Get the source from the Savannah git repository

I am just interested in the recent history and would like to save some precious bandwidth, so I just use --depth 1 to get only what is needed:

$ git clone --depth 1 git://git.savannah.gnu.org/emacs.git

Build

An ./autogen.sh is needed to generate the configure script:

$ cd emacs
$ ./autogen.sh

I have some emacs binary packages installed, so I have chosen to install my new emacs to /usr/local. Moreover, I have the gtk3 dev packages. As a consequence, my configure call is:

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-x-toolkit=gtk3

At this step, you will have to retrieve the required and wanted libWhatTheF**k-dev dependencies by yourself… For me, the configure step returns with:

Configured for `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'.

  Where should the build process find the source code?    /foo/bar/git/emacs
  What operating system and machine description files should Emacs use?
        `s/gnu-linux.h' and `m/amdx86-64.h'
  What compiler should emacs be built with?               gcc -std=gnu99 -g -O2
  Should Emacs use the GNU version of malloc?             yes
      (Using Doug Lea's new malloc from the GNU C Library.)
  Should Emacs use a relocating allocator for buffers?    no
  Should Emacs use mmap(2) for buffer allocation?         no
  What window system should Emacs use?                    x11
  What toolkit should Emacs use?                          GTK
  Where do we find X Windows header files?                Standard dirs
  Where do we find X Windows libraries?                   Standard dirs
  Does Emacs use -lXaw3d?                                 no
  Does Emacs use -lXpm?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -ljpeg?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use -ltiff?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use a gif library?                           yes -lgif
  Does Emacs use -lpng?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -lrsvg-2?                                yes
  Does Emacs use imagemagick?                             yes
  Does Emacs use -lgpm?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -ldbus?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use -lgconf?                                 yes
  Does Emacs use GSettings?                               yes
  Does Emacs use -lselinux?                               yes
  Does Emacs use -lgnutls (2.6.x or higher)?              yes
  Does Emacs use -lxml2?                                  yes
  Does Emacs use -lfreetype?                              yes
  Does Emacs use -lm17n-flt?                              yes
  Does Emacs use -lotf?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use -lxft?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use toolkit scroll bars?                     yes

Now, just compile, install and fix blessmail as required using:

$ make all && make install
$ sudo lib-src/blessmail /usr/local/libexec/emacs/24.0.91/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/movemail

Configure Debian GNU/Linux to use your brand new emacs

Rename your new binaries with the following bash script (reusable after each recompilation):

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for i in etags ctags emacsclient ebrowse rcs-checkin grep-changelog emacs
do
    if [ -f /usr/local/bin/$i ]; then
        if [ -f /usr/local/bin/$i.emacs24 ]; then
            rm /usr/local/bin/$i.emacs24
        fi
        mv /usr/local/bin/$i /usr/local/bin/$i.emacs24
    fi
done

if [ -f /usr/local/bin/emacs.emacs24 ]; then
    if [ -f /usr/local/bin/emacs24-x ]; then
        rm /usr/local/bin/emacs24-x
    fi
    ln -s /usr/local/bin/emacs.emacs24 /usr/local/bin/emacs24-x
fi

Install the ad hoc new alternatives (needed just once, even if you recompile and reinstall emacs after a git pull origin):

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/emacs emacs \
  /usr/local/bin/emacs24-x 30 \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/emacs.png emacs-128x128.png \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/emacs.png \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/emacs.png emacs-16x16.png \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/emacs.png \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/emacs.png emacs-24x24.png \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/emacs.png \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/emacs.png emacs-32x32.png \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/emacs.png \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/emacs.png emacs-48x48.png \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/emacs.png \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/mimetypes/emacs-document.svg emacs-document.svg \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/mimetypes/emacs-document.svg \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/emacs.1.gz emacs.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/emacs.1.gz \
  --slave /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/emacs.png emacs.svg \
  /usr/local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/emacs.svg

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/etags etags \
  /usr/local/bin/etags.emacs24 35 \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/etags.1.gz etags.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/etags.1.gz

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/ctags ctags \
  /usr/local/bin/ctags.emacs24 35 \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/ctags.1.gz ctags.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/ctags.1.gz

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/emacsclient emacsclient \
  /usr/local/bin/emacsclient.emacs24 30 \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/emacsclient.1.gz emacsclient.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/emacsclient.1.gz

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/ebrowse ebrowse \
  /usr/local/bin/ebrowse.emacs24 30 \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/ebrowse.1.gz ebrowse.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/ebrowse.1.gz

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/rcs-checkin rcs-checkin \
  /usr/local/bin/rcs-checkin.emacs24 30 \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/rcs-checkin.1.gz rcs-checkin.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/rcs-checkin.1.gz

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/grep-changelog \
  grep-changelog /usr/local/bin/grep-changelog.emacs24 30 \
  --slave /usr/share/man/man1/grep-changelog.1.gz grep-changelog.1.gz \
  /usr/local/share/man/man1/grep-changelog.1.gz</code></pre>

The given priorities are higher than the other alternatives. To finish, I set all those alternatives to the automatic mode:

for i in ctags etags emacs emacsclient ebrowse rcs-checkin grep-changelog
do
    sudo update-alternatives --auto $i
done

Now, my new emacs will always be the default choice, even if I upgrade my distro and the emacs binary packages!

Bonus point?

The default editor is ruled by two alternatives on my system: editor and gnome-text-editor. I set them up to use my new emacs by default.

Et voilà !