dotfiles/modules/vterm.org

#+TITLE: VTerm
#+AUTHOR: Christopher James Hayward
#+EMAIL: chris@chrishayward.xyz

#+PROPERTY: header-args:emacs-lisp :tangle vterm.el :comments org
#+PROPERTY: header-args            :results silent :eval no-export :comments org

#+OPTIONS: num:nil toc:nil todo:nil tasks:nil tags:nil
#+OPTIONS: skip:nil author:nil email:nil creator:nil timestamp:nil

VTerm is an implementation of libvterm for Emacs.

* Setup

Install the dependencies before loading the module.

#+begin_src shell
RUN apt install -y cmake libtool libtool-bin
#+end_src

* Config

I noticed ~eshell~ wasn't enough when needing interactivity from the terminal. Going through [[https://chrishayward.xyz/notes/thinking-in-cpp/][Thinking in C++]] for one of my courses required lots of terminal interaction which ~eshell~ was unable to handle. Since ~vterm~ is based on ~libvterm~, an external C library, it's blazing fast and fully interactive. Add a few configurations:

+ Always compile the module
+ Install the required packages on *Debian/Ubuntu*

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(use-package vterm
  :commands (vterm)
  :custom (vterm-always-compile-module t))
#+end_src

* Shortcuts

Open a new ~vterm~ buffer with =SPC v=:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(dotfiles/leader
  "v" '(vterm-other-window :which-key "VTerm"))
#+end_src

* Footnotes