bug#1246: Bug : 23.0.60; "customize emacs" overwrites "custom-set-variables" in .emacs

bug#1246: Bug : 23.0.60; "customize emacs" overwrites "custom-set-variables" in .emacs

[Bernhard Koenig]

I used the "customize emacs" options and made permanent changes
(regarding fonts if I remember correctly). Emacs
changed the .emacs file on disk and modified the
"custom-set-variables". The problem was that all the old
custom-set-variables (like tex-output-view-style and stuff) were
completely overwritten.

Don't know if this is intended but it's quite annoying.

bug#1246: Bug : 23.0.60; "customize emacs" overwrites "custom-set-variables" in .emacs

[Lennart Borgman]

On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 2:30 AM, Bernhard Koenig
<b.a.koenig@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I used the "customize emacs" options and made permanent changes
> (regarding fonts if I remember correctly). Emacs
> changed the .emacs file on disk and modified the
> "custom-set-variables". The problem was that all the old
> custom-set-variables (like tex-output-view-style and stuff) were
> completely overwritten.
>
> Don't know if this is intended but it's quite annoying.

When you choose to make the changes permanent it should write that to
custom-file (which by default is your .emacs). It should however
include all the old values. If it did not then something is wrong.

Can you show us your .emacs? Was there perhaps several
custom-set-variables entry in it?

Also the normal information in the bug report is missing (date you did
a check out from the CVS repositories beeing the most important). Can
you tell us that?

Re: bug#1246: Bug : 23.0.60; "customize emacs" overwrites "custom-set-variables" in .emacs

[Bernhard Koenig]

Hi,

I currently have Emacs 23.0.60 and downloaded it Oct 12 from the
Ubuntu repositories. I will paste my .emacs, at one point the
custom-set-variables were overwritten and the tex-output-view-style
settings were completely deleted. I can try to reproduce the bug later
tonight.

Best,
Bernhard


;; no message at startup
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)

;; format the title-bar to always include the buffer name
(setq frame-title-format "emacs - %b")
(setq icon-title-format "emacs - %b")

;; format modeline bar
(display-battery-mode t)
;(size-indication-mode t)

;; minibuffer does not expand
(setq resize-mini-windows nil)

;; scrollbar to the right
(set-scroll-bar-mode 'right)

;; text mode and auto-fill
(setq default-major-mode 'text-mode)
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'text-mode-hook-identify)
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)

;; Latex settings
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'LaTeX-install-toolbar)
(setq TeX-auto-save t)
(setq TeX-parse-self t)
(setq-default TeX-master nil)
(setq-default TeX-header-end nil)
(add-hook 'TeX-mode-hook '(lambda () (TeX-fold-mode 1)))
(autoload 'turn-on-reftex "reftex" "RefTeX Minor Mode" nil)
(autoload 'reftex-citation "reftex-cite" "Make citation" nil)
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'turn-on-reftex) ; with AUCTeX LaTeX mode
(add-hook 'latex-mode-hook 'turn-on-reftex) ; with Emacs LaTex mode
(setq reftex-plug-into-AUCTeX t
      reftex-enable-partial-scans t)

;; mouse pointer hides from cursor
(mouse-avoidance-mode 'animate)

;;cursor does not blink
(blink-cursor-mode nil)

;; no super-fast mouse scrolling
(mouse-wheel-mode t)
(setq mouse-wheel-progressive-speed nil)

;; show trailing whitespaces and remove on save
(setq-default show-trailing-whitespace t)
(add-hook 'before-save-hook 'delete-trailing-whitespace)

;; show matching parentheses
(show-paren-mode 1)

;; change default shell to zsh
(setq shell-file-name "/bin/zsh")

;; recent files
(require 'recentf)
(recentf-mode 1)
(setq recentf-max-menu-items 50)
(recentf-open-files nil "*Recent Files*") ; startup with recent files
(global-set-key "\C-x\ \C-r" 'recentf-open-files) ; C-x C-r keybinding

;; auto time stamps patch
(add-hook 'html-mode-hook '(lambda ()
	     ;; keymap additions
	     (define-key html-mode-map "\C-ct"
	       'html-helper-insert-timestamp-delimiter-at-point)
	     ;; additional mode vars
	     (defvar html-helper-timestamp-start
	       "<!-- hhmts start -->\n"
	       "*Start delimiter for timestamps.")
	     (defvar html-helper-timestamp-end
	       "<!-- hhmts end -->"
	       "*End delimiter for timestamps.")
	     ;; additional mode functions
	     (defun html-helper-insert-timestamp ()
	       "Timestamp insertion function"
	       (insert "Last modified: "
		       (format-time-string
			"%e %B %Y at %H:%M GMT."
			(current-time)
			t)
		       "\n"))
	     (defun html-helper-update-timestamp ()
	       (save-excursion
		 (goto-char (point-max))
		 (if (not (search-backward
		 html-helper-timestamp-start nil t))
		     (message "timestamp delimiter start was not
		     found. Type C-c t to insert one.")
		   (let ((ts-start (+ (point) (length
		   html-helper-timestamp-start)))
			 (ts-end (if (search-forward
			 html-helper-timestamp-end nil t)
				     (- (point) (length
				   html-helper-timestamp-end))
				   nil)))
		     (if (not ts-end)
			 (message "timestamp delimiter end was
			 not found. Type C-c t to insert one.")
		       (delete-region ts-start ts-end)
		       (goto-char ts-start)
		       (html-helper-insert-timestamp))))) nil)
	     ;; timestamp will update on file write
	     (add-hook 'local-write-file-hooks
	     'html-helper-update-timestamp)))

