From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: wrong-type-argument listp \.\.\. Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:16:20 -0700 Message-ID: References: <87lj9xsdrx.fsf@gmx.ch> <87k4phla01.fsf@rub.de> <7D852D0B581C4D0D980FFF6B1D6A6964@us.oracle.com> <87zkydvumu.fsf@rub.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1277903891 8622 80.91.229.12 (30 Jun 2010 13:18:11 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:18:11 +0000 (UTC) Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: "'Sven Bretfeld'" Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jun 30 15:18:07 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OTxAx-00049F-1t for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:18:03 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:36464 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OTxAv-00058L-VR for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:18:02 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=47953 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OTxAF-00055k-BP for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:17:21 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OTxAE-0002QK-0z for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:17:19 -0400 Original-Received: from rcsinet10.oracle.com ([148.87.113.121]:17880) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OTxAD-0002Q0-R9 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:17:17 -0400 Original-Received: from acsinet15.oracle.com (acsinet15.oracle.com [141.146.126.227]) by rcsinet10.oracle.com (Switch-3.4.2/Switch-3.4.2) with ESMTP id o5UDHCP0018149 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:17:14 GMT Original-Received: from acsmt353.oracle.com (acsmt353.oracle.com [141.146.40.153]) by acsinet15.oracle.com (Switch-3.4.2/Switch-3.4.1) with ESMTP id o5UCOM4E010356; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:17:09 GMT Original-Received: from abhmt001.oracle.com by acsmt355.oracle.com with ESMTP id 385753271277903776; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:16:16 -0700 Original-Received: from dradamslap1 (/10.175.234.33) by default (Oracle Beehive Gateway v4.0) with ESMTP ; Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:16:16 -0700 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 Thread-Index: AcsYJzdBhKZOr/tDTB2kbOIZ1+EVPQAK6zyg In-Reply-To: <87zkydvumu.fsf@rub.de> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5931 X-Source-IP: acsmt353.oracle.com [141.146.40.153] X-Auth-Type: Internal IP X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A090206.4C2B43D8.0133:SCFMA4539814,ss=1,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:74024 Archived-At: > > And, as I suggested, check to see if some common data file > > is used, which might be corrupted. If those programs all > > share a common data file, that could be the culprit. This > > smells of something like a corrupted desktop, session, or > > save-history file. > > That was the problem. After I spend two hours narrowing down .emacs to > zero, purging and reinstalling every Emacs related package, I just > remembered your last suggestion and emptied ~/.emacs.d. Now, > everything is working again. Glad you found the problem. No need to reinstall packages. It's enough to (temporarily) not reference (load) them. It's about comparing two thingies over and over: one that works and one that doesn't, and narrowing the difference until you find the problem. Instead of starting with a full sack that manifests the problem, and chopping the contents in half (and half...), you can start with an empty sack (emacs -Q) and add half (and half...). Meme combat. > Stupid me! Thank you very much for your help. Nothing stupid about having such a problem or trying to guess what the cause is. All too human. That's why I replied - because we all go through this. It's a lesson we seem to need to relearn over and over. Partly because, I think, we imagine that everything was working so well together and there is so much of it and it is so complex - we want to disturb that previously working set as little as possible. We think, well, maybe it's just this little thing - or that one - or maybe that one. We feel that searching systematically would be a bit brute and blind, and we imagine that it could take a while. Well, being systematic, brute, and blind is in fact its strong point! When you haven't a clue, being systematic is smart (and grasping for straws is not). It is only binary search that saves such an approach from being stupid - systematic, but fast.