GNU Emacs

This article is about a specific Emacs implementation. For the class of text editors, see Emacs.
GNU Emacs
Original author(s)Richard Stallman
Developer(s)GNU Project
Initial release20 March 1985; 39 years ago (1985-03-20)
Stable release
29.4[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 22 June 2024
Preview release
27.1.91 Edit this on Wikidata / 29 January 2021
Repository
Written inEmacs Lisp, C[2]
Operating systemUnix-like (GNU, Linux, macOS, BSDs, Solaris), Windows, MS-DOS[3]
PlatformCross-platform
Available inEnglish
TypeText editor
LicenseGPL-3.0-or-later
Websitewww.gnu.org/software/emacs/

GNU Emacs is a text editor and suite of free software tools. Its development began in 1984 by GNU Project founder Richard Stallman,[4] based on the Emacs editor developed for Unix operating systems. GNU Emacs has been a central component of the GNU project and a flagship project of the free software movement.[5][6]

The program's tagline is "the extensible self-documenting text editor."[7] Most functionality in GNU Emacs is implemented in user-accessible Emacs Lisp,[8] allowing deep extensibility directly by users and through community-contributed packages. Its built-in features include a file browser and editor (Dired), an advanced calculator (Calc), an email client and news reader (Gnus), a Language Server Protocol integration,[9] and the productivity system Org-mode. A large community of users have contributed extensions such as the Git interface Magit, the Vim emulation layer Evil, several search frameworks, the window manager EXWM,[10] and tools for working with a wide range of programming languages.

  1. ^ Stefan Kangas (22 June 2024). "Emacs 29.4 released". Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  2. ^ "GNU Emacs", Analysis Summary, Open Hub
  3. ^ "Emacs machines list".
  4. ^ Stallman, Richard. "The GNU Project". Archived from the original on 2024-09-03.
  5. ^ Fusco, John (2007-03-06). The Linux Programmer's Toolbox. Pearson Education. ISBN 9780132703048.
  6. ^ Cameron, Debra; Elliott, James; Loy, Marc; Raymond, Eric; Rosenblatt, Bill (2005). Learning GNU Emacs. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". ISBN 9780596006488.
  7. ^ "Debian – details of package Emacs in wheezy".
  8. ^ "GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual". www.gnu.org. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  9. ^ "gnu.org". www.gnu.org. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).