initial-frame-alist

initial-frame-alist

[Stephen Berman]

It appears that setting initial-frame-alist has no effect if Emacs is
started with --daemon; is this intended?  Here's a case in point:

Let ~/.emacs consist of this sexp:

(setq initial-frame-alist
      (append initial-frame-alist '((width . 85) (height . 58))))

Then do this:

$ emacs --daemon
$ emacsclient -c

The resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
~/.emacs.  If instead I start Emacs like this:

$ emacs

then the resulting frame does width 85 and height 58.

I note that after starting Emacs like this:

$ emacs -nw -f server-start

and then in another xterm typing:

$ emacsclient -c

the resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
~/.emacs.  But this would be expected if the initial frame is the one in
the xterm.  Whereas with --daemon, the apparent initial frame is the one
produced by emacsclient -c.  So is this a bug or expected behavior?  If
the latter, shouldn't it be documented?  (I hope it's relatively easily
fixed bug, since I would like to have setting initial-frame-alist take
effect if Emacs is started with --daemon.)

Steve Berman

Re: initial-frame-alist

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> writes:

  > It appears that setting initial-frame-alist has no effect if Emacs is
  > started with --daemon; is this intended?  Here's a case in point:
  > 
  > Let ~/.emacs consist of this sexp:
  > 
  > (setq initial-frame-alist
  >       (append initial-frame-alist '((width . 85) (height . 58))))
  > 
  > Then do this:
  > 
  > $ emacs --daemon
  > $ emacsclient -c
  > 
  > The resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
  > ~/.emacs.  If instead I start Emacs like this:
  > 
  > $ emacs
  > 
  > then the resulting frame does width 85 and height 58.
  > 
  > I note that after starting Emacs like this:
  > 
  > $ emacs -nw -f server-start
  > 
  > and then in another xterm typing:
  > 
  > $ emacsclient -c
  > 
  > the resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
  > ~/.emacs.  But this would be expected if the initial frame is the one in
  > the xterm.  Whereas with --daemon, the apparent initial frame is the one
  > produced by emacsclient -c.  

It's not, the initial frame is a special frame that cannot be displayed.
Again: emacs --daemon is equivalent to emacs -nw -f server-start
If you try more, you can probably find even more variations of this same
basic issue...

  > So is this a bug or expected behavior?  If the latter, shouldn't it
  > be documented?  (I hope it's relatively easily fixed bug, since I
  > would like to have setting initial-frame-alist take effect if Emacs
  > is started with --daemon.)

Patches are welcome!

Re: initial-frame-alist

[Will Farrington]

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On Feb 5, 2009, at 9:46 AM, Dan Nicolaescu wrote:

> Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> writes:
>
>> It appears that setting initial-frame-alist has no effect if Emacs is
>> started with --daemon; is this intended?  Here's a case in point:
>>  ...
>> the resulting frame has default width and height, not those  
>> specified in
>> ~/.emacs.  But this would be expected if the initial frame is the  
>> one in
>> the xterm.  Whereas with --daemon, the apparent initial frame is  
>> the one
>> produced by emacsclient -c.
>
> It's not, the initial frame is a special frame that cannot be  
> displayed.
> Again: emacs --daemon is equivalent to emacs -nw -f server-start
> If you try more, you can probably find even more variations of this  
> same
> basic issue...
>
>> So is this a bug or expected behavior?  If the latter, shouldn't it
>> be documented?  (I hope it's relatively easily fixed bug, since I
>> would like to have setting initial-frame-alist take effect if Emacs
>> is started with --daemon.)
>
> Patches are welcome!

Is there a reason not to use `default-frame-alist' instead?


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Re: initial-frame-alist

[Stephen Berman]

On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 06:46:05 -0800 (PST) Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu> wrote:

> Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> writes:
>
>   > I note that after starting Emacs like this:
>   > 
>   > $ emacs -nw -f server-start
>   > 
>   > and then in another xterm typing:
>   > 
>   > $ emacsclient -c
>   > 
>   > the resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
>   > ~/.emacs.  But this would be expected if the initial frame is the one in
>   > the xterm.  Whereas with --daemon, the apparent initial frame is the one
>   > produced by emacsclient -c.  
>
> It's not, the initial frame is a special frame that cannot be displayed.

