbie: You got it.
Taylor: And, I like caramel lattes, just FYI.

I am not a fan of caramel lattes, but I do love this scene!

1m06s to 1m18s in the linked video.

[↩]

1 [↩] The energy in this scene

Thursday, July 30, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-07-30T14:56:10.000Z

Coffee (2008)

I don't know what's worse: the whining about macOS from Mac users or the constant bickering between Linux users.

Well, I've retired the saltwater tank. I just couldn't keep ahead of it. Bad algae, unwanted critters, water changes, chemicals, testing, etc. It got to the point where the effort I was putting in wasn't worth the pleasure I was getting out of it. It was a good four-year run.

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what the double-fork? - erock's devlog

2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z

•

I built zmx as a multi-faceted learning exercise. I wanted to learn more about zig, posix, daemons, ptys, libghostty, and terminals. Creating a program that fits into my core dev toolchain was merely a side-effect. While researching about how to create a daemon, buried in the implementation of abduco, I discovered the double-fork.

•

abduco.c

•

Hidden behind the double-fork technique is a cascade of terms and concepts that are fundamental to how linux manages processes. This post is me coming to the surface and intended to be a reminder when I read zmx and say "what the double-fork?"

what is a daemon?

•

A daemon belongs to a session that has no controlling terminal. In linux terms, it does not have a controlling terminal. For example, when backgrounding a process using ctrl-z+bg or {cmd} &, the session still has a controlling terminal which means it can control those background processes. This is not ideal for a daemon.

how does fork work in a program?

•

When using fork(2) in a program, it will create a child process in addition to still running the parent process that called fork. This was hard for me to grok when building out zmx. It is as-if the program clones itself at that exact line and both copies continue independently from there. Typically when creating a daemon you would use the child process of the fork and then kill the parent process.

•

                       fork()
                         │
            ┌────────────┴────────────┐
            ▼                         ▼
   ┌─────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────┐
   │    PARENT       │       │    CHILD        │
   │    PID = 42     │       │    PID = 55     │
   │    PPID = 10    │       │    PPID = 42    │
   │                 │       │                 │
   │  (continues     │       │  (continues     │
   │   from the      │       │   from the      │
   │   fork point)   │       │   fork point)   │
   └─────────────────┘       └─────────────────┘

•

Identical memory at fork point (copy-on-write)

•

Identical open file descriptors (shared offsets)

•

Different return value from fork():

•

parent → child's PID (55)

•

child → 0

•

Both run independently from here

what is a session?

•

In linux, a session is a container for process groups.

•

Process groups are a container for processes that receives signals from the same terminal.

•

At-most one process group in a session can be in the foreground.

•

It receives signals and can write to the terminal.

•

All other process groups in the session are background, and SIGTTOU/SIGTTIN will stop them if they write to or read from the terminal.

what is a controlling terminal?

•

Only a session leader can create a controlling terminal for the session.

•

A session can have at-most one controlling terminal.

•

The session leader that opens the terminal becomes the controlling process.

why double-fork?

•

When launching a daemon, you normally set the child process of the fork to be the session leader via setsid() which creates a new session that removes the current controlling terminal but creates the authority to grab a new one. This is important because we don't want a controlling terminal for our daemon or else our daemon could receive signals to shutdown when the controlling terminal closes.

•

However, if the first fork's child process is also the daemon process, then it's technically possible for the daemon to open a terminal device (e.g. open("/dev/console", O_RDWR)) and then it would acquire a controlling terminal! A controlling terminal would expose the daemon to terminal-generated signals (e.g. SIGINT) or SIGHUP from terminal disconnect which could kill the daemon.

•

The first fork isn't arbitrary either: setsid() fails with EPERM if the caller is already a process group leader, which a process launched directly from a shell typically is. The first fork produces a child guaranteed not to be a group leader, so setsid() will succeed. By forking a second time, the grandchild process (the daemon) is not the session leader. Per POSIX, only a process that is the session leader can acquire a controlling terminal.

•

Apparently this is "a bit paranoid," and on Linux it is arguable since a session leader only acquires a controlling terminal under implementation-defined conditions. But the double-fork is the portable way to guarantee the daemon can never acquire one, regardless of how a given POSIX implementation behaves. So we baked it into zmx.

