bug#46607: 25.2; Emacs hangs with Error running timer 'blink-cursor-start'

[Peter Flynn <peter@silmaril.ie>]

On 18/02/2021 11:51, Lars Ingebrigtsen wrote:

[sorry for the delay]

> Could you put
> 
> (setq debug-on-error t)
> 
> in your .emacs file?  That should give you a backtrace when the function
> fails, which should tell us more about where the error is.

That did something (.emacs containing just that line and nothing else:

> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument listp 10)
>   cdr(10)
>   (setq time (cdr time))
>   (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time)))
>   (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))
>   (let* ((time t2) (high2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) low2 micro2 type2) (if (consp time) (progn (setq low2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) (if time (setq micro2 (car time) type2 2) (setq micro2 0 type2 1))) (setq low2 time micro2 0 type2 0)) (progn (setq high (+ high high2) low (+ low low2) micro (+ micro micro2) type (max type type2)) (if (>= micro 1000000) (progn (setq low (1+ low) micro (- micro 1000000)))) (if (>= low 65536) (progn (setq high (1+ high) low (- low 65536)))) (encode-time-value high low micro type)))
>   (let* ((time t1) (high (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) low micro type) (if (consp time) (progn (setq low (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) (if time (setq micro (car time) type 2) (setq micro 0 type 1))) (setq low time micro 0 type 0)) (let* ((time t2) (high2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) low2 micro2 type2) (if (consp time) (progn (setq low2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time ...)))) (if time (setq micro2 (car time) type2 2) (setq micro2 0 type2 1))) (setq low2 time micro2 0 type2 0)) (progn (setq high (+ high high2) low (+ low low2) micro (+ micro micro2) type (max type type2)) (if (>= micro 1000000) (progn (setq low (1+ low) micro (- micro 1000000)))) (if (>= low 65536) (progn (setq high (1+ high) low (- low 65536)))) (encode-time-value hi
 gh low micro type))))
>   time-add(nil 10)
>   timer-relative-time(nil 10)
>   run-at-time(10 nil undo-auto--boundary-timer)
>   undo-auto--boundary-ensure-timer()
>   undo-auto--undoable-change()
>   command-line-1(nil)
>   command-line()
>   normal-top-level()

> Emacs 25.2 is pretty old -- do you also see this in more recent Emacs
> versions?

That's what comes with Mint 19, unfortunately. I'm looking to upgrade 
the machines to Zorin 15, which I have tested from a boot USB; and one 
of the tests was to see if Emacs still exhibited the same problems, 
which it does. So I replaced .emacs on the test machine with the line 
above, and got this:

> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument listp 10)
> cdr(10)
> (setq time (cdr time))
> (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time)))
> (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))
> (let* ((time t2) (high2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) low2 micro2 type2) (if (consp time) (progn (setq low2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) (if time (setq micro2 (car time) type2 2) (setq micro2 0 type2 1))) (setq low2 time micro2 0 type2 0)) (progn (setq high (+ high high2) low (+ low low2) micro (+ micro micro2) type (max type type2)) (if (>= micro 1000000) (progn (setq low (1+ low) micro (- micro 1000000)))) (if (>= low 65536) (progn (setq high (1+ high) low (- low 65536)))) (encode-time-value high low micro type)))
> (let* ((time t1) (high (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) low micro type) (if (consp time) (progn (setq low (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) (if time (setq micro (car time) type 2) (setq micro 0 type 1))) (setq low time micro 0 type 0)) (let* ((time t2) (high2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time (cdr time))))) low2 micro2 type2) (if (consp time) (progn (setq low2 (car-safe (prog1 time (setq time ...)))) (if time (setq micro2 (car time) type2 2) (setq micro2 0 type2 1))) (setq low2 time micro2 0 type2 0)) (progn (setq high (+ high high2) low (+ low low2) micro (+ micro micro2) type (max type type2)) (if (>= micro 1000000) (progn (setq low (1+ low) micro (- micro 1000000)))) (if (>= low 65536) (progn (setq high (1+ high) low (- low 65536)))) (encode-time-value high
  low micro type))))
> time-add(nil 10)
> timer-relative-time(nil 10)
> run-at-time(10 nil undo-auto--boundary-timer)
> undo-auto--boundary-ensure-timer()
> undo-auto--undoable-change()
> command-line-1(nil)
> command-line()
> normal-top-level()

