Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[Richard Stallman]

    semantic-version is a variable defined in `semantic.el'.
    Its value is "2.0pre3"

    It looks like there was a pre4 that came out a few days
    after emacs 22.1.  I'll try having him upgrade to that.

I wonder if there is anything we can do to warn users about this.
For instance, in Emacs 22.2 we could add a feature would check
for version numbers (somehow) in files being loaded, and give an error
if they meet a criterion.

Maybe the feature could involve an alist whose elements look like
(FILE VARIABLE REGEXP ERROR).  It could be initialized to

(("semantic.el" semantic-version "2.0pre3"
  "Version %s of %s won't run in Emacs 22"))

Any comments or suggestions?

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[Richard Stallman]

    semantic-version is a variable defined in `semantic.el'.
    Its value is "2.0pre3"

    It looks like there was a pre4 that came out a few days
    after emacs 22.1.  I'll try having him upgrade to that.

I wonder if there is anything we can do to warn users about this.
For instance, in Emacs 22.2 we could add a feature would check
for version numbers (somehow) in files being loaded, and give an error
if they meet a criterion.

Maybe the feature could involve an alist whose elements look like
(FILE VARIABLE REGEXP ERROR).  It could be initialized to

(("semantic.el" semantic-version "2.0pre3"
  "Version %s of %s won't run in Emacs 22"))

Any comments or suggestions?

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[dhruva]

Hi,

On 7/23/07, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
> Maybe the feature could involve an alist whose elements look like
> (FILE VARIABLE REGEXP ERROR).  It could be initialized to
>
> (("semantic.el" semantic-version "2.0pre3"
>   "Version %s of %s won't run in Emacs 22"))

IMHO, since this data keeps changing (often or not), this should be
seperated from the general Emacs distribution. Also, this could be a
seperate package which can be loaded if the user wants. The error or
warning could be configured. At times, I may be evaluating a package
and would want to continue with a warning instead of an error which
prevents it from even getting loaded. The data file to drive such
checks could be hosted in the emacs wiki page (or some other place).
The distribution could carry the latest along with it.

Personally, I feel this will be very useful for users and also emacs
developer community in resolving issues. The data file can be a first
check to find out if it is a known issue.

-dky

-- 
Dhruva Krishnamurthy
Contents reflect my personal views only!

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

  >     semantic-version is a variable defined in `semantic.el'.
  >     Its value is "2.0pre3"
  > 
  >     It looks like there was a pre4 that came out a few days
  >     after emacs 22.1.  I'll try having him upgrade to that.
  > 
  > I wonder if there is anything we can do to warn users about this.
  > For instance, in Emacs 22.2 we could add a feature would check
  > for version numbers (somehow) in files being loaded, and give an error
  > if they meet a criterion.
  > 
  > Maybe the feature could involve an alist whose elements look like
  > (FILE VARIABLE REGEXP ERROR).  It could be initialized to
  > 
  > (("semantic.el" semantic-version "2.0pre3"
  >   "Version %s of %s won't run in Emacs 22"))
  > 
  > Any comments or suggestions?

We would have to support a feature like this until the end of time for
something that is not that likely to repeat. 
Has something like this happened in the past? Many times?
IMVHO it does not seem like a good idea.

Maybe we can get the semantic people to send an email to their mailing
list (if there is one) and put a note prominent note on the website
about this issue. 

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[Stefan Monnier]

> We would have to support a feature like this until the end of time for
> something that is not that likely to repeat.
> Has something like this happened in the past?

Yes.

> Many times?

For Emacs-21, there was at least cua-mode (which broke if the user had an
older version of it in its load-path) plus a few more (calc comes to mind).

Every time we introduce incompatibility, we're bound to encounter such
things.  Incompatibilities are introduced at least at each major version.


        Stefan

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[Richard Stallman]

    > Maybe the feature could involve an alist whose elements look like
    > (FILE VARIABLE REGEXP ERROR).  It could be initialized to
    >
    > (("semantic.el" semantic-version "2.0pre3"
    >   "Version %s of %s won't run in Emacs 22"))

    IMHO, since this data keeps changing (often or not), this should be
    separated from the general Emacs distribution.

There must be a misunderstanding.  The idea of this feature is to warn
people about old versions of other programs that Emacs version M.N
won't work with.  (We can assume that new versions of those programs
will be fixed to work with the latest Emacs.)  So this list is fixed
for any given Emacs version.  The idea is to release it in Emacs.

Re: emacs 22.1 hogging CPU

[Richard Stallman]

    We would have to support a feature like this until the end of time for
    something that is not that likely to repeat. 

"Support" is ambiguous in this context.

If it means that we won't delete this feature, I agree, but that is
not a problem.  We just won't delete it.

If it means "continue to change and pay attention to", then I
disagree.  We won't ever have to change the list, except when we find
another case that we want to warn users about.  Then we can add that
case.  So this won't require attention except when it is advantageous
for us to pay attention.

Would someone please implement this, then ack?