bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

There are a few problems with emacsclient in CVS, first one is that
one cannot run emacsclient from the build directory, you can do this
with emacs just fine.  But emacsclien gets confused as to where things
are, and you must do a `make install' to be able to use emacsclient
properly.

The second one is that the handling of -a/--alternative-editor is
problematic,

$ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a -c
emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: file name or argument required
Try `emacs/lib-src/emacsclient --help' for more information

According to the docstring, the argument to -a is optional, but one
must supply a empty string explicitly for things to work as
advertised.


In GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
 of 2008-01-22 on osmium, modified by Ubuntu
configured using `configure  '--build=x86_64-linux-gnu' '--host=x86_64-linux-gnu' '--prefix=/usr' '--sharedstatedir=/var/lib' '--libexecdir=/usr/lib' '--localstatedir=/var' '--infodir=/usr/share/info' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--with-pop=yes' '--enable-locallisppath=/etc/emacs22:/etc/emacs:/usr/local/share/emacs/22.1/site-lisp:/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/22.1/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/22.1/leim' '--with-x=no' 'build_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu' 'host_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-DDEBIAN -DSITELOAD_PURESIZE_EXTRA=5000 -g -O2''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: nil
  locale-coding-system: nil
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: RMAIL

Minor modes in effect:
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  unify-8859-on-encoding-mode: t
  utf-translate-cjk-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t

Recent input:
n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n 
n n n n n n n n SPC SPC n n n n n n n n n SPC n n n 
n n n n n n C-x o C-r j o b C-g C-x o g n n g n n n 
n n n n n n n C-x C-s g g n n n n n n n n n n n n n 
n n n C-x C-s g n n n n n n n n n n n n C-x C-s g n 
n n C-x C-s n g g C-x C-s g g g g C-x C-s g g g n n 
C-x C-s g C-x d RET C-x 1 n p p d n n d d d d d RET 
h C-x k RET C-x o C-x k RET C-x o C-x 1 C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p x y e s RET C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
g x n n g ESC x r m RET h n n n n n n n n n n n n n 
n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n C-x 
o C-x C-s C-x C-s g g n n n n n C-x C-s g n n n n n 
n g n n n n n n C-x C-s g n ESC x e m a DEL DEL DEL 
r e p o TAB r t TAB RET

Recent messages:
Saving file /home/a/ams/RMAIL...
Wrote /home/a/ams/RMAIL
Getting mail from /srv/data/mail/ams...
Counting new messages...done (2)
Saving file /home/a/ams/RMAIL...
Wrote /home/a/ams/RMAIL
Computing summary lines...done
2 new messages read
Making completion list...
Loading emacsbug...done

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Dan Nicolaescu]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

  > There are a few problems with emacsclient in CVS, first one is that
  > one cannot run emacsclient from the build directory, you can do this
  > with emacs just fine.  But emacsclien gets confused as to where things
  > are, and you must do a `make install' to be able to use emacsclient
  > properly.

Can you please describe what you do step by step?
I can't reproduce it here.

  > The second one is that the handling of -a/--alternative-editor is
  > problematic,
  > 
  > $ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a -c
  > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: file name or argument required
  > Try `emacs/lib-src/emacsclient --help' for more information
  > 
  > According to the docstring, the argument to -a is optional, but one
  > must supply a empty string explicitly for things to work as
  > advertised.

There was a typo in the code that made the info about the empty string
not appear, it should be fixed now.

The argument to -a is not optional, neither are the arguments for 
-d -f -s (which are documented in the same way as -a in --help).
What needs to be done to make that clearer?

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

     > There are a few problems with emacsclient in CVS, first one is that
     > one cannot run emacsclient from the build directory, you can do this
     > with emacs just fine.  But emacsclien gets confused as to where things
     > are, and you must do a `make install' to be able to use emacsclient
     > properly.