•

PID=42  SID=10  PGID=10  ← original (PG leader, has tty)
    │
    │  fork #1
    ├──────────┐
    │ exit     │ PID=55  SID=10  PGID=10  (not a PG leader)
    ✝          │
               │ setsid()
               ▼
              PID=55  SID=55  PGID=55  (session leader, no tty)
                │
                │  fork #2
                ├──────────┐
                │ exit     │ PID=73  SID=55  PGID=55
                ✝          │ PID≠SID → can't get a tty
                           ▼
                         DAEMON ✓

beyond the double-fork

•

The double-fork detaches the daemon from any controlling terminal, but that's only one piece of a robust daemon. A daemon also needs to clean up everything it inherited from the parent that launched it like file descriptors, working directory, and standard streams.

•

In zmx, after the second fork, the daemon does two more things:

•

First, it redirects stdin, stdout, and stderr to /dev/null via dup2(2). This is critical: if the parent was launched by a test harness like bats, those file descriptors might be pipes. As long as the daemon holds the write end open, the harness will hang waiting for EOF. Redirecting to /dev/null closes that loop.

•

Second, it closes all inherited file descriptors from 3 up to 64 (skipping any that the caller explicitly wants to keep, like a server socket). This releases resources the daemon doesn't need and prevents the same hang on higher-numbered FDs.

•

[1] fork()          ── child is not a PG leader
[2] setsid()        ── new session, drop tty, become leader
[3] fork()          ── daemon is not the leader, can't get tty
─────────── double-fork ends, cleanup begins ───────────
[4] dup2 /dev/null  ── stdin/stdout/stderr → /dev/null
[5] close fds 3-64  ── release inherited resources

refs

•

zmx/daemonize.zig

•

zmx/daemonize.zig (stdio + fd cleanup)

•

fork(2)

•

1.7 How do I get my program to act like a daemon?

•

Why fork twice? (StackOverflow)

•

The Controlling Terminal

Poem: Hymn to the rock (Ύμνος στον βράχο) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z

This rock I consecrate
recognising that it too
partakes of cosmic oneness
I open my hands towards the sky
to fill with energy
and I look around me
so that I may remember
that I too am
a member of the whole
and that as a passenger
on this earth
I have a duty to leave behind
a world that will receive
those who shall arrive

Τον βράχο αυτό καθιερώνω
αναγνωρίζοντας πως κι αυτός
μετέχει της κοσμικής ενότητας
Ανοίγω τα χέρια μου προς τον ουρανό
να γεμίσω ενέργεια
και κοιτάζω γύρω μου
έστω να θυμηθώ
πως είμαι κι εγώ
μέρος του όλου
και πως ως περαστικός
σε αυτήν την γη
έχω καθήκον να αφήσω πίσω μου
έναν κόσμο που θα δεχτεί
αυτούς που θα'ρθουν

the writer’s mind - James' Coffee Blog

2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z

making notes and reviewing quotes,
collected from day and night:
here, there are stories.

i revel in observing, and
in place-
making.
where am i? how do i feel?
what does this mean to me?

i think of the melody of words
their cadence and shape and tense
and from all, i feel:.
from words, wonder;
with words, wonder.

The Dink (2026) ★★★ - Baty.net

2026-07-29T20:46:12.000Z

I wanted it to be better. It dragged a few chuckles out of me. I gave it an extra star because I love Mary Steenburgen.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2026 - Baty.net

2026-07-29T10:56:32.000Z

Remember that time I had 3 dogs?

MojoPad is kind of amazing. I've been following along for a while now and boy howdy the updates are coming fast and furious. Perhaps too fast. I mean, he's shipping major updates every few days. The app is certainly being vibe coded. In fact, I'm starting to notice that nearly everything about the project is LLM-generated. The release notes, obviously. The website with its almost cartoonish illustrations is off-putting. More and more I'm thinking even the developer's replies in the forums are often AI-written. It makes me uncomfortable. I could probably overlook all this, but this morning I imported part of my old Obsidian vault (1,000+ pages) and MojoPad's performance slowed to a crawl. I'll keep an eye on things, but for now I think I'll pass.

Datatype — variable font that turns text into charts is kind of wild. (via Christian Tietze)

Why haven't I been using this blog's Notes for little posts like these? Maybe because they are currently sent to Mastodon automatically and sometimes I feel like keeping everything here.

Mirador is fun. It's "An opinionated personal dashboard for your terminal — world clocks, calendar and agenda, weather, tasks, notes, markets and live system metrics in a tab you leave open all day"

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On “Missives From” - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

2026-07-29T10:40:00.000Z

There is nothing I hate more than doing self-promotion. The idea of talking about something I’m doing, I’ve done, or I'm going to do makes my skin crawl. But the opposite, promoting things other people are doing—especially friends—fills me with so much joy that I’ll never miss out on the opportunity of doing it.

And that’s why I’m excited to let you know that my longtime friend Mattia is about to embark on another of his trips, this time touching Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and as usual he’s going to share thoughts and pictures on his newsletter “Missives From”. I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to get himself into some sketchy situation since he seems to have a knack for that.

