bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

[Johan Claesson]

Hi,

Every time there is a file-notify event the idle timer is restarted.
This will postpone the triggering of idle timers.  If there are
periodical file-notify events they may prevent idle timers from ever
triggering.  The following recipe creates periodical file-notify
events with the help of a normal non-idle timer.  The poor idle timer
started last in the recipe will never get to run.

emacs -Q

(with-current-buffer (find-file-noselect "/tmp/changing.txt")
  (setq auto-revert-interval 0.5)
  (auto-revert-mode))
(run-with-timer 1 1 (lambda () (write-region "x" nil "/tmp/changing.txt")))
(run-with-idle-timer 3 t (lambda () (message "Just idling")))

The same behavior is also present in 24.4 and 24.5 (i have not checked
older versions).

The idle timer gets restarted in read_char in keyboard.c.  The
following patch avoids this (but i am not sure it is the right
thing to do).

diff --git a/src/keyboard.c b/src/keyboard.c
index 1a5dbd0..b71c656 100644
--- a/src/keyboard.c
+++ b/src/keyboard.c
@@ -2834,7 +2834,9 @@ read_char (int commandflag, Lisp_Object map,
       last_input_event = c;
       call4 (Qcommand_execute, tem, Qnil, Fvector (1, &last_input_event), Qt);
 
-      if (CONSP (c) && EQ (XCAR (c), Qselect_window) && !end_time)
+      if (CONSP (c)
+          && (EQ (XCAR (c), Qselect_window) || EQ (XCAR (c), Qfile_notify))
+          && !end_time)
        /* We stopped being idle for this event; undo that.  This
           prevents automatic window selection (under
           mouse_autoselect_window from acting as a real input event, for


This is in the handing of special-event-map which includes
file-notify.  special-event-map includes some events that should
restart the idle timer because they are user input (like drag-n-drop).
But file-notify is not user input so i think it should not restart the
idle timer.

The same probably goes for dbus-event and config-changed-event that
also are in the special-event-map.  Maybe they also should be exempted
in the same way.

Also i don't understand why this code checks for Qselect_window.
select-window is not included in special-event-map so that should
never turn up there.

Regards,

/Johan




In GNU Emacs 25.1.50.2 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, X toolkit)
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Spell-checking region using aspell with default dictionary...done
Spell-checking suspended; use C-u M-$ to resume
Saving file /ssd/home/jcl/IDLE_TIMER_REPORT.el...
Wrote /ssd/home/jcl/IDLE_TIMER_REPORT.el
Saving file /ssd/home/jcl/IDLE_TIMER_REPORT.el...
Wrote /ssd/home/jcl/IDLE_TIMER_REPORT.el
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Saving file /ssd/home/jcl/IDLE_TIMER_REPORT.el...
Wrote /ssd/home/jcl/IDLE_TIMER_REPORT.el

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bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

[Michael Albinus]

Johan Claesson <johanclaesson@bredband.net> writes:

> Hi,

Hi Johan,

> Every time there is a file-notify event the idle timer is restarted.
> This will postpone the triggering of idle timers.  If there are
> periodical file-notify events they may prevent idle timers from ever
> triggering.  The following recipe creates periodical file-notify
> events with the help of a normal non-idle timer.  The poor idle timer
> started last in the recipe will never get to run.
>
> emacs -Q
>
> (with-current-buffer (find-file-noselect "/tmp/changing.txt")
>   (setq auto-revert-interval 0.5)
>   (auto-revert-mode))
> (run-with-timer 1 1 (lambda () (write-region "x" nil "/tmp/changing.txt")))
> (run-with-idle-timer 3 t (lambda () (message "Just idling")))
>
> The same behavior is also present in 24.4 and 24.5 (i have not checked
> older versions).

Thanks for the report. There is a problem, indeed!

> The idle timer gets restarted in read_char in keyboard.c.  The
> following patch avoids this (but i am not sure it is the right
> thing to do).
>
> diff --git a/src/keyboard.c b/src/keyboard.c
> index 1a5dbd0..b71c656 100644
> --- a/src/keyboard.c
> +++ b/src/keyboard.c
> @@ -2834,7 +2834,9 @@ read_char (int commandflag, Lisp_Object map,
>        last_input_event = c;
>        call4 (Qcommand_execute, tem, Qnil, Fvector (1, &last_input_event), Qt);
>  
> -      if (CONSP (c) && EQ (XCAR (c), Qselect_window) && !end_time)
> +      if (CONSP (c)
> +          && (EQ (XCAR (c), Qselect_window) || EQ (XCAR (c), Qfile_notify))
> +          && !end_time)
>         /* We stopped being idle for this event; undo that.  This
>            prevents automatic window selection (under
>            mouse_autoselect_window from acting as a real input event, for

Looks good to me. Of course, we must wrap EQ (XCAR (c), Qfile_notify) by
#ifdef USE_FILE_NOTIFY; not all Emacs instances are configured to use
file notifications.