   Can you please describe what you do step by step?
   I can't reproduce it here.

emacsclient never looks in BUILD/src for emacs, so if you do:

emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a "" -t

emacsclient will fail with:

ams@beryx:~$ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a "" -t             
emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: can't find socket; have you started the server?
To start the server in Emacs, type "M-x server-start".
emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: error starting emacs daemon
Emacs daemon should have started, trying to connect again
emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: can't find socket; have you started the server?
To start the server in Emacs, type "M-x server-start".
Error: Cannot connect even after starting the Emacs daemon

I.e. you have to have BUILD/src in your PATH, or do make instal (which
will put emacs in bindir/emacs and emacsclient looks there).


Another problem I found, but cannot reproduce anymore is that for some
odd reason emacs started looking for all the elisp files in
/usr/local.  But I have been unable to reproduce, so I think it was
just something on my side.

     > The second one is that the handling of -a/--alternative-editor
     > is problematic,
     > 
     > $ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a -c
     > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: file name or argument required
     > Try `emacs/lib-src/emacsclient --help' for more information
     > 
     > According to the docstring, the argument to -a is optional, but
     > one must supply a empty string explicitly for things to work as
     > advertised.

   There was a typo in the code that made the info about the empty
   string not appear, it should be fixed now.

   The argument to -a is not optional, neither are the arguments for
   -d -f -s (which are documented in the same way as -a in --help).
   What needs to be done to make that clearer?

I think a simple note stating that it has to be the empty string would
be fine.

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Dan Nicolaescu]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

  >      > There are a few problems with emacsclient in CVS, first one is that
  >      > one cannot run emacsclient from the build directory, you can do this
  >      > with emacs just fine.  But emacsclien gets confused as to where things
  >      > are, and you must do a `make install' to be able to use emacsclient
  >      > properly.
  > 
  >    Can you please describe what you do step by step?
  >    I can't reproduce it here.
  > 
  > emacsclient never looks in BUILD/src for emacs, so if you do:
  > 
  > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a "" -t
  > 
  > emacsclient will fail with:
  > 
  > ams@beryx:~$ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a "" -t             
  > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: can't find socket; have you started the server?
  > To start the server in Emacs, type "M-x server-start".
  > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: error starting emacs daemon
  > Emacs daemon should have started, trying to connect again
  > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: can't find socket; have you started the server?
  > To start the server in Emacs, type "M-x server-start".
  > Error: Cannot connect even after starting the Emacs daemon
  > 
  > I.e. you have to have BUILD/src in your PATH, or do make instal (which
  > will put emacs in bindir/emacs and emacsclient looks there).

That's normal, emacsclient will try to start "emacs --daemon", if you don't have
emacs in your PATH, it won't be able to find it.
IMO it won't be a good idea to try to exec ../src/emacs.

  > Another problem I found, but cannot reproduce anymore is that for some
  > odd reason emacs started looking for all the elisp files in
  > /usr/local.  But I have been unable to reproduce, so I think it was
  > just something on my side.
  > 
  >      > The second one is that the handling of -a/--alternative-editor
  >      > is problematic,
  >      > 
  >      > $ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a -c
  >      > emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: file name or argument required
  >      > Try `emacs/lib-src/emacsclient --help' for more information
  >      > 
  >      > According to the docstring, the argument to -a is optional, but
  >      > one must supply a empty string explicitly for things to work as
  >      > advertised.
  > 
  >    There was a typo in the code that made the info about the empty
  >    string not appear, it should be fixed now.
  > 
  >    The argument to -a is not optional, neither are the arguments for
  >    -d -f -s (which are documented in the same way as -a in --help).
  >    What needs to be done to make that clearer?
  > 
  > I think a simple note stating that it has to be the empty string would
  > be fine.

It should be there already.

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

     > I.e. you have to have BUILD/src in your PATH, or do make instal (which
     > will put emacs in bindir/emacs and emacsclient looks there).

   That's normal, emacsclient will try to start "emacs --daemon", if
   you don't have emacs in your PATH, it won't be able to find it.
   IMO it won't be a good idea to try to exec ../src/emacs.