So, “Missives From” Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, first newsletter dropping sometime this week (maybe). Go sign up and tell Mattia Hi and let him know I sent you.

Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.

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Emacs: default minibuffer completions overview (Emacs 31) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-07-29T00:00:00.000Z

In this video I provide an overview of the default interface for minibuffer completions in Emacs. This is an interface that has been improved considerably over the years. In Emacs version 31, this interface gets some nice new features which make it even more appealing to use.

Below is the article I prepared for this video, with all the code samples.

The default settings are usable but inconvenient
Tweaks for a more refined default completion interface
The completion-category-overrides for maximum control
1. How to find the completion category
2. Completion categories and all the other completion-metadata
The default completions and related packages

The core Emacs infrastructure for completions is quite capable. In a previous entry I covered the technicalities of in-buffer completion, the completion-at-point-functions, and related packages/modes like corfu, company, completion-preview-mode: https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2026-07-19-emacs-completion-at-point-functions/.

For this article I will focus on the default user interface of completions as it is done through the minibuffer. Minibuffer completion is performed whenever we type, with default keybindings, M-x (execute-extended-command), C-x b (switch-to-buffer), C-x C-f (find-file), among many others.

The default settings are usable but inconvenient

They are designed to work like TAB-completion in a standard Bash shell. Insert some text, press TAB, and Emacs will interpret your input as a prefix to be completed against available candidates.

The *Completions* buffer pops up. At the top, it informs you about the keybindings you can press to select a candidate. The candidates themselves are presented in rows and columns.

If you type some extra characters or otherwise modify your initial input, the *Completions* buffer will not reflect the new list of candidates. To calculate that anew you have to press TAB again. As such, the *Completions* are static by default.

Tweaks for a more refined default completion interface

Lots of small refinements have been made over the years to expand what we can do with the *Completions* buffer (at least some are inspired by an old package of mine called mct). Here is the essence of my preferred configuration, with comments:

(use-package minibuffer
  :ensure nil
  :config
  ;; Do not inform me about the default keybindings to select a
  ;; candidate.
  (setq completion-show-help nil)

  ;; Do not print messages in the echo area that pertain to
  ;; completion---those are distracting.
  (setq completion-show-inline-help nil)

  ;; Show useful annotations in various minibuffer prompts (though the
  ;; `marginalia' package greatly improves this).
  (setq completions-detailed t)

  ;; Do not use rows and columns for completions: a single vertical
  ;; list is easier to follow.
  (setq completions-format 'one-column)

  ;; Put an upper limit to the Completions window, so that it does not
  ;; disorient me.
  (setq completions-max-height 12)

  ;; Rely on previous inputs to surface candidates towards the top of
  ;; the list (enable the built-in `savehist-mode' to persist
  ;; history).
  (setq completions-sort 'historical)

  ;; Show the Completions buffer if I hit TAB but there is no unique match yet.
  (setq completion-auto-help t)

  ;; Never switch to the Completions buffer when I type TAB, because I
  ;; want to select candidates while the minibuffer is still in focus,
  ;; per `minibuffer-visible-completions'.  This has the advantage of
  ;; auto-updating the completions as I type.
  (setq completion-auto-select nil
        minibuffer-visible-completions t)

  ;; Those two are also relevant for the `completion-category-overrides', which I
  ;; cover elsewhere in this article.
  (setq completion-eager-display t)
  (setq completion-eager-update t))

The `completion-category-overrides` for maximum control

The user option completion-category-overrides is for those power users who demand complete control of how the completions behave. Concretely, we target the metadata key of the completion-category to tell Emacs which completion-styles and other settings to use specifically for it. For example, we might want to have something like this:

;; Pattern-matching styles to interpret our input in every context.
(setq completion-styles '(basic substring initials flex))

;; An exception to the above for the `file' category, where we
;; specifically want to use the `partial-completion' style:
(setq completion-category-overrides
      '((file . ((styles partial-completion)))))

How to find the completion category

I am not aware of a built-in way to do this, so I have my own function:

(defun prot-common-completion-category ()
  "Return completion category."
  (when-let* ((window (active-minibuffer-window)))
    (with-current-buffer (window-buffer window)
      (completion-metadata-get
       (completion-metadata (buffer-substring-no-properties
                             (minibuffer-prompt-end)
                             (max (minibuffer-prompt-end) (point)))
                            minibuffer-completion-table
                            minibuffer-completion-predicate)
       'category))))

To use this, you need to enable recursive minibuffers, which means that you want to be able to bring up a new minibuffer prompt that will affect the one that was already open. Here are the settings I use for that:

(use-package minibuffer
  :ensure nil
  :config
  (setq read-minibuffer-restore-windows nil)
  (setq enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
  (minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode 1))

With that in place, whenever you want to know the completion category of a prompt, focus the minibuffer and type M-: (eval-expression). In the new prompt input (prot-common-completion-category) and press RET. In the echo area you will either get nil or the symbol of the category.