> This is in the handing of special-event-map which includes
> file-notify.  special-event-map includes some events that should
> restart the idle timer because they are user input (like drag-n-drop).
> But file-notify is not user input so i think it should not restart the
> idle timer.
>
> The same probably goes for dbus-event and config-changed-event that
> also are in the special-event-map.  Maybe they also should be exempted
> in the same way.

I agree for dbus-event. Don't know whether we need it also for
config-changed-event, my naïve gut feeling tells me that this doesn't
happen very often. Maybe somebody else knows better.

> Also i don't understand why this code checks for Qselect_window.
> select-window is not included in special-event-map so that should
> never turn up there.

Same here.

Let's wait for some few days. If nobody else contributes further, I
would apply your patch, including dbus-event.

> Regards,
>
> /Johan

Best regards, Michael.

bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Michael Albinus <michael.albinus@gmx.de>
> Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2016 18:05:17 +0200
> Cc: 23207@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > diff --git a/src/keyboard.c b/src/keyboard.c
> > index 1a5dbd0..b71c656 100644
> > --- a/src/keyboard.c
> > +++ b/src/keyboard.c
> > @@ -2834,7 +2834,9 @@ read_char (int commandflag, Lisp_Object map,
> >        last_input_event = c;
> >        call4 (Qcommand_execute, tem, Qnil, Fvector (1, &last_input_event), Qt);
> >  
> > -      if (CONSP (c) && EQ (XCAR (c), Qselect_window) && !end_time)
> > +      if (CONSP (c)
> > +          && (EQ (XCAR (c), Qselect_window) || EQ (XCAR (c), Qfile_notify))
> > +          && !end_time)
> >         /* We stopped being idle for this event; undo that.  This
> >            prevents automatic window selection (under
> >            mouse_autoselect_window from acting as a real input event, for
> 
> Looks good to me. Of course, we must wrap EQ (XCAR (c), Qfile_notify) by
> #ifdef USE_FILE_NOTIFY; not all Emacs instances are configured to use
> file notifications.

Right.

> > This is in the handing of special-event-map which includes
> > file-notify.  special-event-map includes some events that should
> > restart the idle timer because they are user input (like drag-n-drop).
> > But file-notify is not user input so i think it should not restart the
> > idle timer.
> >
> > The same probably goes for dbus-event and config-changed-event that
> > also are in the special-event-map.  Maybe they also should be exempted
> > in the same way.
> 
> I agree for dbus-event. Don't know whether we need it also for
> config-changed-event, my naïve gut feeling tells me that this doesn't
> happen very often. Maybe somebody else knows better.

Why does frequency matter here?

> > Also i don't understand why this code checks for Qselect_window.
> > select-window is not included in special-event-map so that should
> > never turn up there.
> 
> Same here.

Couldn't someone bind select-window in special-event-map?

Anyway, I think we should simply check all the special events that are
not user events here.  If they don't have a binding in
special-event-map, then the test will always fail.

What about focus-in/out events?  Or xwidget-event?

bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

[Michael Albinus]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> I agree for dbus-event. Don't know whether we need it also for
>> config-changed-event, my naïve gut feeling tells me that this doesn't
>> happen very often. Maybe somebody else knows better.
>
> Why does frequency matter here?

I have no strict preferences. So we could check also for config-changed-event.

> Anyway, I think we should simply check all the special events that are
> not user events here.  If they don't have a binding in
> special-event-map, then the test will always fail.
>
> What about focus-in/out events?  Or xwidget-event?

focus-in/out events sound like triggered by a user action. So it is OK
to restart an idle-timer. My Emacs hasn't compiled them in.

For xwidget-event, I don't know whether it is based on a user action, or
something else. My Emacs isn't compiled with it.

OTOH, my Emacs knows ns-unput-working-text and ns-put-working-text in
special-event-map. Is that OK? I'm running Emacs on GNU/Linux.

Best regards, Michael.

bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

[Michael Albinus]

Johan Claesson <johanclaesson@bredband.net> writes:

> Hi,

Hi Johan,

> The idle timer gets restarted in read_char in keyboard.c.  The
> following patch avoids this (but i am not sure it is the right
> thing to do).

I have committed an extended version of your patch to the master
branch. Closing the bug.

I've also tried to add a test to filenotify-tests.el, but I
failed. Testing idle timers isn't easy.

Best regards, Michael.

bug#23207: 25.1.50; file-notify event restarts the idle timer

[Johan Claesson]

Hi,

Great.  Thanks, Michael.

Regards,

/Johan




Michael Albinus <michael.albinus@gmx.de> writes:

> Johan Claesson <johanclaesson@bredband.net> writes:
>
>> Hi,
>
> Hi Johan,
>
>> The idle timer gets restarted in read_char in keyboard.c.  The
>> following patch avoids this (but i am not sure it is the right
>> thing to do).
>
> I have committed an extended version of your patch to the master
> branch. Closing the bug.
>
> I've also tried to add a test to filenotify-tests.el, but I
> failed. Testing idle timers isn't easy.
>
> Best regards, Michael.