bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Joe Fineman]

On upgrading from GNU Emacs 22.3 to 24.3, I found that the command
compare-windows did not work.  The documentation for it was there, but
the library (compare-w.el) was missing.  On copying compare-w.el &
compare-w.elc from Emacs 22.3, the difficulty vanished.
-- 
---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||:  Once you're ready to die, you can enjoy life.  :||

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Glenn Morris]

Joe Fineman wrote:

> On upgrading from GNU Emacs 22.3 to 24.3, I found that the command
> compare-windows did not work.  The documentation for it was there, but
> the library (compare-w.el) was missing.  On copying compare-w.el &
> compare-w.elc from Emacs 22.3, the difficulty vanished.

Sorry, that doesn't make any sense to me.

The 24.3 tar file available from ftp.gnu.org includes compare-w.el and
compare-w.elc. Note that they live in a vc/ subdirectory of lisp now.

You didn't give any details as to what kind of system you are using,
whether you compiled Emacs yourself, etc.

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Joe Fineman]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

> Joe Fineman wrote:
>
>> On upgrading from GNU Emacs 22.3 to 24.3, I found that the command
>> compare-windows did not work.  The documentation for it was there, but
>> the library (compare-w.el) was missing.  On copying compare-w.el &
>> compare-w.elc from Emacs 22.3, the difficulty vanished.
>
> Sorry, that doesn't make any sense to me.
>
> The 24.3 tar file available from ftp.gnu.org includes compare-w.el and
> compare-w.elc. Note that they live in a vc/ subdirectory of lisp now.

That seems to have been the problem.  It seems that Emacs was not
looking there -- and, needless to say, neither was I.

> You didn't give any details as to what kind of system you are using,
> whether you compiled Emacs yourself, etc.

I apologize.  I meant to do so, but forgot.  For my many sins, I am
running it under Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 Build 2600 with
Cygwin 1.5.25(0.156/4/2).  I did not compile it myself.

Thank you for your patience.
-- 
---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||:  The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.  :||

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Glenn Morris]

(Please keep the debbugs address cc'd.)

Joe Fineman wrote:

>> The 24.3 tar file available from ftp.gnu.org includes compare-w.el and
>> compare-w.elc. Note that they live in a vc/ subdirectory of lisp now.
>
> That seems to have been the problem.  It seems that Emacs was not
> looking there -- and, needless to say, neither was I.

In what way was Emacs "not looking there"?
Please give a complete recipe that shows the problem, starting from
emacs -Q.

> For my many sins, I am running it under Windows XP Professional
> Service Pack 3 Build 2600 with Cygwin 1.5.25(0.156/4/2). I did not
> compile it myself.

Is it the version from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/,
or from somewhere else?

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Richard Stallman]

        [ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider
        [ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,
        [ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example.

    The 24.3 tar file available from ftp.gnu.org includes compare-w.el and
    compare-w.elc. Note that they live in a vc/ subdirectory of lisp now.

Why are these in vc?  That have nothing to do with vc, which is the
interface to version control systems.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
  Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call.

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Stefan Monnier]

> Why are these in vc?  That have nothing to do with vc, which is the
> interface to version control systems.

No: lisp/vc is a subdirectory containing various packages related to
managing different versions of the same file.  VC is there, of course,
but so is diff-mode, ediff, emerge, pcl-cvs, etc...


        Stefan

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Joe Fineman]

> (Please keep the debbugs address cc'd.)

Noted.

> Joe Fineman wrote:

> >> The 24.3 tar file available from ftp.gnu.org includes
> >> compare-w.el and compare-w.elc. Note that they live in a vc/
> >> subdirectory of lisp now.
> >
> > That seems to have been the problem.  It seems that Emacs was not
> > looking there -- and, needless to say, neither was I.

> In what way was Emacs "not looking there"?
> Please give a complete recipe that shows the problem, starting from
> emacs -Q.

> > For my many sins, I am running it under Windows XP Professional
> > Service Pack 3 Build 2600 with Cygwin 1.5.25(0.156/4/2). I did not
> > compile it myself.

> Is it the version from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/,
> or from somewhere else?

I don't remember.

I renamed away the compare-w.* files I had copied into /emacs-24.3.
Then, as before, compare-windows did not work: it gave the error
message "Cannot open load file: compare-w".

I then brought up emacs -Q from Cygwin.  There, compare-windows
worked.

I then added /emacs-24.3/lisp/vc to my load path in .emacs.
Thereupon, compare-windows worked in my own Emacs.

It appears that something I did, in my .emacs file or elsewhere,
caused my Emacs not to load lisp/vc.

I have had similar problems with previous versions of Emacs --
libraries that were there, but were not being looked at -- and solved
them the same way, by putting them explicitly in the load path.  This
time, it did not occur to me to do a thoro search for the missing
compare-w.*; I supposed it had been left out instead of tucked away.

It seems not to have been a bug, but one way or another, the thing is
working now.  Thank you for your efforts and your patience.
-- 
---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||:  All of your biases have at some point been confirmed by  :||
||:  anecdote.                                                :||

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Glenn Morris]

Joe Fineman wrote:

> I renamed away the compare-w.* files I had copied into /emacs-24.3.
> Then, as before, compare-windows did not work: it gave the error
> message "Cannot open load file: compare-w".
>
> I then brought up emacs -Q from Cygwin.  There, compare-windows
> worked.
>
> I then added /emacs-24.3/lisp/vc to my load path in .emacs.
> Thereupon, compare-windows worked in my own Emacs.

I'm guessing that something in your .emacs might mess up load-path.
Try comparing the value of load-path in emacs -Q and normal emacs, and
look for anything that has gone missing.

bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Joe Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net>
> Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 21:57:12 -0400
> Cc: 15395@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > > For my many sins, I am running it under Windows XP Professional
> > > Service Pack 3 Build 2600 with Cygwin 1.5.25(0.156/4/2). I did not
> > > compile it myself.
> 
> > Is it the version from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/,
> > or from somewhere else?
> 
> I don't remember.

It can't be, since that URL provides a native Windows build of Emacs,
not a Cygwin build.

I'm guessing your Emacs was installed from a Cygwin package.

Re: bug#15395: 24.3; compare-windows missing in 24.3

[Joe Fineman]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

> Joe Fineman wrote:
>
>> I renamed away the compare-w.* files I had copied into /emacs-24.3.
>> Then, as before, compare-windows did not work: it gave the error
>> message "Cannot open load file: compare-w".
>>
>> I then brought up emacs -Q from Cygwin.  There, compare-windows
>> worked.
>>
>> I then added /emacs-24.3/lisp/vc to my load path in .emacs.
>> Thereupon, compare-windows worked in my own Emacs.
>
> I'm guessing that something in your .emacs might mess up load-path.

Very likely.  I can no longer remember why, once upon a time, I
redefined load-path in .emacs, but over the years it has accreted quite
a lot.  I have commented all that out, and given the default a fresh
start.  It seems to be working.
-- 
---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||:  I am 7 years old, plus shipping & handling.  :||