[ We can, of course, do this differently such as by defining a command that we bind to a key to ultimately copy the completion category to the kill-ring, but I wanted to keep it generic. ]

Now you can write more entries for the completion-category-overrides.

Completion categories and all the other `completion-metadata`

When we modify the completion-category-overrides we can set the variable completion-styles as well as every single function specified by the documentation of function completion-metadata. Here is the anatomy of an override:

(CATEGORY . ((styles STYLES)
             (eager-update . BOOLEAN)
             (eager-display . BOOLEAN)
             (group-function . GROUP-FN)
             (annotation-function . ANNOTATION-FN)
             (affixation-function . AFFIXATION-FN)
             (display-sort-function . SORT-FN)))

STYLES is one or more completion-styles.
BOOLEAN is nil or t.
*-FN are functions as explained by completion-metadata.

A concrete yet basic example, with comments:

;; To set `eager-display' and `eager-update' in the overrides, we need
;; to have these variables configured accordingly:
(setq completion-eager-display 'auto
      completion-eager-update 'auto)

(setq completion-category-overrides
      '((file . ((styles partial-completion)
                 ;; Do not automatically pop up the Completions buffer
                 ;; because, for example, we have private files we do
                 ;; not want to show while doing a live stream.
                 (eager-display . nil)
                 ;; But if the Completions buffer is already
                 ;; displayed, do update it as you type.
                 (eager-update . t)))
        ;; For buffers we do not care about showing them, so display
        ;; them outright and automatically update them as you type.
        (buffer . ((eager-display . t)
                   (eager-update . t)))
        ;; For this I want the completion styles to either be
        ;; interpreted as a prefix or a substring, but I do not want,
        ;; for example, the flex style here. And then I want the same
        ;; behaviour as for the buffer category.
        (imenu . ((styles basic substring)
                  (eager-display . t)
                  (eager-update . t)))))

And here is an advanced example with all the custom functions:

(defun prot-minibuffer-file-group (file transform)
  "Return FILE group name unless TRANSFORM is non-nil."
  (cond
   ;; Here we have the power to completely change how candidates look
   ;; under a group, such as to remove a prefix. But I just want the
   ;; group title and otherwise want to keep the candidates as they
   ;; are by default.
   (transform file)
   ;; Create a group for directories and give it the group title
   ;; "Directories".
   ((string-suffix-p "/" file) "Directories")
   ;; Create a group for dotfiles and give it the group title
   ;; "Hidden files".
   ((string-prefix-p "." file) "Hidden files")
   ;; Then group every other file by its file extension and name the
   ;; corresponding group like ".org", ".txt.", and so on.
   ((when-let* ((extension (file-name-extension file :include-dot))
                (_ (not (string-blank-p extension))))
      extension))
   ;; In every other case, just group the candidates under the "Other"
   ;; heading.
   (t "Other")))

(defun prot-minibuffer-file-sort (files)
  "Sort FILES to have directories first and the rest alphabetically.
Omit the .. directory from FILES."
  ;; Remove the implicit files from the candidates.
  (setq files (delete "../" files))
  ;; Sort them alphabetically.
  (setq files (minibuffer-sort-alphabetically files))
  ;; Now put the directories before the rest.
  (let ((directory-p (lambda (file) (string-suffix-p "/" file))))
    (nconc (seq-filter directory-p files)
           (seq-remove directory-p files))))

;; To set `eager-display' and `eager-update' in the overrides, we need
;; to have these variables configured accordingly:
(setq completion-eager-display 'auto
      completion-eager-update 'auto)

(setq completion-category-overrides
      '((file . ((styles partial-completion)
                 (eager-display . nil)
                 (eager-update . t)
                 ;; I am not including examples for the annotation and
                 ;; affixation functions because those are more
                 ;; involved and you anyway get the point.
                 (group-function . prot-minibuffer-file-group)
                 (display-sort-function . prot-minibuffer-file-sort)))
        (buffer . ((eager-display . t)
                   (eager-update . t)))
        (imenu . ((styles basic substring)
                  (eager-display . t)
                  (eager-update . t)))))

The default completions and related packages

The modern stack is vertico, marginalia, orderless, embark, and consult.

