From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "B. T. Raven" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Problem with .emacs Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 23:21:31 -0600 Organization: UseNetServer.com Message-ID: References: <4qvvupFol4vsU2@individual.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1162532552 18740 80.91.229.2 (3 Nov 2006 05:42:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 05:42:32 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Nov 03 06:42:32 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Gfroz-0001bx-8i for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:42:29 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Gfroy-0005Ur-Hm for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:42:28 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews.google.com!news3.google.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nx02.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!208.49.83.146.MISMATCH!uns-out.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!pc03.usenetserver.com!DIALUPUSA.NET!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@usenetserver.com Original-Lines: 40 Original-X-Trace: bb3c8454acff1a13a857728613 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:142905 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org 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:38524 Archived-At: "Hendrik Bilges" wrote in message news:4qvvupFol4vsU2@individual.net... > Hi, > > after solving the problem with .emacs not being read (thanks to the > community :-) ) I am now confronted with an error in .emacs. I'm not good > yet at understanding what's going on in this file, most of the stuff I > simply copied from some examples on the net. Can somebody please have a > look and point out the mistake(s)? > Emacs tells me: > > An error has occurred while loading `/home/billy/.emacs': > Symbol's value as variable is void: setq > > I posted my .emacs here: http://phpfi.com/170452 > > Hendrik It's almost certainly bad syntax somewhere in your .emacs. Invoke emacs with the switch --debug-init and then evaluate (setq show-paren-mode t ) in *scratch with C-j after closing parenthesis. This highlighting of matching parentheses can also be turned on via Custom and it writes '(show-paren-mode t nil (paren)) into the (custom-set-variables ..... list) in your .emacs. I don't understand this syntax but I guess I don't need to. There are both a variable and a function called show-paren-mode. This will help you to find the syntax error in the vicinity of one or more instances of the "setq" token. A cursory look at your .emacs shows that this certainly looks suspicious: .... setq TeX-auto-save t setq TeX-parse-self t setq-default TeX-master nil .... Ed.