By default, both Homebrew formula and cask will install emacs with emacsclient, ebrowse, and etags commands to your $(brew --prefix)/bin. Run emacs from a terminal emulator, a GUI Emacs window will be spawned from that terminal session, and stay in the foreground.
The behavior of installing Emacs.app bundle is different from Homebrew formula and cask. For Homebrew formula, an Emacs.app will be placed under $(brew --prefix)/opt/emacs-mac/, but not under /Applications; for Homebrew cask, an Emacs.app will be placed under /Applications.
To make the behavior of starting consistent and handy, people made helper scripts and apps. This page collects them below.
These scripts usually replace or along with the existing emacs command and usually be called from CLI. All CLI start scripts should be able to accept an argument for a file or directory.
This is a very simple starter script.
When emacs-mac is installed with --with-starter option, it will replace the symbolic link emacs command with this script. This starter script intent to provide the same behavior as Emacs-plus.
This script can be installed by option --with-starter. This option only available when install by formula.
For an already-installed Emacs-mac, place the following code in a script file, rename and place it in a good place.
#!/bin/bash
exec $(brew --prefix)/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs.sh "$@"
This is the script originally from Aquamacs and is modified.
This script starts an Emacs GUI window if Emacs is not started; it will bring the Emacs window to the front if Emacs is already running.
Get the script from https://gist.github.com/railwaycat/4043945 . There are also useful updates and rewrites in the comment of this gist.
GUI helpers are usually for the Emacs-mac installed by formula, since formula installation is not able to put an App bundle Emacs.app to /Applications by the restriction of Homebrew. You can avoid the need for a GUI helper by installing from cask.
Make a copy of Emacs.app to /Applications. This solution is hard to be classified as a helper script/app, but it might be the solution most close to a native app.
Pros: Most likely close to a native Emacs.app.
Cons: Need to repeat the install step for every upgrade and build option change.
Copy the Emacs.app from $(brew --prefix)/opt/emacs-mac/ to /Applications manually or by a shell script.
cp -a $(brew --prefix)/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app /ApplicationsCreate a simple app bundle that opens Emacs.app under Homebrew directory.
Pros: No need to be updated for every upgrade or build option change. No Spotlight priority issue. Cons: Hard to be pinned on Dock.
Run the command below to create a starter app bundle. Rename it if possible and place it under /Applications or other preferred places.
osacompile -o Emacs.app -e "tell application \"Finder\" to open POSIX file \"$(brew --prefix)/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app\""
An alias of Emacs.app under /Applications.
Pros: No need to be updated for every upgrade or build option change
Cons: When using Spotlight, the alias Emacs.app may not be listed on the top of candidates. May cause issues for native compilation, see #317.
Create an alias to $(brew --prefix)/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app. This step can be done manually by right click the app and selecting "Make Alias" from the context menu, or by the command below:
# Apple Silicon Macs
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to make alias file to POSIX file "/opt/homebrew/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app" at POSIX file "/Applications"'
# Intel Macs
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to make alias file to POSIX file "/usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app" at POSIX file "/Applications"'