(custom-set-variables
 '(load-home-init-file t t)
 '(TeX-output-view-style (quote (
  ("^dvi$" "." "xdvi -s 6 %d")
  ("^pdf$" "." "evince %o")
  ("^html$" "." "firefox %o")))))
(custom-set-faces)


;(defun toolbar-open-file ()
;  (interactive)
;  (recentf-open-file)
;)

;; the following requires cursor-chg.el
;(require 'cursor-chg)
;(change-cursor-mode 1) ; enable read-only/input mode
;(toggle-cursor-type-when-idle 1) ; enable idle mode
; changed "Red" to "cursor-color" and 'bar to 'hbar in cursor-chg.el
;
;(setq curchg-default-cursor-color 'cursor-color) ; default color
;(setq curchg-default-cursor-type 'hbar) ; default type
;(setq curchg-idle-cursor-type 'box) ; idle type
;(setq curchg-input-method-cursor-color 'yellow) ; input mode color
;(setq curchg-overwrite/read-only-cursor-type 'hollow) ; read-only type

;; comments in italics
(make-face-italic 'font-lock-comment-face)
(make-face-italic 'font-lock-comment-delimiter-face)

;; my own color themes

; blue theme
(defun theme-blue ()
  "Switch to blue theme."
  (interactive)
  (set-cursor-color "gold")
  (set-face-background 'modeline "khaki")
  (set-face-foreground 'modeline "black")
  (set-background-color "navy")
  (set-foreground-color "white")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "chocolate1")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-string-face "light salmon")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-keyword-face "cyan1")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-builtin-face "lightsteelblue")
)

; red theme
(defun theme-red ()
  "Switch to red theme."
  (interactive)
  (set-background-color "darkred")
  (set-foreground-color "white")
  (set-cursor-color "lawngreen")
  (set-face-background 'modeline "orange1")
  (set-face-foreground 'modeline "black")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "gold")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-string-face "palegreen2")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-keyword-face "cyan1")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-builtin-face "lightsteelblue")
)

; snow theme
(defun theme-snow ()
  "Switch to snow theme."
  (interactive)
  (set-background-color "snow2")
  (set-foreground-color "gray0")
  (set-cursor-color "orange red")
  (set-face-background 'modeline "midnight blue")
  (set-face-foreground 'modeline "white")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-comment-face "green3")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-string-face "blue2")
  (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-keyword-face "magenta3")
   (set-face-foreground 'font-lock-builtin-face "deep pink")
)

;; pick theme after fully parsing .emacs
(theme-red)


On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Lennart Borgman
<lennart.borgman@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 2:30 AM, Bernhard Koenig
> <b.a.koenig@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> I used the "customize emacs" options and made permanent changes
>> (regarding fonts if I remember correctly). Emacs
>> changed the .emacs file on disk and modified the
>> "custom-set-variables". The problem was that all the old
>> custom-set-variables (like tex-output-view-style and stuff) were
>> completely overwritten.
>>
>> Don't know if this is intended but it's quite annoying.
>
> When you choose to make the changes permanent it should write that to
> custom-file (which by default is your .emacs). It should however
> include all the old values. If it did not then something is wrong.
>
> Can you show us your .emacs? Was there perhaps several
> custom-set-variables entry in it?
>
> Also the normal information in the bug report is missing (date you did
> a check out from the CVS repositories beeing the most important). Can
> you tell us that?
>

bug#1246: Bug : 23.0.60; "customize emacs" overwrites "custom-set-variables" in .emacs

[Glenn Morris]

This absolutely isn't supposed to happen. The whole purpose of customize
would be defeated and there would be lots of bug reports.
But since there aren't lots of these reports, I'm afraid the problem
must have been something peculiar to your settings somehow.
(Random guess: maybe you had multiple custom-set-variables sections - as
it says there must be only one.)

Without a reproducible recipe showing us how you got into this state,
I'm afraid there is nothing we can do.

If you have such info, please reply and we can reopen this report.

You can view the whole report at http://debbugs.gnu.org/BUGNUMBER