w3m-el-snapshot installation

w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Haines Brown]

I'm running debian squeeze with emacs 23, and for it I need a
development version of w3m:

  Debugger entered--Lisp error: 
      (error "Emacs-w3m of this version does not support Emacs 23; 
      try the development version")

So I installed w3m-el-snapshot, but it is not being used. I see that
there is still an old w3m directory in /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp, but
no new w3m directory in /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp. My sense is that
the installation should have removed the first and created the second.

Haines Brown

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Michael Heerdegen]

Hallo Haines,

what makes you think that w3m-el-snapshot is not being used?  What
happens if you do M-x w3m in emacs -q?

I have Debian testing and w3m-el-snapshot installed.  Here, all Elisp
source files are in "/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/w3m".  In
"/usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m", I see the byte compiles files (*.elc),
and symlinks to the sources.

If you want to see in Emacs which files any Debian package installs on your
system, install the Debian package "debian-el".  It provides
"apt-utils.el".  Use M-x apt-utils-show-package to get package info for
any Debian package.  In the *APT package info* buffer, hit v f to list the
installed files of this package.

Try this for "w3m-el-snapshot" to see where the package files were
installed.

Use M-x locate-library w3m RET to check if your emacs uses the right
w3m library. 

You can also try M-x list-load-path-shadows to check if any libraries of
"w3m-el-snapshot" are shadowed.


Regards,

Michael.

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Haines Brown]

Michael,

Very interesting. After a decade using emacs I'm just now discovering
some basic utilities. Thanks!

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> what makes you think that w3m-el-snapshot is not being used?  What
> happens if you do M-x w3m in emacs -q?

Well, I thought w3m-el-snapshot was not being used because of the error
message when I try to display a html file and because there's no w3m
snapshot el or elc files..

When I try to run the w3m command in an emacs session without any init
file, I get "[no match]". However, if in dired I do "! w3m", it does not
complain and displays a text file. Not sure of the significance of
this. Is there both an internal and an external w3m command?

> I have Debian testing and w3m-el-snapshot installed.  Here, all Elisp
> source files are in "/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/w3m".  In
> "/usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m", I see the byte compiles files
> (*.elc), and symlinks to the sources.

Not here. While my source files are also in
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/w3m, I do not have a
/usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m/ directory at all. Instead I have a
/usr/share/emacs/23.2 directory that has a site-lisp symlink to the
compiled files in /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/, which has no w3m
directory.

> Use M-x apt-utils-show-package to get package info for any Debian
> package.  In the *APT package info* buffer, hit v f to list the
> installed files of this package. Try this for "w3m-el-snapshot" to see
> where the package files were installed.

I find w3m .el files in /usr/share/emacs/site-list/w3m, but no relevant
files elsewhere, whether they be .el or .elc.

> Use M-x locate-library w3m RET to check if your emacs uses the right
> w3m library. 

Interesting. "No library w3m in search path". I could not infer from the
w3m-el-shapshot package description that w3m requires libraries.

> You can also try M-x list-load-path-shadows to check if any libraries
> of "w3m-el-snapshot" are shadowed.

No.

It seems that I have a broken w3m snapshot installation, for it did not
install libraries, and it did not create the /usr/share/emacs23/w3m
directory to hold elc files. Is that your impression as well?

I also find that I do not have w3m-el installed, although my impression
is that installing w3m-el-snapshot should install it, replacing an an
older version. However, w3m-el-snaphot does not specify what old version
is incompatible and what new version replaces it. In any case, I don't
have it.

I installed w3m-el-snapshot with aptitude. Should I have first removed
the w3m and perhaps w3m-el packages before trying to install
w3m-el-snapshot?

Haines

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Michael Heerdegen]

Haines,

> When I try to run the w3m command in an emacs session without any init
> file, I get "[no match]".

I assume you mean emacs -q.  (for emacs -Q, this would be normal).

> However, if in dired I do "! w3m", it does not
> complain and displays a text file. Not sure of the significance of
> this. Is there both an internal and an external w3m command?

w3m is a stand-alone browser.  "w3m-el" and "w3m-el-snapshot" provide the
interface for using it from Emacs.

