Timeout for reading file across network

Timeout for reading file across network

[Ali Pang]

Hi,

I'd like to load my .emacs from a remote location if possible. The problem
is I'm on windows, and the time-out before recognizing that the file is
unavailable is ridiculously long (minutes). Thus if the file is unavailable,
emacs blocks for a long time at startup. I've tried basically doing

(if (with-timeout (4) 
      (file-exists-p remote-.emacs))
  (load remote-.emacs))

but I guess with-timeout does not do what I want. Any ideas about what I
could use instead?
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Re: Timeout for reading file across network

[PJ Weisberg]

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I'm no Emacs expert, but from a quick look at the documentation for
with-timeout it looks like you should use:

(with-timeout (4)
     (load remote-.emacs))

What actually happens when you do that?  Nothing at all?  Waits longer than
four seconds?

On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 6:43 AM, Ali Pang <ali_pang@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> I'd like to load my .emacs from a remote location if possible. The problem
> is I'm on windows, and the time-out before recognizing that the file is
> unavailable is ridiculously long (minutes). Thus if the file is
> unavailable,
> emacs blocks for a long time at startup. I've tried basically doing
>
> (if (with-timeout (4)
>      (file-exists-p remote-.emacs))
>  (load remote-.emacs))
>
> but I guess with-timeout does not do what I want. Any ideas about what I
> could use instead?
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://old.nabble.com/Timeout-for-reading-file-across-network-tp29604481p29604481.html
> Sent from the Emacs - Help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>
>

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Re: Timeout for reading file across network

[Stefan Monnier]

> (if (with-timeout (4) 
>       (file-exists-p remote-.emacs))
>   (load remote-.emacs))

Emacs is not too good at non-blocking operations, timeouts, or
threading.  The only support for it is basically through asynchronous
processes.  So your best bet is to call start-process to run a separate
program that will try and access the file.
You can then wait with a sleep-for (or with some with-timeout maybe).


        Stefan