How to use customize to turn on viper mode by default?

Question

I see on the Viper page that the way to turn on viper mode by default is

 (setq viper-mode t)
 (require 'viper)

I've been trying to move over to using customize to do emacs configuration. Is there a way to turn on viper mode on start using customize?

Answer 1

To enable viper using customize, you will need to do something like this.

Enable viper-mode for new buffers

1. Load customize with M-x customize
2. Search for package
3. Then search for package load list
4. Press <RET> to expand the arrow next to Package Load List
5. After the last entry, press <RET> on the INS button to insert a new line.
6. Press <RET> 1 on the Value Menu button on the second line to insert a specific package.
7. Delete nil and put viper.
8. Press the Apply and Save button at the top. At the prompt type yes.

These steps will not enable viper for the splash screen or the default *scratch* buffer. To do those, we will need to do more...

Change the default *scratch* mode to viper-mode

1. From the main M-x customize menu, search for Initial Major Mode
2. Press <RET> on the arrow next to Initial Major Mode to expand it.
3. Replace list-interaction-mode with viper-mode
4. Press <RET> on the Apply and Save button at the top and then type yes

Disable the splash screen

I'm not sure how to set the default mode for the splash screen using customize, so let's just disable it:

1. From the main M-x customize menu, search for startup
2. Press <RET> on the arrow next to Inhibit Startup Screen to expand it
3. Press <RET> on the Toggle button
4. Press <RET> on the Apply and Save button at the top and type yes

At some point in this process, or when you reload Emacs, you will be presented with the viper startup screen which asks whether you want to "Viperize". Follow the prompts accordingly.

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I ran into lots of problems with the settings persisting while trying this out. Hopefully everything works for you!

In my opinion, while it is a noble effort to make Emacs more accessible to newcomers, the utility of customize is limited. You will get a far greater return on investment learning some basic Emacs Lisp. To start, I recommend reading the excellent documentation about init.el and An Introduction to Programming Emacs Lisp.

That said, here's how to do what you want using Emacs Lisp:

1. Create a file named init.el in the ~/.emacs.d/ directory.

2. In it, put

   (viper-mode)

The next time you start Emacs, viper-mode will be enabled.