Random "Regular expression too big"

Random "Regular expression too big"

[Rob Emanuele]

Greetings,

Every now and again I've been getting an error "Regular expression too
big".  This seems to occur randomly.  Sometimes it can occur on
startup and emacs never opens.  Other times emacs opens and these
messages below are listed out.  Yet other times it'll happen in the
middle of my work while I'm saving, setting the fontset, or doing some
otherwise innocuous task.

This is with emacs:
GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.12.5) of
2008-05-23 on xenbuilder2.fedora.redhat.com

This will still happen even if I remove my .emacs and even if I remove
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp.

("emacs" "production/main.cpp")
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/focus-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/igrep-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/php-mode-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/po-mode-init.el (source)...done
Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/rpm-spec-mode-init.el
(source)...done
For information about the GNU Project and its goals, type C-h C-p.
Loading cc-mode...done
File mode specification error: (invalid-regexp "Regular expression too big")
Loading vc-svn...done
Loading vc...done
vc-svn-parse-status: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big"
mouse-drag-region: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big" [2 times]
byte-code: Beginning of buffer
Error in menu-bar-update-hook: (invalid-regexp Regular expression too big)

Thank you for any help fixing this or working around it!

--Rob

Re: Random "Regular expression too big"

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Rob!

On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 12:03:31PM -0700, Rob Emanuele wrote:
> Greetings,

> Every now and again I've been getting an error "Regular expression too
> big".  This seems to occur randomly.  Sometimes it can occur on startup
> and emacs never opens.  Other times emacs opens and these messages
> below are listed out.  Yet other times it'll happen in the middle of my
> work while I'm saving, setting the fontset, or doing some otherwise
> innocuous task.

Does it happen:
(i) a lot - so often that you can hardly get your work done;
(ii) sometimes - once or twice a week, but you're continually on edge
  about it.
(iii) once a blue moon?

Hopefull it's (i) or (ii).  :-)

A good thing to do would be to start your Emacs as

  emacs --debug-init

, and once you've started OK, do

  M-: (setq debug-on-error t)

.  One of these will generate a lisp stack dump when the error happens
again.

> This is with emacs:
> GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.12.5) of
> 2008-05-23 on xenbuilder2.fedora.redhat.com

> This will still happen even if I remove my .emacs and even if I remove
> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp.

Hmmm...  That suggests that some other initialisation file is giving you
grief.  There's a list of these files on the page "Init File" in the
Emacs manual.  Try doing

M-x locate-library default

.  If this locates a default.el, the problem may be there.

> ("emacs" "production/main.cpp")
> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/focus-init.el (source)...done
> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/igrep-init.el (source)...done
> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/php-mode-init.el (source)...done
> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/po-mode-init.el (source)...done
> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/rpm-spec-mode-init.el
> (source)...done
> For information about the GNU Project and its goals, type C-h C-p.
> Loading cc-mode...done
> File mode specification error: (invalid-regexp "Regular expression too big")

This error occurs in the function `normal-mode', which was in the course
of determining the major mode for the file you were trying to visit
(whatever that might be).  Seeing as how CC Mode has just been loaded,
this could well be a C, C++, ... file.

> Loading vc-svn...done
> Loading vc...done
> vc-svn-parse-status: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big"
> mouse-drag-region: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big" [2 times]
 byte-code: Beginning of buffer
> Error in menu-bar-update-hook: (invalid-regexp Regular expression too big)

> Thank you for any help fixing this or working around it!

You do seem to like big regular expressions rather a lot.  ;-)

Anyhow, please activate these things which will generate a stack dump.
That might well enable you to fix the problem yourself.  If not, post the
dump here.

> --Rob

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).

Re: Random "Regular expression too big"

[Rob Emanuele]

So far the error still happens, with no stack trace even after
--debug-init and M-: (setq debug-on-error t).  It happens lets say 1
in 4 times of starting emacs.

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:36 AM, Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> wrote:
> Hi, Rob!
>
> On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 12:03:31PM -0700, Rob Emanuele wrote:
>> Greetings,
>
>> Every now and again I've been getting an error "Regular expression too
>> big".  This seems to occur randomly.  Sometimes it can occur on startup
>> and emacs never opens.  Other times emacs opens and these messages
>> below are listed out.  Yet other times it'll happen in the middle of my
>> work while I'm saving, setting the fontset, or doing some otherwise
>> innocuous task.
>
> Does it happen:
> (i) a lot - so often that you can hardly get your work done;
> (ii) sometimes - once or twice a week, but you're continually on edge
>  about it.
> (iii) once a blue moon?
>
> Hopefull it's (i) or (ii).  :-)
>
> A good thing to do would be to start your Emacs as
>
>  emacs --debug-init
>
> , and once you've started OK, do
>
>  M-: (setq debug-on-error t)
>
> .  One of these will generate a lisp stack dump when the error happens
> again.
>
>> This is with emacs:
>> GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.12.5) of
>> 2008-05-23 on xenbuilder2.fedora.redhat.com
>
>> This will still happen even if I remove my .emacs and even if I remove
>> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp.
>
> Hmmm...  That suggests that some other initialisation file is giving you
> grief.  There's a list of these files on the page "Init File" in the
> Emacs manual.  Try doing
>
> M-x locate-library default
>
> .  If this locates a default.el, the problem may be there.
>
>> ("emacs" "production/main.cpp")
>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/focus-init.el (source)...done
>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/igrep-init.el (source)...done
>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/php-mode-init.el (source)...done
>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/po-mode-init.el (source)...done
>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/rpm-spec-mode-init.el
>> (source)...done
>> For information about the GNU Project and its goals, type C-h C-p.
>> Loading cc-mode...done
>> File mode specification error: (invalid-regexp "Regular expression too big")
>
> This error occurs in the function `normal-mode', which was in the course
> of determining the major mode for the file you were trying to visit
> (whatever that might be).  Seeing as how CC Mode has just been loaded,
> this could well be a C, C++, ... file.
>
>> Loading vc-svn...done
>> Loading vc...done
>> vc-svn-parse-status: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big"
>> mouse-drag-region: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big" [2 times]
>  byte-code: Beginning of buffer
>> Error in menu-bar-update-hook: (invalid-regexp Regular expression too big)
>
>> Thank you for any help fixing this or working around it!
>
> You do seem to like big regular expressions rather a lot.  ;-)
>
> Anyhow, please activate these things which will generate a stack dump.
> That might well enable you to fix the problem yourself.  If not, post the
> dump here.
>
>> --Rob
>
> --
> Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
>

