Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Carlo Tambuatco]

I have both ESS and projectile installed and I have projectile mode on by
default.

From my init.el file:

;; Load projectile
(use-package projectile
  :ensure t
  :config
  (define-key projectile-mode-map (kbd "C-x p") 'projectile-command-map)
  (projectile-mode +1))

Recently (as of about 1 day ago), emacs has been giving me this error
when call (require 'ess-site) in my ESS-init.el file, or whenever I try to
open an interactive R session via M-x R

"project-root is already defined as something else than a generic function."

WTF....?

Maybe it will help if I include some debugging output:

Begin Error:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "project-root is already defined as
something else than a generic function")
  signal(error ("project-root is already defined as something else than a
generic function"))
  error("%s is already defined as something else than a generic function"
project-root)
  cl-generic-ensure-function(project-root)
  cl-generic-define-method(project-root nil ((project (head
ess-r-package))) nil #f(compiled-function (project) "Return the project
root for ESS R packages" #<bytecode 0x13a9d4d>))
  byte-code("\300\301\302\303\302\304%\210\300\305\302\306\302\307%\207"
[cl-generic-define-method project-roots nil ((project (head
ess-r-package))) #f(compiled-function (project) "Return the project root
for ESS R packages" #<bytecode 0x13a9d41>) project-root ((project (head
ess-r-package))) #f(compiled-function (project) "Return the project root
for ESS R packages" #<bytecode 0x13a9d4d>)] 6)
  require(ess-r-package)
  eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*-836759> nil
"/home/carlotam79/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20210520.2146/ess-r-mode.el" nil t)  ;
Reading at buffer position 1277

load-with-code-conversion("/home/carlotam79/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20210520.2146/ess-r-mode.el"
"/home/carlotam79/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20210520.2146/ess-r-mode.el" nil t)
  require(ess-r-mode)
  eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*> nil
"/home/carlotam79/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20210520.2146/ess-site.el" nil t)  ;
Reading at buffer position 2217

load-with-code-conversion("/home/carlotam79/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20210520.2146/ess-site.el"
"/home/carlotam79/.emacs.d/elpa/ess-20210520.2146/ess-site.el" nil t)
  require(ess-site)
  (progn (require (quote ess-site)))
  eval((progn (require (quote ess-site))) t)
  elisp--eval-last-sexp(nil)
  eval-last-sexp(nil)
  funcall-interactively(eval-last-sexp nil)
  call-interactively(eval-last-sexp nil nil)
  command-execute(eval-last-sexp)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End error

I feel like this might be fixed by setting some environment variable in
either projectile or ESS,
but this error message is not helping me to figure it out...

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Philip Kaludercic]

Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:

> I have both ESS and projectile installed and I have projectile mode on by
> default.
>
> From my init.el file:
>
> ;; Load projectile
> (use-package projectile
>   :ensure t
>   :config
>   (define-key projectile-mode-map (kbd "C-x p") 'projectile-command-map)
>   (projectile-mode +1))
>
> Recently (as of about 1 day ago), emacs has been giving me this error
> when call (require 'ess-site) in my ESS-init.el file, or whenever I try to
> open an interactive R session via M-x R
>
> "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic function."

project-root should be unrelated to projectile, what is going on is that
somehow a regular function is being defined, that is generating a
conflict with project-root, the generic function.

I had an issue similar to this just yesterday, and while I did not quite
understand what caused it, it seems that reinstalling the packages
and/or forcing the bytecode to regenerate fixed it.

So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project

-- 
	Philip K.