Could you explain why you do not think that this would be a good idea?
We already do this for elisp files, and any aux. program like
movemail.

     > I think a simple note stating that it has to be the empty string would
     > be fine.

   It should be there already.

Thank you.

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Dan Nicolaescu]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

  >      > I.e. you have to have BUILD/src in your PATH, or do make instal (which
  >      > will put emacs in bindir/emacs and emacsclient looks there).
  > 
  >    That's normal, emacsclient will try to start "emacs --daemon", if
  >    you don't have emacs in your PATH, it won't be able to find it.
  >    IMO it won't be a good idea to try to exec ../src/emacs.
  > 
  > Could you explain why you do not think that this would be a good idea?
  > We already do this for elisp files, and any aux. program like
  > movemail.

In emacsclient?

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

     >      > I.e. you have to have BUILD/src in your PATH, or do make instal (which
     >      > will put emacs in bindir/emacs and emacsclient looks there).
     > 
     >    That's normal, emacsclient will try to start "emacs --daemon", if
     >    you don't have emacs in your PATH, it won't be able to find it.
     >    IMO it won't be a good idea to try to exec ../src/emacs.
     > 
     > Could you explain why you do not think that this would be a good idea?
     > We already do this for elisp files, and any aux. program like
     > movemail.

   In emacsclient?

I do not understand, are you saying that emacsclient should behave
differently from rest of Emacs?

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Dan Nicolaescu]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

  >      >      > I.e. you have to have BUILD/src in your PATH, or do make instal (which
  >      >      > will put emacs in bindir/emacs and emacsclient looks there).
  >      > 
  >      >    That's normal, emacsclient will try to start "emacs --daemon", if
  >      >    you don't have emacs in your PATH, it won't be able to find it.
  >      >    IMO it won't be a good idea to try to exec ../src/emacs.
  >      > 
  >      > Could you explain why you do not think that this would be a good idea?
  >      > We already do this for elisp files, and any aux. program like
  >      > movemail.
  > 
  >    In emacsclient?
  > 
  > I do not understand, are you saying that emacsclient should behave
  > differently from rest of Emacs?

I am saying that IMO things are fine the way they are.
If someone wants to change them, that person needs to justify the need
for a change.

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

     > I do not understand, are you saying that emacsclient should behave
     > differently from rest of Emacs?

   I am saying that IMO things are fine the way they are.

Can you please explain why they are fine as they are?

   If someone wants to change them, that person needs to justify the
   need for a change.

I already justified it, the rest of Emacs behabes correctly without
doing `make install' or adding things to PATH, emacsclient does not.

bug#2864: emacsclient bugs..

[Stefan Monnier]

>    Can you please describe what you do step by step?
>    I can't reproduce it here.
> emacsclient never looks in BUILD/src for emacs, so if you do:

I never thought of this case, but it makes sense.  I don't think it's
high priority, but it would be good to make it use BUILD/src/emacs if it
can't find it in the install location or in the PATH.


        Stefan

bug#2864: running emacsclient uninstalled

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

> There are a few problems with emacsclient in CVS, first one is that
> one cannot run emacsclient from the build directory, you can do this
> with emacs just fine.  But emacsclien gets confused as to where things
> are, and you must do a `make install' to be able to use emacsclient
> properly.

(I'm going through old bug reports that unfortunately weren't resolved
at the time.)

This has been fixed in the decade since this was reported.

> The second one is that the handling of -a/--alternative-editor is
> problematic,
>
> $ emacs/lib-src/emacsclient -a -c
> emacs/lib-src/emacsclient: file name or argument required
> Try `emacs/lib-src/emacsclient --help' for more information
>
> According to the docstring, the argument to -a is optional, but one
> must supply a empty string explicitly for things to work as
> advertised.

The -a argument is not optional now, at least.

So it looks like both things in this bug report are fixed, and I'm
therefore closing this bug report.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no