have a constant fallback from GNU Emacs to plain vi

1 files changed, 14 insertions, 24 deletions

diff --git a/.shenv b/.shenv
index 884f8b47..2ae1b59d 100755
--- a/.shenv
+++ b/.shenv
@@ -9,38 +9,28 @@ set +e
 # ---- choose editor depending on what's available
 
 if [ "$DESKTOP_SESSION" = "i3" ]; then
-    ec_args="-c"
+    ec="emacsclient -c"
 else
-    ec_args="-t"
+    ec="emacsclient -t"
 fi
 
+# Either GNU Emacs, or UNIX vi -- lightweight Emacs alternatives like
+# mg and zile are so rarely installed, so let's have a constant
+# fallback which is almost certainly available and which I can use
+# well enough.  When GNU Emacs is available, set ALTERNATE_EDITOR to
+# the empty string so that an `emacs --daemon` process is spawned
 emacsclient=$(which emacsclient 2>/dev/null)
-mg=$(which mg 2>/dev/null)
-# best case: emacsclient and mg available
-if [ -x "$emacsclient" -a -x "$mg" ]; then
-    EDITOR="emacsclient $ec_args"
-    ALTERNATE_EDITOR="mg"
+if [ -x "$emacsclient" ]; then
+    EDITOR="$ec"
+    ALTERNATE_EDITOR=""
+    export ALTERNATE_EDITOR
 else
-    # only emacsclient, so change alternate editor
-    if [ -x "$emacsclient" ]; then
-        EDITOR="emacsclient $ec_args"
-        ALTERNATE_EDITOR="vi"
-    else
-        # no emacsclient, so see if we can fall back to mg
-        if [ -x "$mg" ]; then
-            EDITOR="mg"
-            ALTERNATE_EDITOR="vi"
-        # worse case: assume vi is available
-        else
-            EDITOR="vi"
-        fi
-    fi
+    EDITOR="vi"
 fi
-unset ec_args
+unset ec
 unset emacsclient
-unset mg
 export EDITOR
-VISUAL=$EDITOR
+VISUAL="$EDITOR"
 export VISUAL
 
 # ---- set $PATH