Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Karl Voit]

Hi!

I sometimes face errors like this:

"avy-menu: Symbol's function definition is void:
with-current-buffer-window"

OK, so a package misses some function which is probably provided by
another package (missing dependency).

How do I locate the package which is able to provide me the
function?

Most of the time I get lucky by searching the web with the error
message. However, this time (and some other times), I am not able to
find the missing code.

-- 
All in all, one of the most disturbing things today is the definitive
fact that the NSA, GCHQ, and many more government organizations are
massively terrorizing the freedom of us and the next generations.
                                                  http://Karl-Voit.at

Re: Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Nick Dokos]

Karl Voit <devnull@Karl-Voit.at> writes:

> Hi!
>
> I sometimes face errors like this:
>
> "avy-menu: Symbol's function definition is void:
> with-current-buffer-window"
>
> OK, so a package misses some function which is probably provided by
> another package (missing dependency).
>
> How do I locate the package which is able to provide me the
> function?
>
> Most of the time I get lucky by searching the web with the error
> message. However, this time (and some other times), I am not able to
> find the missing code.

with-current-buffer-window is defined in the emacs25 version of
window.el, but not in emacs24 afaict.

--
Nick

Re: Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Óscar Fuentes]

Karl Voit <devnull@Karl-Voit.at> writes:

> Hi!
>
> I sometimes face errors like this:
>
> "avy-menu: Symbol's function definition is void:
> with-current-buffer-window"
>
> OK, so a package misses some function which is probably provided by
> another package (missing dependency).

Which version is your Emacs? avy-menu requires the latest release of
Emacs (24.5)

> How do I locate the package which is able to provide me the
> function?
>
> Most of the time I get lucky by searching the web with the error
> message. However, this time (and some other times), I am not able to
> find the missing code.

What I do is searching the missing symbol, probably with "emacs".

For your specific case above I searched the Emacs sources and found that
with-current-buffer-window was introduced on 2014-03-16, which means
that *probably* it was released on Emacs 24.4. That was an Emacs
feature, if the missing piece is in a package, googling is the way to
go, as mentioned above. However, any package worth its salt must mention
its dependencies, versions included. The current avy-menu.el mentions

;; Package-Requires: ((emacs "24.3") (avy "0.3.0"))

I think that (emacs "24.3") is wrong, because that version was released
before with-current-buffer-window was coded into Emacs.

Re: Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Óscar Fuentes]

Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com> writes:

> with-current-buffer-window is defined in the emacs25 version of
> window.el, but not in emacs24 afaict.

I just checked and with-current-buffer-window is present in the
emacs-24.4 release tag, but not in the emacs-24.3 release tag.

Re: Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Óscar Fuentes]

Óscar Fuentes <ofv@wanadoo.es> writes:

>> I sometimes face errors like this:
>>
>> "avy-menu: Symbol's function definition is void:
>> with-current-buffer-window"
>>
>> OK, so a package misses some function which is probably provided by
>> another package (missing dependency).
>
> Which version is your Emacs? avy-menu requires the latest release of
> Emacs (24.5)

Correction: as implicitly stated below, avy-menu requires Emacs 24.4 (at
least).

>> How do I locate the package which is able to provide me the
>> function?
>>
>> Most of the time I get lucky by searching the web with the error
>> message. However, this time (and some other times), I am not able to
>> find the missing code.
>
> What I do is searching the missing symbol, probably with "emacs".
>
> For your specific case above I searched the Emacs sources and found that
> with-current-buffer-window was introduced on 2014-03-16, which means
> that *probably* it was released on Emacs 24.4. That was an Emacs
> feature, if the missing piece is in a package, googling is the way to
> go, as mentioned above. However, any package worth its salt must mention
> its dependencies, versions included. The current avy-menu.el mentions
>
> ;; Package-Requires: ((emacs "24.3") (avy "0.3.0"))
>
> I think that (emacs "24.3") is wrong, because that version was released
> before with-current-buffer-window was coded into Emacs.

Re: Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Karl Voit]

* Óscar Fuentes <ofv@wanadoo.es> wrote:
> Óscar Fuentes <ofv@wanadoo.es> writes:
>
>>> I sometimes face errors like this:
>>>
>>> "avy-menu: Symbol's function definition is void:
>>> with-current-buffer-window"
>>>
>>> OK, so a package misses some function which is probably provided by
>>> another package (missing dependency).
>>
>> Which version is your Emacs? avy-menu requires the latest release of
>> Emacs (24.5)
>
> Correction: as implicitly stated below, avy-menu requires Emacs 24.4 (at
> least).

At home, I do run Emacs 24.4 (Debian). At work, I use 24.3 (Windows).

So avy-menu has a bug in its dependency-list. Thanks!

>> For your specific case above I searched the Emacs sources and found that
>> with-current-buffer-window was introduced on 2014-03-16, which means
>> that *probably* it was released on Emacs 24.4. That was an Emacs
>> feature, if the missing piece is in a package, googling is the way to
>> go, as mentioned above. However, any package worth its salt must mention
>> its dependencies, versions included. The current avy-menu.el mentions
>>
>> ;; Package-Requires: ((emacs "24.3") (avy "0.3.0"))
>>
>> I think that (emacs "24.3") is wrong, because that version was released
>> before with-current-buffer-window was coded into Emacs.

Am I guessing right when the algorithm for locating missing
functions is:

1. Web-search with "emacs" and the function name
2. Search the Emacs source code repository to find it in the most
   recent code
3. Ask for help at gmane.emacs.help (this mailinglist)

-- 
All in all, one of the most disturbing things today is the definitive
fact that the NSA, GCHQ, and many more government organizations are
massively terrorizing the freedom of us and the next generations.
                                                  http://Karl-Voit.at

Re: Symbol's function definition is void: locating the code

[Óscar Fuentes]

Karl Voit <devnull@Karl-Voit.at> writes:

> Am I guessing right when the algorithm for locating missing
> functions is:
>
> 1. Web-search with "emacs" and the function name
> 2. Search the Emacs source code repository to find it in the most
>    recent code

Suppossing that it is expected to be defined on the Emacs sources, a
symbol might be absent from your install either because it is too old
(the symbol was introduced on a more recent Emacs version) or too new
(the symbol was removed from the Emacs sources). The later case is not
very frequent because the Emacs maintainers are very conservative when
removing old stuff.

> 3. Ask for help at gmane.emacs.help (this mailinglist)

This is the slowest resource, yes.

Personally I do 2 before 1, using the Changelog files, the NEWS files
and the version control history.