Emacs 27.1 init file not loading

Emacs 27.1 init file not loading

[Skip Montanaro]

I recently switched from Ubuntu to XUbuntu and in the process lost
Emacs 27.2. The standard repo only had 26.3, so I went looking for
alternative locations and landed here:

https://launchpad.net/~kelleyk/+archive/ubuntu/emacs

That only had 27.1, but I figured "How different could it be?" As it
turns out, it's different in one pretty significant way. Running just
"emacs" from the command line, it fails to find/load
~/.config/emacs/init.el. If I run it like so:

emacs --load ~/.config/emacs/init.el

it does load. I can tell that it doesn't load in the normal case
because I added a couple calls to (message "...") to start and end the
file. They don't show in the minibuffer or the *Messages* buffer
unless I use the more explicit command.

For the time being I just created a symlink from ~/.emacs to
~/.config/emacs/init.el.

Is there a more-or-less standard place to find 27.2 for Debian-like
systems? I know I could download and build Emacs myself, but I'm
getting old and prefer to let the system take care of managing
dependencies and updates. For me the days of compiling and installing
Emacs (or the Linux kernel) on a daily or weekly basis are way in the
past.

Thanks,

Skip

Re: Emacs 27.1 init file not loading

[Robert Pluim]

>>>>> On Thu, 20 May 2021 08:10:09 -0500, Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> said:

    Skip> I recently switched from Ubuntu to XUbuntu and in the process lost
    Skip> Emacs 27.2. The standard repo only had 26.3, so I went looking for
    Skip> alternative locations and landed here:

    Skip> https://launchpad.net/~kelleyk/+archive/ubuntu/emacs

    Skip> That only had 27.1, but I figured "How different could it be?" As it
    Skip> turns out, it's different in one pretty significant way. Running just
    Skip> "emacs" from the command line, it fails to find/load
    Skip> ~/.config/emacs/init.el. If I run it like so:

    Skip> emacs --load ~/.config/emacs/init.el

    Skip> it does load. I can tell that it doesn't load in the normal case
    Skip> because I added a couple calls to (message "...") to start and end the
    Skip> file. They don't show in the minibuffer or the *Messages* buffer
    Skip> unless I use the more explicit command.

What's the value of 'user-init-file' when you run emacs normally
(without the symlink below)? Itʼs possible emacs is looking for
'~/.emacs.d/init.el'.

    Skip> For the time being I just created a symlink from ~/.emacs to
    Skip> ~/.config/emacs/init.el.

Robert
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Re: Emacs 27.1 init file not loading

[Joost Kremers]

On Thu, May 20 2021, Skip Montanaro wrote:
> I recently switched from Ubuntu to XUbuntu and in the process lost
> Emacs 27.2. The standard repo only had 26.3, so I went looking for
> alternative locations and landed here:
>
> https://launchpad.net/~kelleyk/+archive/ubuntu/emacs
>
> That only had 27.1, but I figured "How different could it be?" As it
> turns out, it's different in one pretty significant way. Running just
> "emacs" from the command line, it fails to find/load
> ~/.config/emacs/init.el.

You may want to read:

(info "(emacs) Find Init")

Basically, check to make sure there's no `~.emacs.el`, `~.emacs` or `~/.emacs.d/init.el`.

-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments

Re: Emacs 27.1 init file not loading

[Skip Montanaro]

> What's the value of 'user-init-file' when you run emacs normally
> (without the symlink below)? Itʼs possible emacs is looking for
> '~/.emacs.d/init.el'.

"~/.emacs"

I think I figured it out. In this manual section:

https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Find-Init.html

it explicitly mentions ~/.emacs.el, ~/.emacs, and ~/.emacs.d/init.el. It
also states (emphasis mine):

Emacs can also look in an XDG-compatible location for init.el, the default
is the directory ~/.config/emacs *[this existed but seemed to be ignored]*.
This can be overridden by setting XDG_CONFIG_HOME in your environment, its
value replaces ~/.config in the name of the default XDG init file. However
~/.emacs.d, ~/.emacs, and ~/.emacs.el are always preferred if they exist,
which means that you must delete or rename them in order to use the XDG
location.

Note also that if neither the XDG location nor ~/.emacs.d exist, then Emacs
will create ~/.emacs.d (*and therefore use it during subsequent invocations*
).


I had no XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable, so it created ~/.emacs.d
(probably silently), so after that, even when I did set XDG_CONFIG_HOME, it
still preferred the virtually empty ~/.emacs.d. I set XDG_CONFIG_HOME,
removed ~/.emacs.d, and all is once again right with the world.

Skip

Re: Emacs 27.1 init file not loading

[Robert Pluim]

>>>>> On Thu, 20 May 2021 15:27:28 -0500, Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> said:

    >> What's the value of 'user-init-file' when you run emacs normally
    >> (without the symlink below)? Itʼs possible emacs is looking for
    >> '~/.emacs.d/init.el'.

    Skip> "~/.emacs"

    Skip> I think I figured it out. In this manual section:

    Skip> https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Find-Init.html

    Skip> it explicitly mentions ~/.emacs.el, ~/.emacs, and ~/.emacs.d/init.el. It
    Skip> also states (emphasis mine):

    Skip> Emacs can also look in an XDG-compatible location for init.el, the default
    Skip> is the directory ~/.config/emacs *[this existed but seemed to be ignored]*.
    Skip> This can be overridden by setting XDG_CONFIG_HOME in your environment, its
    Skip> value replaces ~/.config in the name of the default XDG init file. However
    Skip> ~/.emacs.d, ~/.emacs, and ~/.emacs.el are always preferred if they exist,
    Skip> which means that you must delete or rename them in order to use the XDG
    Skip> location.

Note the 'are always preferred' bit.

    Skip> Note also that if neither the XDG location nor ~/.emacs.d exist, then Emacs
    Skip> will create ~/.emacs.d (*and therefore use it during subsequent invocations*
    Skip> ).


    Skip> I had no XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable, so it created ~/.emacs.d
    Skip> (probably silently), so after that, even when I did set XDG_CONFIG_HOME, it
    Skip> still preferred the virtually empty ~/.emacs.d. I set XDG_CONFIG_HOME,
    Skip> removed ~/.emacs.d, and all is once again right with the world.

If XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset, then emacs looks in ~/.config/emacs. I
wonder if you were initially running a version of emacs that used
~/.config/emacs/init.el even if ~/.emacs.d existed, but that was
changed before the emacs27 release.

In any case, Iʼm glad you solved it.

Robert
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