That sacrificial machine is running:

In GNU Emacs 25.2.2 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.22.21)
  of 2017-09-22, modified by Debian built on lgw01-amd64-050
Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.12008000
System Description:	Zorin OS 15.3

Configured using:
  'configure --build x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr
  --sharedstatedir=/var/lib --libexecdir=/usr/lib
  --localstatedir=/var/lib --infodir=/usr/share/info
  --mandir=/usr/share/man --with-pop=yes
 
--enable-locallisppath=/etc/emacs25:/etc/emacs:/usr/local/share/emacs/25.2/site-lisp:/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/25.2/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp
  --with-sound=alsa --without-gconf --build x86_64-linux-gnu
  --prefix=/usr --sharedstatedir=/var/lib --libexecdir=/usr/lib
  --localstatedir=/var/lib --infodir=/usr/share/info
  --mandir=/usr/share/man --with-pop=yes
 
--enable-locallisppath=/etc/emacs25:/etc/emacs:/usr/local/share/emacs/25.2/site-lisp:/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/25.2/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp
  --with-sound=alsa --without-gconf --with-x=yes --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
  --with-toolkit-scroll-bars 'CFLAGS=-g -O2
  -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/emacs25-jYekUr/emacs25-25.2+1=. 
-fstack-protector-strong
  -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall' 'CPPFLAGS=-Wdate-time
  -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro''

Configured features:
XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG IMAGEMAGICK SOUND GPM DBUS GSETTINGS NOTIFY
ACL LIBSELINUX GNUTLS LIBXML2 FREETYPE M17N_FLT LIBOTF XFT ZLIB
TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS GTK3 X11

Important settings:
   value of $LC_MONETARY: en_US.UTF-8
   value of $LC_NUMERIC: en_US.UTF-8
   value of $LC_TIME: en_US.UTF-8
   value of $LANG: en_GB.UTF-8
   value of $XMODIFIERS: @im=ibus
   locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix

Major mode: Lisp Interaction

Minor modes in effect:
   tooltip-mode: t
   global-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

Recent messages:
remem.el: (lambda (buf) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (format) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (e) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (scope) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (line) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (s) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (filename) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
remem.el: (lambda (scopeinfo) ...) quoted with ' rather than with #'
Loading /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/remem.el (source)...done
Making completion list...

Load-path shadows:
/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/css-mode hides 
/usr/share/emacs/25.2/lisp/textmodes/css-mode
/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/package hides 
/usr/share/emacs/25.2/lisp/emacs-lisp/package

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug message idna dired format-spec rfc822
mml mml-sec password-cache epg epg-config gnus-util mm-decode mm-bodies
mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail
rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util help-fns help-mode mail-prsvr
mail-utils package derived remem php-mode cc-mode cc-fonts cc-guess
cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs
cl-loaddefs pcase cl-lib speedbar sb-image ezimage dframe easymenu
vc-dispatcher vc-svn time-date mule-util tooltip eldoc electric uniquify
ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win term/common-win x-dnd
tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list newcomment
elisp-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer
select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core
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 charscript
case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev 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 dbusbind inotify
dynamic-setting system-font-setting font-render-setting move-toolbar gtk
x-toolkit x multi-tty make-network-process emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 249253 7779)
  (symbols 48 27871 0)
  (miscs 40 189 143)
  (strings 32 67589 68563)
  (string-bytes 1 1888847)
  (vectors 16 19997)
  (vector-slots 8 504729 15181)
  (floats 8 177 84)
  (intervals 56 270 11)
  (buffers 976 19))


Peter