The early initialization of Emacs (`early-init.el`)

The early-init.el macro to run code only in a Desktop Environment

  (defvar jw-emacs-tiling-window-manager-regexp "bspwm\\|herbstluftwm\\|i3"
    "Regular expression to  tiling window managers.
  See definition of `prot-emacs-with-desktop-session'.")

  (defmacro jw-emacs-with-desktop-session (&rest body)
    "Expand BODY if desktop session is not a tiling window manager.
  See `prot-emacs-tiling-window-manager-regexp' for what
  constitutes a matching tiling window manager."
    (declare (indent 0))
    `(when-let ((session (getenv "DESKTOP_SESSION"))
                ((not (string-match-p session jw-emacs-tiling-window-manager-regexp))))
       ,@body))

The early-init.el code to set frame parameters

;; Set frame parameters early
(setq initial-frame-alist
      (append '((alpha . (90 . 90))
                (fullscreen . maximized))
              initial-frame-alist))

(setq default-frame-alist
      (append '((alpha . (90 . 90))
                (fullscreen . maximized))
              default-frame-alist))

;; Ensure the current frame is also updated
(add-hook 'window-setup-hook
          (lambda ()
            (set-frame-parameter nil 'alpha '(90 . 90))
            (set-frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen 'maximized)))

The early-init.el basic frame settings

  (setq frame-resize-pixelwise t
        frame-inhibit-implied-resize t
        frame-title-format '("%b")
        ring-bell-function 'ignore
        use-dialog-box t ; only for mouse events, which I seldom use
        use-file-dialog nil
        use-short-answers t
        inhibit-splash-screen t
        inhibit-startup-screen t
        inhibit-x-resources t
        inhibit-startup-echo-area-message user-login-name ; read the docstring
        inhibit-startup-buffer-menu t)

  ;; I do not use those graphical elements by default, but I do enable
  ;; them from time-to-time for testing purposes or to demonstrate
  ;; something.  NEVER tell a beginner to disable any of these.  They
  ;; are helpful.
  (menu-bar-mode -1)
  (scroll-bar-mode -1)
  (tool-bar-mode -1)

The early-init.el hook to improve Startup Performance

Make startup faster by reducing the frequency of garbage collection and then use a hook to measure Emacs startup time.

Also, turn on lexical-binding for the init file!

  ;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

  ;; The default is 800 kilobytes.  Measured in bytes.
  (setq gc-cons-threshold (* 50 1000 1000))

  ;; Profile emacs startup
  (add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook
            (lambda ()
              (message "*** Emacs loaded in %s with %d garbage collections."
                       (format "%.2f seconds"
                               (float-time
                                (time-subtract after-init-time before-init-time)))
                       gcs-done)))

The early-init.el defines general theme related functions

  (defun jw-emacs-theme-gsettings-dark-p ()
    "Return non-nil if gsettings (GNOME) has a dark theme.
  Return nil if the DESKTOP_SESSION is either bspwm or
  herbstluftwm, per the configuration of my dotfiles.  Also check
  the `delight' shell script."
    (jw-emacs-with-desktop-session
      (string-match-p
       "dark"
       (shell-command-to-string "gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme"))))

  (defun jw-emacs-theme-twm-dark-p ()
    "Return non-nil if my custom setup has a dark theme.
  I place a file in ~/.config/prot-xtwm-active-theme which contains
  a single word describing my system-wide theme.  This is part of
  my dotfiles.  Check my `delight' shell script for more."
    (when-let ((file "~/.config/jw-xtwm-active-theme")
               ((file-exists-p file)))
        (string-match-p
         "dark"
         (with-temp-buffer
           (insert-file-contents file)
           (buffer-string)))))

  (defun jw-emacs-theme-environment-dark-p ()
    "Return non-nil if environment theme is dark."
    (or (jw-emacs-theme-twm-dark-p)
        (jw-emacs-theme-gsettings-dark-p)))

  (defun jw-emacs-re-enable-frame-theme (_frame)
    "Re-enable active theme, if any, upon FRAME creation.
  Add this to `after-make-frame-functions' so that new frames do
  not retain the generic background set by the function
  `prot-emacs-avoid-initial-flash-of-light'."
    (when-let ((theme (car custom-enabled-themes)))
      (enable-theme theme)))

The early-init.el gives a name to the default frame

The following configuration is taken from prot’s configuration.

Finally, I like to call my default frame home. This is because I use my beframe package to group the list of buffers on a per-frame basis (The prot-emacs-window.el section about beframe). The multi-frame arrangement is the best thing I ever did to boost my productivity: bonus points when used in tandem with a tiling window manager.

Naming frames allows you to select them using completion. Emacs can do this (M-x select-frame-by-name), though it is not always reliable as it depends on the window manager (it works fine on GNOME, from what I can tell). For minimalist window managers on Linux, something like the rofi program can select system windows based on their name.

  (add-hook 'after-init-hook (lambda () (set-frame-name "home")))

The early-init.el section to add modules and libraries to the Emacs configuration

  (add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "jw-emacs-modules" user-emacs-directory))
  (add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "jw-lisp" user-emacs-directory))