Unable to Jump to a File/Directory Register

Unable to Jump to a File/Directory Register

[Eric James Michael Ritz]

Heyo fellow Emacs users,

I have run into a problem with registers, which was easy to deal with,
but I want to know if anyone else has seen this issue before.  I
define some registers in my dot-Emacs file for quick access to certain
files and directories.  This is the particular register that gave me
problems:

     (set-register ?f '(file . "~/.config/fish/"))

Whenever I attempted `C-x r j f` Emacs would respond with
‘jump-to-register: Register doesn't contain a buffer position or
configuration’.  However, it would work if I went to that
`set-register` call and manually evaluated it.

I ‘fixed’ the problem by just using a different letter; specifically,
I use `?s` as the register now instead of `?f`, and it works without
any problems.  Has anyone else ever run into problems with using `?f`
as a register for short-cut access to files or directories?  I am
using the following version of Emacs:

     GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.13).

Thanks in advanced for any information or insight.

-- 
ejmr :: http://ericjmritz.wordpress.com/
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RE: Unable to Jump to a File/Directory Register

[Drew Adams]

> I have run into a problem with registers, which was easy to deal with,
> but I want to know if anyone else has seen this issue before.  I
> define some registers in my dot-Emacs file for quick access to certain
> files and directories.  This is the particular register that gave me
> problems:
> 
>      (set-register ?f '(file . "~/.config/fish/"))
> 
> Whenever I attempted `C-x r j f` Emacs would respond with
> ‘jump-to-register: Register doesn't contain a buffer position or
> configuration’.  However, it would work if I went to that
> `set-register` call and manually evaluated it.
> 
> I ‘fixed’ the problem by just using a different letter; specifically,
> I use `?s` as the register now instead of `?f`, and it works without
> any problems.  Has anyone else ever run into problems with using `?f`
> as a register for short-cut access to files or directories?  I am
> using the following version of Emacs:
> 
>      GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.13).

I don't see what you see - it works fine for me.
Do you see this if you start from `emacs -Q' (no init file)?

If so, load library `register.el' (yes, include the `.el' when you
use `load-library'). The do `M-x debug-on-entry jump-to-register' and
the walk through the debugger (using `d') to see what happens. Before
doing that show file register.el in another window or frame so you
can easily follow where the debugger is in the code.

(If I had to guess, it would be that you are not starting from
`emacs -Q' and something in your init file or code it loads is messing
things up.)

Re: Unable to Jump to a File/Directory Register

[Eric James Michael Ritz]

Thank you for the quick response.

On 08/14/2013 02:59 AM, Drew Adams wrote:
 > I don't see what you see - it works fine for me.  Do you see this if
 > you start from `emacs -Q' (no init file)?

No.  But by using `emacs -Q` I have to call `set-register` manually
before I can see if `C-x r j f` does what I want.  That works, but it
always works if I run `(set-register ?s '(file . "~/.config/fish/"))`
explicitly.  That makes me think that you are probably correct then
that something else in my init file is causing a problem.

 > If so, load library `register.el' (yes, include the `.el' when you
 > use `load-library'). The do `M-x debug-on-entry jump-to-register'
 > and the walk through the debugger (using `d') to see what
 > happens. Before doing that show file register.el in another window
 > or frame so you can easi,ly follow where the debugger is in the code.

Thank you for the `M-x debug-on-entry jump-to-register` suggestion.
That should be quite useful.

 > (If I had to guess, it would be that you are not starting from
 > `emacs -Q' and something in your init file or code it loads is
 > messing things up.)

Just curious, off the top of your head have you heard of any
third-party packages that cause problems or conflicts with registers?

-- 
ejmr :: http://ericjmritz.wordpress.com/
南無妙法蓮華經

RE: Unable to Jump to a File/Directory Register

[Drew Adams]

> No.  But by using `emacs -Q` I have to call `set-register` manually
> before I can see if `C-x r j f` does what I want.  That works, but it
> always works if I run `(set-register ?s '(file . "~/.config/fish/"))`
> explicitly.  That makes me think that you are probably correct then
> that something else in my init file is causing a problem.

Ah, your original report suggested that you did
`(set-register ?s '(file . "~/.config/fish/"))` directly.

Yes, no doubt something you are loading or doing is interfering.
The best approach for this, even before debugging to see what goes
wrong, is to bisect your init file to find the code that introduces
the problem.  This is very quick to do - it's a binary search.  Just
inhibit half of your init file, then 3/4, then 7/8, etc. until you 
find exactly where the problem is.

>  > If so, load library `register.el' (yes, include the `.el' when you
>  > use `load-library'). The do `M-x debug-on-entry jump-to-register'
>  > and the walk through the debugger (using `d') to see what
>  > happens. Before doing that show file register.el in another window
>  > or frame so you can easi,ly follow where the debugger is in the code.
> 
> Thank you for the `M-x debug-on-entry jump-to-register` suggestion.
> That should be quite useful.
> 
>  > (If I had to guess, it would be that you are not starting from
>  > `emacs -Q' and something in your init file or code it loads is
>  > messing things up.)
> 
> Just curious, off the top of your head have you heard of any
> third-party packages that cause problems or conflicts with registers?

I haven't, but perhaps someone else here has.