How do I make the compilation window in Emacs to always be a certain size?

Question

I want to make the compilation window in Emacs to always appear at the bottom of a window, and always be a certain height. So far I put the following lines in my .emacs file:

(setq split-height-threshold 0)
(setq compilation-window-height 10)

...and it does work for when I have only one window open, but as soon as I split the screen into two windows horizontally (that is, the dividing line in the middle goes from the top to the bottom), the compilation window stops respecting the height variable, and splits the window right in the middle.

How do I fix this?

Answer 1

You can customize the variable compilation-window-height.

Answer 2

Combining code from How can I prevent emacs from opening new window for compilation output? and code from http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CompilationMode, this is all my code for compile, it provides you 4 features:

1). Use compile-again to run the same compile as the last time automatically, no prompt. If there is no last time, or there is a prefix argument, it acts like M-x compile.

2). compile will split the current window(always be a certain size), it will not affect the other windows in this frame.

3). it will auto-close the *compilation* buffer (window) if there is no error, keep it if error exists.

4). it will highlight the error line and line number of the source code in the *compilation* buffer, use M-n/p to navigate every error in *compilation* buffer, Enter in the error line to jump to the line in your code code.

(require 'compile)
(setq compilation-last-buffer nil)
(defun compile-again (ARG)
  "Run the same compile as the last time.

If there is no last time, or there is a prefix argument, this acts like M-x compile."
  (interactive "p")
  (if (and (eq ARG 1)
           compilation-last-buffer)
      (progn
        (set-buffer compilation-last-buffer)
        (revert-buffer t t))
    (progn
      (call-interactively 'compile)
      (setq cur (selected-window))
      (setq w (get-buffer-window "*compilation*"))
      (select-window w)
      (setq h (window-height w))
      (shrink-window (- h 10))
      (select-window cur))))
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-m") 'compile-again)
(defun my-compilation-hook ()
  "Make sure that the compile window is splitting vertically."
  (progn
    (if (not (get-buffer-window "*compilation*"))
        (progn
          (split-window-vertically)))))
(add-hook 'compilation-mode-hook 'my-compilation-hook)
(defun compilation-exit-autoclose (STATUS code msg)
  "Close the compilation window if there was no error at all."
  ;; If M-x compile exists with a 0
  (when (and (eq STATUS 'exit) (zerop code))
    ;; then bury the *compilation* buffer, so that C-x b doesn't go there
    (bury-buffer)
    ;; and delete the *compilation* window
    (delete-window (get-buffer-window (get-buffer "*compilation*"))))
  ;; Always return the anticipated result of compilation-exit-message-function
  (cons msg code))
(setq compilation-exit-message-function 'compilation-exit-autoclose)
(defvar all-overlays ())
(defun delete-this-overlay(overlay is-after begin end &optional len)
  (delete-overlay overlay)
  )
(defun highlight-current-line ()
"Highlight current line."
  (interactive)
  (setq current-point (point))
  (beginning-of-line)
  (setq beg (point))
  (forward-line 1)
  (setq end (point))
  ;; Create and place the overlay
  (setq error-line-overlay (make-overlay 1 1))

  ;; Append to list of all overlays
  (setq all-overlays (cons error-line-overlay all-overlays))

  (overlay-put error-line-overlay
               'face '(background-color . "red"))
  (overlay-put error-line-overlay
               'modification-hooks (list 'delete-this-overlay))
  (move-overlay error-line-overlay beg end)
  (goto-char current-point))
(defun delete-all-overlays ()
  "Delete all overlays"
  (while all-overlays
    (delete-overlay (car all-overlays))
    (setq all-overlays (cdr all-overlays))))
(defun highlight-error-lines(compilation-buffer process-result)
  (interactive)
  (delete-all-overlays)
  (condition-case nil
      (while t
        (next-error)
        (highlight-current-line))
    (error nil)))
(setq compilation-finish-functions 'highlight-error-lines)

Answer 3

I would use something like this, freely adapted from the EmacsWiki:

(defun my-compilation-hook ()
  (when (not (get-buffer-window "*compilation*"))
    (save-selected-window
      (save-excursion
        (let* ((w (split-window-vertically))
               (h (window-height w)))
          (select-window w)
          (switch-to-buffer "*compilation*")
          (shrink-window (- h compilation-window-height)))))))
(add-hook 'compilation-mode-hook 'my-compilation-hook)

If the *compilation* buffer is not visible, this will split the window vertically, resize the newly opened window to 10 lines height, and open the *compilation* buffer in it.

Answer 4

There's an excellent package for these situations named Shackle. https://github.com/wasamasa/shackle

Easy to set up and works on pretty much any type of buffer