The default completion interface can be used instead of the vertico package. Though you can still benefit from marginalia, orderless, embark, and consult.

If you really want to customise everything extensively through the completion-category-overrides, then you can skip marginalia and maybe even get completion-styles that are still good enough without orderless.

But there still is no built-in alternative for the powerful embark and consult packages, so plan accordingly. Granted, you can be productive without embark and consult, but the advantage of those packages is that they make it easier to achieve those same tasks (plus extra features).

Wonders of Web Weaving, Episode 12 - James' Coffee Blog

2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z

The twelfth episode of Wonders of Web Weaving is out:

In Episode 12, I chat with Georgie, the author of Hey Georgie about, among other things, writing about travelling, blogging as a self-reflection tool, why someone should start a personal website today, and more.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Wonders of Web Weaving also has an RSS feed you can use to follow along from wherever you get your podcasts.

Georgie Hey Georgie The twelfth episode of Wonders of Web Weaving is out Wonders of Web Weaving also has an RSS feed

Poem: Hymn to the oak tree (Ύμνος στον δρυ) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z

Oh majestic oak tree
you who saw my ancestors
working in this place
you who shade the birds
the hours when the sun is mid sky
you who with your continuous presence
remind us of the link between generations
give me today the strength
to turn my attention
to this space that environs me
and to recognise that I am
part of the whole
and that here someday
the next ones must find a land
that will enable them
to continue

Ω μεγαλοπρεπή δρυ
εσύ που είδες τους προγόνους μου
να εργάζονται σε αυτόν τον τόπο
εσύ που σκιάζεις τα πουλιά
τις ώρες που ο ήλιος μεσουρανεί
εσύ που με την διαρκή παρουσία σου
μας θυμίζεις την σύνδεση των γενεών
δώσε μου σήμερα την δύναμη
να στρέψω την προσοχή μου
στον χώρο αυτό που με περιβάλλει
και να αναγνωρίσω πως εγώ είμαι
μέρος του όλου
και πως εδώ κάποτε
θα πρέπει οι επόμενοι να βρουν μιαν γη
που θα τους δίνει την δυνατότητα
να συνεχίσουν

Poem: Hymn to the honeybee (Ύμνος στην μέλισσα) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z

From you the tireless honeybee
I draw an example for my own life
to remain consistent in my commitments
to never make discounts on my principles
and to always contribute
with whatever way I can
to the common good that unites us

Από εσένα την ακούραστη μέλισσα
παίρνω παράδειγμα για την ζωή μου
να μένω συνεπείς στις δεσμεύσεις μου
να μην κάνω εκπτώσεις στις αρχές μου
και πάντοτε να συμβάλω
με όποιον τρόπο μπορώ
στο κοινό αγαθό που μας ενώνει

~hedy's blogroll - BlogFlock

August - James' Coffee Blog

On the absolute other - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

A moment with a very warm summer - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

Countryside; Blaugust - James' Coffee Blog

Emacs live with @linkarzu on his workflow, Org capture, and projects (2026-08-01 22:20 Europe/Athens) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

Friday, July 31, 2026 - Baty.net

Emacs: tmr version 1.4.0 - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

Version 1.4.0 on 2026-07-31

Create a timer that repeats

Modify the repeat count of an existing timer

The tabulated view has more columns and all of them can be adjusted

Completion metadata for the prompt that selects a timer

Timers in the completion prompt are sorted by end time

Miscellaneous

Of Day - James' Coffee Blog

Lattes - James' Coffee Blog

Thursday, July 30, 2026 - Baty.net

what the double-fork? - erock's devlog

what is a daemon?

how does fork work in a program?

what is a session?

what is a controlling terminal?

why double-fork?

beyond the double-fork

refs

Poem: Hymn to the rock (Ύμνος στον βράχο) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

the writer’s mind - James' Coffee Blog

The Dink (2026) ★★★ - Baty.net

Wednesday, July 29, 2026 - Baty.net

On “Missives From” - Manuel Moreale RSS Feed

Emacs: default minibuffer completions overview (Emacs 31) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

Table of Contents

The default settings are usable but inconvenient

Tweaks for a more refined default completion interface

The completion-category-overrides for maximum control

How to find the completion category

Completion categories and all the other completion-metadata

The default completions and related packages

Wonders of Web Weaving, Episode 12 - James' Coffee Blog

Poem: Hymn to the oak tree (Ύμνος στον δρυ) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

Poem: Hymn to the honeybee (Ύμνος στην μέλισσα) - Protesilaos Stavrou: Master feed with all updates

The `completion-category-overrides` for maximum control

Completion categories and all the other `completion-metadata`