The error-handling of `make-process' for a non-existents

executable is inconsistent between invocation as a command

(on PATH) and invocation as a full path.

To reproduce, start `emacs -Q'.

Entering

    M-x eval-expression RET

      (make-process :name "test" :command '("No Such Command"))

will bring up the debugger with 

    (file-missing "Searching for program" "No such file or directory" "nosuchcommand")

However, entering

    M-x eval-expression RET 

      (make-process :name "test" :command '("c:/No Such Command"))

will merely display in the echo-area message:

    eval: Spawning child process: Invalid argument

I stumbled upon this when debugging a quick-and-dirty

script, that called a program by absolute path. When a new

version of the program changed the name of the executable

(tex2lyx2.3 -> tex2lyx), this issue occurred, and hindered

debugging the problem.

The wording of the message might indicate a 

Windows-specific issue.

regards, Klaus

In GNU Emacs 26.1 (build 1, x86_64-w64-mingw32)

 of 2018-05-30 built on CIRROCUMULUS

Repository revision: 07f8f9bc5a51f5aa94eb099f3e15fbe0c20ea1ea

Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.17134

Recent messages:

(#<process test<1>> #<process test>)

Quit

Entering debugger...

Back to top level

eval: Spawning child process: Invalid argument

Quit

Type C-x 1 to delete the help window, C-M-v to scroll help.

Quit

Entering debugger...

Back to top level

read--expression: Trailing garbage following expression

Configured using:

 'configure --without-dbus --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32

 --without-compress-install 'CFLAGS=-O2 -static -g3''

Configured features:

XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG SOUND NOTIFY ACL GNUTLS LIBXML2 ZLIB

TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS THREADS LCMS2

Important settings:

  value of $LANG: ENU

  locale-coding-system: cp1252

Major mode: Lisp Interaction

Minor modes in effect:

  tooltip-mode: t

  global-eldoc-mode: t

  eldoc-mode: t

  electric-indent-mode: t

  mouse-wheel-mode: t

  tool-bar-mode: t

  menu-bar-mode: t

  file-name-shadow-mode: t

  global-font-lock-mode: t

  font-lock-mode: t

  blink-cursor-mode: t

  auto-composition-mode: t

  auto-encryption-mode: t

  auto-compression-mode: t

  line-number-mode: t

  transient-mark-mode: t

Load-path shadows:

None found.

Features:

(shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug message rmc puny seq dired

dired-loaddefs format-spec rfc822 mml mml-sec password-cache epa derived

epg epg-config gnus-util rmail rmail-loaddefs mm-decode mm-bodies

mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail

rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils cl-extra

help-fns radix-tree help-mode easymenu cl-print byte-opt gv bytecomp

byte-compile cl-loaddefs cl-lib cconv debug elec-pair time-date

mule-util tooltip eldoc electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks

lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 ls-lisp disp-table term/w32-win w32-win

w32-vars term/common-win tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe

tabulated-list replace newcomment text-mode elisp-mode lisp-mode

prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch timer select

scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core

term/tty-colors frame cl-generic cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang

vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932

hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic

chinese composite charscript charprop case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook

help simple abbrev obarray minibuffer cl-preloaded nadvice loaddefs

button faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5

base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable

backquote w32notify w32 lcms2 multi-tty make-network-process emacs)

Memory information:

((conses 16 100958 5519)

 (symbols 56 20557 1)

 (miscs 48 45 202)

 (strings 32 31151 1771)

 (string-bytes 1 808081)

 (vectors 16 14466)

 (vector-slots 8 493429 6988)

 (floats 8 53 305)

 (intervals 56 327 7)

 (buffers 992 14))