> I find w3m .el files in /usr/share/emacs/site-list/w3m, but no relevant
> files elsewhere, whether they be .el or .elc.

Then at least the el source files were installed.  I think it's normal
that these are not used, since your Emacs searches for the byte compiled
files in another directory.

>> Use M-x locate-library w3m RET to check if your emacs uses the right
>> w3m library. 
> 
> Interesting. "No library w3m in search path". I could not infer from the
> w3m-el-shapshot package description that w3m requires libraries.

In Emacs-speak, every Emacs Lisp file is called a "library".  This just
means that Emacs can't find any file named "w3m".

If you get this for emacs -q, then indeed there's something wrong with
your installation.

> It seems that I have a broken w3m snapshot installation, for it did not
> install libraries, and it did not create the /usr/share/emacs23/w3m
> directory to hold elc files. Is that your impression as well?

My impression is that the installation script (on my host this is
"/usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot") failed
to byte compile the el source files, dunno why.

I would suggest to purge the "w3m-el-snapshot" package (key _ in
aptitude), and install it again.  Please watch the output.  Does it
say something about byte-compiling?

> I also find that I do not have w3m-el installed, although my impression
> is that installing w3m-el-snapshot should install it, replacing an an
> older version. However, w3m-el-snaphot does not specify what old version
> is incompatible and what new version replaces it. In any case, I don't
> have it.
>
> I installed w3m-el-snapshot with aptitude. Should I have first removed
> the w3m and perhaps w3m-el packages before trying to install
> w3m-el-snapshot?

No.  If you have successfully installed "w3m-el-snapshot" with aptitude,
it should work.  No matter what you did before etc.  (It is only
important that you use the original Debian installation of Emacs, and
not a version you've built yourself.)

"w3m-el-snapshot" depends on "w3m" and conflicts with "w3m-el" (at least
for my Debian testing).  That means, if you install "w3m-el-snapshot",
"w3m" will be installed automatically, and "w3m-el" must be removed if
it is currently installed.  As far as I know, aptitude does not allow to
perform any action that would break these rules, so you never get an
inconsistent state of package dependencies.



Regards,

Michael.

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Haines Brown]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> Haines,
>
>> When I try to run the w3m command in an emacs session without any init
>> file, I get "[no match]".
>
> I assume you mean emacs -q.  (for emacs -Q, this would be normal).

No, by "without any init" I means with -q option. I'm not clear whether
or not the "[no match]" is proper.

>>> Use M-x locate-library w3m RET to check if your emacs uses the right
>>> w3m library. 

> If you get this for emacs -q, then indeed there's something wrong with
> your installation.

Indeed, this was the response with emacs -q and now I repeat to be
sure. Only a minor point: the sequence is a) M-x locate-library, b) RET,
c) w3m, d) No library w3m in search path. I.e., the order I used is
different).

> I would suggest to purge the "w3m-el-snapshot" package (key _ in
> aptitude), and install it again.  Please watch the output.  Does it
> say something about byte-compiling?

I purged w3m-el-snapshot and w3m and reinstalled debian squeeze
w3m-el-snapshot. In answer to your question, the w3m-el-snapshot was not
byte-compiled. Here's the end of the feedback:

  ...
  Unpacking w3m-el-snapshot (from
            .../w3m-el-snapshot_1.4.400+0.20100725-1_all.deb) ... 
  Processing triggers for menu ...
  Processing triggers for man-db ...
  Processing triggers for install-info ...
  Setting up w3m (0.5.2-9) ...
  Setting up apel (10.8-1) ...
  install/apel: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
           /tmp/elc.ZOMVotML0oJ0 
  install/apel: deleting /tmp/elc.ZOMVotML0oJ0
  install/apel: byte-compiling for reverse dependency
  Setting up flim (1:1.14.9+0.20100313-2) ...
  install/apel: already byte-compiled for emacs23, skipped
  install/flim: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
          /tmp/elc.0A1vGIUGCqTr      
  install/flim: deleting /tmp/elc.0A1vGIUGCqTr
  install/flim: byte-compiling for reverse dependency
  Setting up w3m-el-snapshot (1.4.400+0.20100725-1) ...
  install/apel: already byte-compiled for emacs23, skipped
  Processing triggers for menu ...