I guess you are referring to FRAME_INITIAL_P.  But AFAICT this is not
the same as the "initial X window" frame created by frame-initialize,
whose parameters are held in initial-frame-alist.  I see now that
startup.el precludes this with --daemon:

  ;; Under X Window, this creates the X frame and deletes the terminal frame.
  (unless (daemonp)
    (frame-initialize))

I wonder if there is a way to make this take account of a subsequent
initial invocation of emacsclient -c.  Hmm...

> Again: emacs --daemon is equivalent to emacs -nw -f server-start
> If you try more, you can probably find even more variations of this same
> basic issue...

I'm not trying to find these cases, it's just that I run up against them
the more I use --daemon with my init-file.

>   > So is this a bug or expected behavior?  If the latter, shouldn't it
>   > be documented?  (I hope it's relatively easily fixed bug, since I
>   > would like to have setting initial-frame-alist take effect if Emacs
>   > is started with --daemon.)
>
> Patches are welcome!

I would be glad to oblige if I had more than (or even just) the vaguest
idea how to go about it.

Steve Berman

Re: initial-frame-alist

[mail]

Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> writes:
> It appears that setting initial-frame-alist has no effect if Emacs is
> started with --daemon; is this intended?  Here's a case in point:
>
> Let ~/.emacs consist of this sexp:
>
> (setq initial-frame-alist
>       (append initial-frame-alist '((width . 85) (height . 58))))
>
> Then do this:
>
> $ emacs --daemon
> $ emacsclient -c
>
> The resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
> ~/.emacs.  If instead I start Emacs like this:
>

[ SNIP ... ]

This seems like expected behaviour: there is no frame initially. Having
`emacsclient -c` work differently depending on whether or not it's the
first time it's been invoked seems wrong. If we do want to "fix" this
behaviour, then I suppose initial-frame-alist should apply to a frame in
any case where no other frame exists, ie:

  emacs --daemon
  emacsclient -c
  # initial-frame-alist applies
  emacsclient -c
  # initial-frame-alist does not apply
  # now close all of the emacs windows
  emacsclient -c
  # initial-frame-alist applies again

This behaviour should also happen if emacs was started by `emacs -nw` and
the server started there, for consistency. WDYT?

Re: initial-frame-alist

[Stefan Monnier]

> It appears that setting initial-frame-alist has no effect if Emacs is
> started with --daemon; is this intended?

Yes: it's used for the *initial* frame.  Not the *first* frame.


        Stefan

Re: initial-frame-alist

[Stephen Berman]

On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:13:25 -0700 mail@justinbogner.com wrote:

> Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> writes:
>> It appears that setting initial-frame-alist has no effect if Emacs is
>> started with --daemon; is this intended?  Here's a case in point:
>>
>> Let ~/.emacs consist of this sexp:
>>
>> (setq initial-frame-alist
>>       (append initial-frame-alist '((width . 85) (height . 58))))
>>
>> Then do this:
>>
>> $ emacs --daemon
>> $ emacsclient -c
>>
>> The resulting frame has default width and height, not those specified in
>> ~/.emacs.  If instead I start Emacs like this:
>>
>
> [ SNIP ... ]
>
> This seems like expected behaviour: there is no frame initially. Having
> `emacsclient -c` work differently depending on whether or not it's the
> first time it's been invoked seems wrong. 

Is it wrong if it's the only way that initial-frame-alist can be
effectively used with --daemon?

>                                           If we do want to "fix" this
> behaviour, then I suppose initial-frame-alist should apply to a frame in
> any case where no other frame exists, ie:
>
>   emacs --daemon
>   emacsclient -c
>   # initial-frame-alist applies
>   emacsclient -c
>   # initial-frame-alist does not apply
>   # now close all of the emacs windows
>   emacsclient -c
>   # initial-frame-alist applies again
>
> This behaviour should also happen if emacs was started by `emacs -nw` and
> the server started there, for consistency. WDYT?

This would be fine by me.

Steve Berman