Re: Random "Regular expression too big"

[Joseph Shraibman]

In the last couple of days this starting being a problem for me, I don't 
know why.  I'm getting it most of the time.  Sometimes I can't even exit 
emacs because the quit command fails with "Regular expression too big"

Rob Emanuele wrote:
> So far the error still happens, with no stack trace even after
> --debug-init and M-: (setq debug-on-error t).  It happens lets say 1
> in 4 times of starting emacs.
> 
> On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:36 AM, Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> wrote:
>> Hi, Rob!
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 12:03:31PM -0700, Rob Emanuele wrote:
>>> Greetings,
>>> Every now and again I've been getting an error "Regular expression too
>>> big".  This seems to occur randomly.  Sometimes it can occur on startup
>>> and emacs never opens.  Other times emacs opens and these messages
>>> below are listed out.  Yet other times it'll happen in the middle of my
>>> work while I'm saving, setting the fontset, or doing some otherwise
>>> innocuous task.
>> Does it happen:
>> (i) a lot - so often that you can hardly get your work done;
>> (ii) sometimes - once or twice a week, but you're continually on edge
>>  about it.
>> (iii) once a blue moon?
>>
>> Hopefull it's (i) or (ii).  :-)
>>
>> A good thing to do would be to start your Emacs as
>>
>>  emacs --debug-init
>>
>> , and once you've started OK, do
>>
>>  M-: (setq debug-on-error t)
>>
>> .  One of these will generate a lisp stack dump when the error happens
>> again.
>>
>>> This is with emacs:
>>> GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.12.5) of
>>> 2008-05-23 on xenbuilder2.fedora.redhat.com
>>> This will still happen even if I remove my .emacs and even if I remove
>>> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp.
>> Hmmm...  That suggests that some other initialisation file is giving you
>> grief.  There's a list of these files on the page "Init File" in the
>> Emacs manual.  Try doing
>>
>> M-x locate-library default
>>
>> .  If this locates a default.el, the problem may be there.
>>
>>> ("emacs" "production/main.cpp")
>>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/focus-init.el (source)...done
>>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/igrep-init.el (source)...done
>>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/php-mode-init.el (source)...done
>>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/po-mode-init.el (source)...done
>>> Loading /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/site-start.d/rpm-spec-mode-init.el
>>> (source)...done
>>> For information about the GNU Project and its goals, type C-h C-p.
>>> Loading cc-mode...done
>>> File mode specification error: (invalid-regexp "Regular expression too big")
>> This error occurs in the function `normal-mode', which was in the course
>> of determining the major mode for the file you were trying to visit
>> (whatever that might be).  Seeing as how CC Mode has just been loaded,
>> this could well be a C, C++, ... file.
>>
>>> Loading vc-svn...done
>>> Loading vc...done
>>> vc-svn-parse-status: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big"
>>> mouse-drag-region: Invalid regexp: "Regular expression too big" [2 times]
>>  byte-code: Beginning of buffer
>>> Error in menu-bar-update-hook: (invalid-regexp Regular expression too big)
>>> Thank you for any help fixing this or working around it!
>> You do seem to like big regular expressions rather a lot.  ;-)
>>
>> Anyhow, please activate these things which will generate a stack dump.
>> That might well enable you to fix the problem yourself.  If not, post the
>> dump here.
>>
>>> --Rob
>> --
>> Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
>>
> 
> 

Re: Random "Regular expression too big"

[Donovan Kolbly]

On Aug 19, 9:44 pm, Joseph Shraibman <j...@iname.com> wrote:
> In the last couple of days this starting being a problem for me, I don't
> know why.  I'm getting it most of the time.  Sometimes I can't even exit
> emacs because the quit command fails with "Regular expression too big"

I've been seeing this intermittently for a while, also, and it seems
to come in bursts.  Trying the --debug-init thing, I briefly saw
something in the *Message*s that made me think it had to do with the
operation of painting the screen.  And sometimes when it happens at
startup, the screen is not fully painted and fonts are messed up (lots
of boxes instead of glyphs).  Now I can't repro that one, though.

It seems to have nothing to do with regular expressions or init files,
except
maybe some timing characteristics, because it's completely non-
deterministic.

I managed to capture an strace -ttt output of an emacs startup that
did produce
the error and one that did not, but the asynchronous nature of emacs'
event loop
did not lend itself to analysis at that level.