Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

[eMaXer]

Hi, I am using NTEmacs (GNU Emacs 21.3.1) on Windows XP, and Cygwin
1.5.5-1. When I try to use Emacs Info, if the info file is gzipped an
error message window pops up with the following message :

"The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
CS:0726 IP:ffd8 OP:fe ff 00 00 00 Choose 'Close' to terminate the application."

The message window has the title "16 bit MS DOS Subsystem".

The error happens in the function call-process-region. The following code
produces the same error:

(call-process-region (point-min) end-of-gzipped
       "gunzip" t t nil)

(here between point-min and end-of-gzipped I have some text compressed with
gzip)

When I use info from the Cygwin command line it works fine.

Can anyone help?


-- 
In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was in a buffer,
and the buffer was in Emacs.

Re: Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
> From: eMaXer <zxy@yxz67483.com>
> Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:16:08 GMT
> 
> Hi, I am using NTEmacs (GNU Emacs 21.3.1) on Windows XP, and Cygwin
> 1.5.5-1. When I try to use Emacs Info, if the info file is gzipped an
> error message window pops up with the following message :
> 
> "The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
> CS:0726 IP:ffd8 OP:fe ff 00 00 00 Choose 'Close' to terminate the application."
> 
> The message window has the title "16 bit MS DOS Subsystem".
> 
> The error happens in the function call-process-region. The following code
> produces the same error:
> 
> (call-process-region (point-min) end-of-gzipped
>        "gunzip" t t nil)

What port of gzip/gunzip do you have?  If it's a DOS port, I'd try to
replace it with a native Windows port.  (I suspect that it's a DOS
port because NTVDM, the NT Virtual DOS Machine, a.k.a. NT DOS
emulator, does not kick in unless you run a DOS program.)

Re: Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

[Thomas Haselberger]

eMaXer <zxy@yxz67483.com> writes:

> Hi, I am using NTEmacs (GNU Emacs 21.3.1) on Windows XP, and Cygwin
> 1.5.5-1. When I try to use Emacs Info, if the info file is gzipped an
> error message window pops up with the following message :
>
> "The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
> CS:0726 IP:ffd8 OP:fe ff 00 00 00 Choose 'Close' to terminate the application."
>
> The message window has the title "16 bit MS DOS Subsystem".
>
> The error happens in the function call-process-region. The following code
> produces the same error:
>
> (call-process-region (point-min) end-of-gzipped
>        "gunzip" t t nil)
>
> (here between point-min and end-of-gzipped I have some text compressed with
> gzip)
>
> When I use info from the Cygwin command line it works fine.

I had the same problem and got the hint that the symlink from
gunzip.exe to gzip.exe might be a problem.
Removing the link and copying gzip.exe to gunzip.exe removed the
problem.

hth,
        tom

Re: Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

[eMaXer]

>>>>> "Thomas" == Thomas Haselberger <t.haselberger@gmx.net> writes:

    Thomas> eMaXer <zxy@yxz67483.com> writes:
    >> Hi, I am using NTEmacs (GNU Emacs 21.3.1) on Windows XP, and
    >> Cygwin 1.5.5-1. When I try to use Emacs Info, if the info file is
    >> gzipped an error message window pops up with the following
    >> message :
    >> 
    >> "The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.  CS:0726
    >> IP:ffd8 OP:fe ff 00 00 00 Choose 'Close' to terminate the
    >> application."
    >> 
    >> The message window has the title "16 bit MS DOS Subsystem".
    >> 
    >> The error happens in the function call-process-region. The
    >> following code produces the same error:
    >> 
    >> (call-process-region (point-min) end-of-gzipped "gunzip" t t nil)
    >> 
    >> (here between point-min and end-of-gzipped I have some text
    >> compressed with gzip)
    >> 
    >> When I use info from the Cygwin command line it works fine.

    Thomas> I had the same problem and got the hint that the symlink
    Thomas> from gunzip.exe to gzip.exe might be a problem.  Removing
    Thomas> the link and copying gzip.exe to gunzip.exe removed the
    Thomas> problem.

    Thomas> hth, tom

Thanks, this did the trick.


-- 
In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was in a buffer,
and the buffer was in Emacs.

Re: Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

[eMaXer]

>>>>> "Eli" == Eli Zaretskii <eliz@elta.co.il> writes:

    >> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help From: eMaXer <zxy@yxz67483.com> Date:
    >> Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:16:08 GMT
    >> 
    >> Hi, I am using NTEmacs (GNU Emacs 21.3.1) on Windows XP, and
    >> Cygwin 1.5.5-1. When I try to use Emacs Info, if the info file is
    >> gzipped an error message window pops up with the following
    >> message :
    >> 
    >> "The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.  CS:0726
    >> IP:ffd8 OP:fe ff 00 00 00 Choose 'Close' to terminate the
    >> application."
    >> 
    >> The message window has the title "16 bit MS DOS Subsystem".
    >> 
    >> The error happens in the function call-process-region. The
    >> following code produces the same error:
    >> 
    >> (call-process-region (point-min) end-of-gzipped "gunzip" t t nil)

    Eli> What port of gzip/gunzip do you have?  If it's a DOS port, I'd
    Eli> try to replace it with a native Windows port.  (I suspect that
    Eli> it's a DOS port because NTVDM, the NT Virtual DOS Machine,
    Eli> a.k.a. NT DOS emulator, does not kick in unless you run a DOS
    Eli> program.)

Thanks for the hint. The port is the one that comes with the Cygwin
distribution, I do not know if it is DOS or anything else.

Removing the symbolic link from gunzip to gzip (as suggested by Thomas
Haselberger) solved the problem.

-- 
In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was in a buffer,
and the buffer was in Emacs.

Re: Problem with Emacs Info and gzipped files on Cygwin

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
> From: eMaXer <zxy@yxz67483.com>
> Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 21:40:48 GMT
> 
> Removing the symbolic link from gunzip to gzip (as suggested by Thomas
> Haselberger) solved the problem.

Cygwin-style symlinks are only understood by Cygwin-compiled programs.
Your Emacs is not a Cygwin program; to it, a symlink is just a weird
data file.  I guess the Windows shell tried to execute it as a DOS
.com image or something.

As long as you use a non-Cygwin Emacs, I'd suggest to find all
symlinks to programs on your machine and replace them with copies,
like you did with gunzip.