It looks to me that w3m, apel, flim and w3m-el-snapshot were all "set
up", but w3m-el-snapshot was not "installed: byte compiling". Nothing
followed the last line. I again tried the tests above, and results are
the same. I still do not have a /usr/share/emacs23/site-list/w3m
directory to hold the .elc files.

Haines Brown

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Tim X]

Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> writes:

> Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:
>
>> Haines,
>>
>>> When I try to run the w3m command in an emacs session without any init
>>> file, I get "[no match]".
>>
>> I assume you mean emacs -q.  (for emacs -Q, this would be normal).
>
> No, by "without any init" I means with -q option. I'm not clear whether
> or not the "[no match]" is proper.
>
>>>> Use M-x locate-library w3m RET to check if your emacs uses the right
>>>> w3m library. 
>
>> If you get this for emacs -q, then indeed there's something wrong with
>> your installation.
>
> Indeed, this was the response with emacs -q and now I repeat to be
> sure. Only a minor point: the sequence is a) M-x locate-library, b) RET,
> c) w3m, d) No library w3m in search path. I.e., the order I used is
> different).
>
>> I would suggest to purge the "w3m-el-snapshot" package (key _ in
>> aptitude), and install it again.  Please watch the output.  Does it
>> say something about byte-compiling?
>
> I purged w3m-el-snapshot and w3m and reinstalled debian squeeze
> w3m-el-snapshot. In answer to your question, the w3m-el-snapshot was not
> byte-compiled. Here's the end of the feedback:
>
>   ...
>   Unpacking w3m-el-snapshot (from
>             .../w3m-el-snapshot_1.4.400+0.20100725-1_all.deb) ... 
>   Processing triggers for menu ...
>   Processing triggers for man-db ...
>   Processing triggers for install-info ...
>   Setting up w3m (0.5.2-9) ...
>   Setting up apel (10.8-1) ...
>   install/apel: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
>            /tmp/elc.ZOMVotML0oJ0 
>   install/apel: deleting /tmp/elc.ZOMVotML0oJ0
>   install/apel: byte-compiling for reverse dependency
>   Setting up flim (1:1.14.9+0.20100313-2) ...
>   install/apel: already byte-compiled for emacs23, skipped
>   install/flim: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
>           /tmp/elc.0A1vGIUGCqTr      
>   install/flim: deleting /tmp/elc.0A1vGIUGCqTr
>   install/flim: byte-compiling for reverse dependency
>   Setting up w3m-el-snapshot (1.4.400+0.20100725-1) ...
>   install/apel: already byte-compiled for emacs23, skipped
>   Processing triggers for menu ...
>
> It looks to me that w3m, apel, flim and w3m-el-snapshot were all "set
> up", but w3m-el-snapshot was not "installed: byte compiling". Nothing
> followed the last line. I again tried the tests above, and results are
> the same. I still do not have a /usr/share/emacs23/site-list/w3m
> directory to hold the .elc files.
>
> Haines Brown

Personally, I gave up with Debian's emacs and elisp packages. They are
often very out of date and maintenance seems to have slipped in recent
years. 

The w3m-el stuff is very easy to just install from sources. I use git to
get the latest development sources and just build and run them from that
directory. Once you have things setup, it is trivial to update and
re-build. 

I got the sources form the github emacsmirror repository, which has lots
of useful git based elisp code.

Tim
-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Michael Heerdegen]

