This guide describes how to edit the Drake codebase using Emacs.

If you have tips that would help out other developers, drop us a line and we can add them here!

Setting up Emacs

There is nothing really special to do. On Ubuntu sudo apt install emacs.

Bazel

We recommend emacs-bazel-mode. If you have MELPA configured, use M-x package-install bazel.

Git

We recommend magit. On Ubuntu sudo apt install elpa-magit.

C++ code formatting

Use (require 'clang-format) to enable the M-x clang-format-... family of functions. Also check that the customize variable clang-format-executable is set to Drake’s preferred value /path/to/drake/bazel-bin/tools/lint/clang-format.