Re: desktop-read usage and syntax ::error, strange character :: half-SOLVED!!!

[ken <gebser@mousecar.com>]

On 07/18/2017 03:59 PM, John Mastro wrote:
> ken <gebser@mousecar.com> wrote:
>> For some reason, when booting after a crash, the desktop isn't loaded;
>> that is, the files which were loaded in the previous (crashed) session
>> aren't loaded again. I suspected this was due to
>> "~/.emacs/.emacs.desktop.lock", so I deleted it. Then I close emacs
>> and start it again, but still the desktop isn't loaded.
>>
>> So then I try to load it by hand, ie, I run "M-x desktop-read"... this
>> yields the error: "eval-buffer: Symbol's value as variable is void:
>> Î". Yes, the last character is a capital "I" with a carot above it.
>> If, from the "*scratch*" buffer I run (desktop-read
>> "/home/user/.emacs.d/"), I get exactly the same error message.
> I can't offer any specific help, but if your desktop file is corrupted
> (which is what it sounds like), it's probably worth reporting that as a
> bug. Perhaps that's can't be reasonably avoided after a crash, but
> perhaps it can, and the Emacs developers would know best.
>
>          John

Yeah, that's pretty vague... I'd think the people fielding bug reports 
would toss such a report without a lot more to help track it down.  
However, you were spot on.  Here's the deal:

Most of the info in .emacs.desktop is inscrutable... I don't know what 
the bejesus it is.  I even saw a bunch of lines like this:

> (desktop-create-buffer <81><CE>
(81x = 129d ; CEx = 206d !!!)


and didn't think it terribly odd.  But then I compared that file to one 
of the backups I have of previous versions of the same file and, instead 
of the "<81><CE>", there was "206"... in every case.  So I did a 
search-and-replace on the weird characters, making them into "206", then 
ran (desktop-read "/home/user/.emacs.d") again, and, viola, all my 
desktop files were properly loaded.  So, thanks, thanks, thanks... I can 
get back to work now.

I can say with certainty that the garbage characters (in the stead of 
"206") weren't due to the crash; my last ".emacs.desktop" saved was over 
a week ago, well before the crash.  Secondly, I don't see how a system 
crash would change every instance of "206" interspersed throughout a 
file to "<81><CE>".  I think that's pretty much infunkingpossible to happen.

Moreover, after all my desktop files were loaded, I ran "M-x 
desktop-save" and looked to the new .emacs.desktop file, and no more 
"<81><CE>" characters.  But emacs seems to be having sporadic problems 
correctly representing characters, so that's a possibility.

Thanks again, John, for the suggestion.