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Carlo Tambuatco]

"So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project"

You mean reinstall ESS and projectile?
Should I force bytecode re-compilation,
ie: M-x byte-recompile-directory <ess-directory> M-x
byte-recompile-directory <projectile-directory>

On Mon, Jun 7, 2021 at 6:16 AM Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> wrote:

> Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > I have both ESS and projectile installed and I have projectile mode on by
> > default.
> >
> > From my init.el file:
> >
> > ;; Load projectile
> > (use-package projectile
> >   :ensure t
> >   :config
> >   (define-key projectile-mode-map (kbd "C-x p") 'projectile-command-map)
> >   (projectile-mode +1))
> >
> > Recently (as of about 1 day ago), emacs has been giving me this error
> > when call (require 'ess-site) in my ESS-init.el file, or whenever I try
> to
> > open an interactive R session via M-x R
> >
> > "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic
> function."
>
> project-root should be unrelated to projectile, what is going on is that
> somehow a regular function is being defined, that is generating a
> conflict with project-root, the generic function.
>
> I had an issue similar to this just yesterday, and while I did not quite
> understand what caused it, it seems that reinstalling the packages
> and/or forcing the bytecode to regenerate fixed it.
>
> So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project
>
> --
>         Philip K.
>

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Philip Kaludercic]

Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:

> "So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project"
>
> You mean reinstall ESS and projectile?

That should be the easiest solution. And I don't think that projectile
should be to blame here, this is related to project.el, the built-in
package.

> Should I force bytecode re-compilation,
> ie: M-x byte-recompile-directory <ess-directory> M-x
> byte-recompile-directory <projectile-directory>
>
> On Mon, Jun 7, 2021 at 6:16 AM Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> wrote:
>
>> Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> > I have both ESS and projectile installed and I have projectile mode on by
>> > default.
>> >
>> > From my init.el file:
>> >
>> > ;; Load projectile
>> > (use-package projectile
>> >   :ensure t
>> >   :config
>> >   (define-key projectile-mode-map (kbd "C-x p") 'projectile-command-map)
>> >   (projectile-mode +1))
>> >
>> > Recently (as of about 1 day ago), emacs has been giving me this error
>> > when call (require 'ess-site) in my ESS-init.el file, or whenever I try
>> to
>> > open an interactive R session via M-x R
>> >
>> > "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic
>> function."
>>
>> project-root should be unrelated to projectile, what is going on is that
>> somehow a regular function is being defined, that is generating a
>> conflict with project-root, the generic function.
>>
>> I had an issue similar to this just yesterday, and while I did not quite
>> understand what caused it, it seems that reinstalling the packages
>> and/or forcing the bytecode to regenerate fixed it.
>>
>> So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project
>>
>> --
>>         Philip K.
>>

-- 
	Philip K.

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Carlo Tambuatco]

Unfortunately, reinstalling ESS did not solve the problem. I even tried
uninstalling
and reinstalling emacs itself to no avail. I don't know when this problem
occurred
or why but the combination of ESS and emacs-26.3 simply does not work. For
some reason, the ESS package still gives me this error:

"project-root is already defined as something else than a generic function"

On Mon, Jun 7, 2021 at 7:11 AM Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> wrote:

> Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > "So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project"
> >
> > You mean reinstall ESS and projectile?
>
> That should be the easiest solution. And I don't think that projectile
> should be to blame here, this is related to project.el, the built-in
> package.
>
> > Should I force bytecode re-compilation,
> > ie: M-x byte-recompile-directory <ess-directory> M-x
> > byte-recompile-directory <projectile-directory>
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 7, 2021 at 6:16 AM Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:
> >>
> >> > I have both ESS and projectile installed and I have projectile mode
> on by
> >> > default.
> >> >
> >> > From my init.el file:
> >> >
> >> > ;; Load projectile
> >> > (use-package projectile
> >> >   :ensure t
> >> >   :config
> >> >   (define-key projectile-mode-map (kbd "C-x p")
> 'projectile-command-map)
> >> >   (projectile-mode +1))
> >> >
> >> > Recently (as of about 1 day ago), emacs has been giving me this error
> >> > when call (require 'ess-site) in my ESS-init.el file, or whenever I
> try
> >> to
> >> > open an interactive R session via M-x R
> >> >
> >> > "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic
> >> function."
> >>
> >> project-root should be unrelated to projectile, what is going on is that
> >> somehow a regular function is being defined, that is generating a
> >> conflict with project-root, the generic function.
> >>
> >> I had an issue similar to this just yesterday, and while I did not quite
> >> understand what caused it, it seems that reinstalling the packages
> >> and/or forcing the bytecode to regenerate fixed it.
> >>
> >> So try M-x package-reinstall ess M-x package-reinstall project
> >>
> >> --
> >>         Philip K.
> >>
>
> --
>         Philip K.
>