Hello again,

>   ...
>   Unpacking w3m-el-snapshot (from
>             .../w3m-el-snapshot_1.4.400+0.20100725-1_all.deb) ... 
>   Processing triggers for menu ...
>   Processing triggers for man-db ...
>   Processing triggers for install-info ...
>   Setting up w3m (0.5.2-9) ...
>   Setting up apel (10.8-1) ...
>   install/apel: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
>            /tmp/elc.ZOMVotML0oJ0 
>   install/apel: deleting /tmp/elc.ZOMVotML0oJ0
>   install/apel: byte-compiling for reverse dependency
>   Setting up flim (1:1.14.9+0.20100313-2) ...
>   install/apel: already byte-compiled for emacs23, skipped
>   install/flim: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
>           /tmp/elc.0A1vGIUGCqTr      
>   install/flim: deleting /tmp/elc.0A1vGIUGCqTr
>   install/flim: byte-compiling for reverse dependency
>   Setting up w3m-el-snapshot (1.4.400+0.20100725-1) ...
>   install/apel: already byte-compiled for emacs23, skipped
>   Processing triggers for menu ...
>
> It looks to me that w3m, apel, flim and w3m-el-snapshot were all "set
> up", but w3m-el-snapshot was not "installed: byte compiling". Nothing
> followed the last line. I again tried the tests above, and results are
> the same. I still do not have a /usr/share/emacs23/site-list/w3m
> directory to hold the .elc files.

Ok, then, I think, running the postinst script of "w3m-el-snapshot" went
wrong.  You should have become a message starting with 

install/w3m-el-snapshot: ...


Could you please run this as a normal user (with no root privileges):

/usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23

It will do nothing without root privileges, but should give some
useful output.


Michael.

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Haines Brown]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> Hello again,
> Ok, then, I think, running the postinst script of "w3m-el-snapshot" went
> wrong.  You should have become a message starting with 
>
> install/w3m-el-snapshot: ...
>
>
> Could you please run this as a normal user (with no root privileges):
>
> /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23

Michael, yes, the output was indeed interesting:

First, nothing happens

  $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23 
  $

If I try without the "emacs23" appended, I get:

  $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot
  install/w3m-el-snapshot: byte-compiling for , logged in
    /tmp/elc.6XlCZFi50OXr 
  mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/share//site-lisp/w3m': No such file
    or directory

Given the innards of w3m-el-snapshot, this is what I'd expect, for the
value used to construct the path is null. However, it does show that the
executable script is at least trying. Since the first thing it does is
to create the w3m directory, which doesn't happen, there seems to be a
pothole in the following script:

  ...
  FLAVOR=$1
  ...
  ELCDIR=/usr/share/$FLAVOR/site-lisp/$PKGSNAME
  ...
  if [ ! -d "$ELCDIR" ]; then
    mkdir "$ELCDIR"
    chmod 755 "$ELCDIR"
  fi

I don't know how to debug to see whether in fact $FLAVOR and $PKGSNAME
are created as the script runs. However, I don't see how the value of
$PKGSNAME gets defined, for the line above, which is its first
appearance of this variable in the script, it is used to build the value
of ELCDIR. Is this why the path used to constuct the w3m directory ends
up with a null gap?

However, I'm ignorant about such things and I apologize for the
speculation. In fact, I didn't even know emacs had a packages directory
where packages could be added or removed at will. It's been ten years
since of gave the emacs manual a quick glance. Seems it is time if I
can find it to read the manual again.

Haines Brown

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Michael Heerdegen]

Haines,


> > /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23
>
> Michael, yes, the output was indeed interesting:
>
> First, nothing happens
>
>   $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23 
>   $
>
> If I try without the "emacs23" appended, I get:
>
>   $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot
>   install/w3m-el-snapshot: byte-compiling for , logged in
>     /tmp/elc.6XlCZFi50OXr 
>   mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/share//site-lisp/w3m': No such file
>     or directory
>
> Given the innards of w3m-el-snapshot, this is what I'd expect, for the
> value used to construct the path is null. However, it does show that the
> executable script is at least trying. Since the first thing it does is
> to create the w3m directory, which doesn't happen, there seems to be a
> pothole in the following script:
>
>   ...
>   FLAVOR=$1
>   ...
>   ELCDIR=/usr/share/$FLAVOR/site-lisp/$PKGSNAME
>   ...
>   if [ ! -d "$ELCDIR" ]; then
>     mkdir "$ELCDIR"
>     chmod 755 "$ELCDIR"
>   fi

I don't think that.  The installation script needs to get an Emacs
flavor (like "emacs23") as the first argument.  If this first arg is void,
mkdir complains because it tries to create "w3m" under
"/usr/share//site-lisp", which doesn't exist.


