Here is a very specific tip for doing literate programming with org-mode: Usually you put a code block like this in the .org file and generate the actual sourc

Here is a very specific tip for doing literate programming with org-mode: Usually you put a code block like this in the .org file and generate the actual source file with M-x org-babel-tangle. #+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle "init.el" (setq make-backup-files nil) #+end_src The file name doesn't have to be a string constant, you can also call an Elisp function: (the org-prefix is recommended or you will have issues with HTML export) #+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle (org-my-tangle) (setq make-backup-files nil) #+end_src The function could look like this: ("no" means don't tangle this block) (defun org-my-tangle () (if my-flag "init.el" "no")) Or like this: (a more complex example using named, optional parameters) (defun org-my-tangle (&rest args) (let ((file (or (plist-get args :file) "init.el")) (sys (plist-get args :sys))) (if (or (null sys) (eq sys system-type)) file "no"))) This will tangle to init.el on any system: #+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle (org-my-tangle) (setq make-backup-files nil) #+end_src This will tangle to init.el on Linux: #+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle (org-my-tangle :sys 'gnu/linux) (setq make-backup-files nil) #+end_src This will tangle to foo.el on Windows: #+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle (org-my-tangle :file "foo.el" :sys 'windows-nt) (setq make-backup-files nil) #+end_src I use this approach for example to generate different Emacs configurations for different platforms and use cases (private, work, ...) all from a single org file.