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Philip Kaludercic]

Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:

> Unfortunately, reinstalling ESS did not solve the problem. I even tried
> uninstalling
> and reinstalling emacs itself to no avail. I don't know when this problem
> occurred
> or why but the combination of ESS and emacs-26.3 simply does not work. For
> some reason, the ESS package still gives me this error:
>
> "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic function"

Have you reported this issue to the ESS developers? From what I see they
appear do be doing something wrong, as project-root is a generic
function defined in the core, and they are apparently trying to
use the same symbol for a regular function.

-- 
	Philip K.

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Carlo Tambuatco]

I probably will report this issue to them soon. But the strange thing is, 
on my other computer, a Mac, I run emacs 28.0.50, a newer version than 
the emacs 26.3 version I run that is giving me this problem. But I use the 
same version of ESS on 28.0.50, which gives me no problems whatsoever 
on that newer version of emacs.

Something tells me they took ESS in a different direction with no thoughts 
on backwards compatibility. In the meantime, I would like to perhaps down 
grade the ESS version to a version that defininately works on emacs 26.3. 
Is there a way to do that with elpa…?

> On Jun 17, 2021, at 3:56 AM, Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> wrote:
> 
> Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Unfortunately, reinstalling ESS did not solve the problem. I even tried
>> uninstalling
>> and reinstalling emacs itself to no avail. I don't know when this problem
>> occurred
>> or why but the combination of ESS and emacs-26.3 simply does not work. For
>> some reason, the ESS package still gives me this error:
>> 
>> "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic function"
> 
> Have you reported this issue to the ESS developers? From what I see they
> appear do be doing something wrong, as project-root is a generic
> function defined in the core, and they are apparently trying to
> use the same symbol for a regular function.
> 
> -- 
> 	Philip K.

Re: Emacs 26.3 strange ESS init error regarding Projectile and project root.

[Philip Kaludercic]

Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:

> I probably will report this issue to them soon. But the strange thing is, 
> on my other computer, a Mac, I run emacs 28.0.50, a newer version than 
> the emacs 26.3 version I run that is giving me this problem. But I use the 
> same version of ESS on 28.0.50, which gives me no problems whatsoever 
> on that newer version of emacs.
>
> Something tells me they took ESS in a different direction with no thoughts 
> on backwards compatibility. 

project.el should be compatible with Emacs 26.3, if not that would be
considered a bug.

> In the meantime, I would like to perhaps down 
> grade the ESS version to a version that defininately works on emacs 26.3. 
> Is there a way to do that with elpa…?

Not directly, you could checkout the repository on an older version,
then package-from-buffer the elisp directory.

>> On Jun 17, 2021, at 3:56 AM, Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Carlo Tambuatco <oraclmaster@gmail.com> writes:
>> 
>>> Unfortunately, reinstalling ESS did not solve the problem. I even tried
>>> uninstalling
>>> and reinstalling emacs itself to no avail. I don't know when this problem
>>> occurred
>>> or why but the combination of ESS and emacs-26.3 simply does not work. For
>>> some reason, the ESS package still gives me this error:
>>> 
>>> "project-root is already defined as something else than a generic function"
>> 
>> Have you reported this issue to the ESS developers? From what I see they
>> appear do be doing something wrong, as project-root is a generic
>> function defined in the core, and they are apparently trying to
>> use the same symbol for a regular function.
>> 
>> -- 
>> 	Philip K.
>

-- 
	Philip K.