But if you don't get any output running

$ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23

I guess the only possible case is that the script exits here:

case $FLAVOR in
    emacs2[3-9]|emacs-*|emacs*cvs*)
    if [ -f "$ELDIR/w3m-e21.el" ] && [ ! -f "$ELDIR/w3m-e23.el" ]; then
	exit 0
    fi
    ;;
esac


That means that you would have a directory
"/usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m-e21.el" on your system.  If that's
true, we must get rid of it.  Do you have it?


> I don't know how to debug to see whether in fact $FLAVOR and $PKGSNAME
> are created as the script runs. However, I don't see how the value of
> $PKGSNAME gets defined, for the line above, which is its first
> appearance of this variable in the script, it is used to build the value
> of ELCDIR. Is this why the path used to constuct the w3m directory ends
> up with a null gap?

PKGSNAME is defined in line 6 of the script:

    PKGSNAME=w3m

The problem in your (illegal) call is the void FLAVOR variable.

> However, I'm ignorant about such things and I apologize for the
> speculation. In fact, I didn't even know emacs had a packages directory
> where packages could be added or removed at will.

Most things we discussed here only apply to the Debian Emacs
installation.  Other systems may have completely other directories etc.
It is not a good idea to manually copy files to these directories.

If you want to have a look behind the scenes, then you may visit the
"w3m-el-snapshot_1.4.400+0.20100725-1_all.deb" package file with Emacs.
(You can download it here: 
   
   "http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/all/w3m-el-snapshot/download")
   
If you have installed debian-el, you'll see which files it installs, and
the scripts that are run when installing, removing etc.


(Besides: You may consider to upgrade to Debian testing.  I think stable
primarily aims at servers, it has very out of date software. testing is also
very "stable" and probably the better choice for daily usage.


Michael.

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Haines Brown]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> Haines,
>
>
>> > /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23
>>
>> Michael, yes, the output was indeed interesting:
>>
>> First, nothing happens
>>
>>   $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23 
>>   $

> That means that you would have a directory 
> /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m-e21.el" on your system.  If that's
> true, we must get rid of it.  Do you have it?

Yes, I do have the emacs23 directory (and also an emacs directory). I
rename it and try again. Same results:
 
  $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23
  $

> If you want to have a look behind the scenes, 

Not being a programmer, amateur or otherwise, looking behind the scenes
is likely to be uninformative, I'm sorry to say. 

> If you have installed debian-el, you'll see which files it installs, and
> the scripts that are run when installing, removing etc.
>
> (Besides: You may consider to upgrade to Debian testing.  I think stable
> primarily aims at servers, it has very out of date software. testing is also
> very "stable" and probably the better choice for daily usage.

But surely, there must be a huge number of people successfully running
stable emacs23 with w3m-el-snapshot. This suggests I have something
broken in my system, and I feel I should fix it or file a bug report,
not just reinstall and hope for the best.

Thanks,

Haines

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> writes:

>> If you want to have a look behind the scenes, 
>
> Not being a programmer, amateur or otherwise, looking behind the scenes
> is likely to be uninformative, I'm sorry to say. 

Ah, but every human is a programmer.  
Have you ever given road indications?  You've been programming! 
Have you ever given cooking instructions?  You've been programming! 
Have you ever taught something to someone?  You've been programming! 

So, don't hesitate, read
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/
and have a look through the looking-glass!

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/
A bad day in () is better than a good day in {}.

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Richard Riley]

"Pascal J. Bourguignon" <pjb@informatimago.com> writes:

> Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> writes:
>
>>> If you want to have a look behind the scenes, 
>>
>> Not being a programmer, amateur or otherwise, looking behind the scenes
>> is likely to be uninformative, I'm sorry to say. 
>
> Ah, but every human is a programmer.  
> Have you ever given road indications?  You've been programming! 
> Have you ever given cooking instructions?  You've been programming! 
> Have you ever taught something to someone?  You've been programming!

No he hasn't. He has been giving information to people that they can
choose to follow or not. Nothing to do with programing.
 
>
> So, don't hesitate, read
> http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/
> and have a look through the looking-glass!

lol!

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Tim X]

Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> writes:

> Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:
>
>> Haines,
>>
>>
>>> > /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23
>>>
>>> Michael, yes, the output was indeed interesting:
>>>
>>> First, nothing happens
>>>
>>>   $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23 
>>>   $
>
>> That means that you would have a directory 
>> /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m-e21.el" on your system.  If that's
>> true, we must get rid of it.  Do you have it?
>
> Yes, I do have the emacs23 directory (and also an emacs directory). I
> rename it and try again. Same results:
>  
>   $ /usr/lib/emacsen-common/packages/install/w3m-el-snapshot emacs23
>   $
>
>> If you want to have a look behind the scenes, 
>
> Not being a programmer, amateur or otherwise, looking behind the scenes
> is likely to be uninformative, I'm sorry to say. 
>
>> If you have installed debian-el, you'll see which files it installs, and
>> the scripts that are run when installing, removing etc.
>>
>> (Besides: You may consider to upgrade to Debian testing.  I think stable
>> primarily aims at servers, it has very out of date software. testing is also
>> very "stable" and probably the better choice for daily usage.
>
> But surely, there must be a huge number of people successfully running
> stable emacs23 with w3m-el-snapshot. This suggests I have something
> broken in my system, and I feel I should fix it or file a bug report,
> not just reinstall and hope for the best.
>

I agree that it must be something specific with your setup. Finding it
is the challenge. 

When you have removed w3m-snapshot, have you made sure you have 'purged'
the package and not just removed it? Deb packaging has the concept of
remove as well as purge. Just removing a packages does not remove all
the config files. If the problem is due to something with the config
files, re-installing after only a remove rather than a purge likely
won't fix the problem. 

I'm assuming your using the official debian snapshot package and not
just some other emacs23 package. Have you checked the debian bug tracker
for w3m-snapshot and emacs23? This may have some details. 

Try apt-get --purge remove w3m-snapshot-el (or whatever the package name
is). Then make sure there are no w3m directories in
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp, /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp - remove them
if there are. Make sure there are no w3m-el files in
/etc/emacs/site-lisp.d or /etc/emacs23/site-lisp.d (If you don't like
removing them, move them to somewhere else - you can then move them back
if necessary). 

Have you tried getting help from a debian specific forum? The problem
your experiencing is debian specific while this forum is general emacs.
You may get more specific assistance in a debian specific forum where
there are more people familiar with deb packages. There are a few
commands for apt-get that can sometimes help, such as options like fix
broken and dist-upgrade that will sometimes help get things working
again. Its been a while since I've run debian, but something like 

apt-get -f install
apt-get --fix-missing install
apt-get clean all
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get clean all
apt-get autoremove

may help ensure your system is in a healthy state. 

The very first step should be to check the debain bug tracker for
emacs23 and w3m-snapshot-el. If this is a known bug, you will often find
a solution in addition to the bug description. 

If all else fails, I'd strongly recommend just installing from the git
repository on github for w3m-el. It is really quite easy and not
something you should be concerned about due to lack of familiarity with
programming. Essentially, you just donwload the sources, run a
./configure script and put some setup stuff in your .emacs. 

Tim
-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au

Re: w3m-el-snapshot installation

[Haines Brown]

Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null> writes:

Tim, I believe you hit the nail on the head:

> Try apt-get --purge remove w3m-snapshot-el (or whatever the package
> name is). Then make sure there are no w3m directories in
> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp, /usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp - remove them
> if there are.

There was a w3m directory in /usr/share/emacs/site-list. I commented it,
purged w3m-el-snapshot, and reinstalled w3m-el-snapshot. This time with
the installation I get a message that w3m compiled:

  install/w3m-el-snapshot: byte-compiling for emacs23, logged in
    /tmp/elc.kDsD9x2lRKV6 
  install/w3m-el-snapshot: deleting /tmp/elc.kDsD9x2lRKV6
  install/w3m-el-snapshot: byte-compiling for reverse dependency

I havn't yet been able to check whether it works, but at least
w3m-el-snapshot now byte-compiles and I have aquired a
/usr/share/emacs23/site-lisp/w3m directory holding .el and .elc files.

I'm assuming I can leave the /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/w3m directory
commented, for I suppose it is no longer used.

If it turns out things are not working, I'll drag my case to the debian
doorstep.

Thank you,

Haines Brown