problem with launching: cannot find elisp packages

[Xah Lee]

David,

sometime entirely crazy is going on with my computer.

i uninstalled all previous builds of ErgoEmacs.
Cd'd to the dir in PowerShell to make sure there's nothing under the
ErgoEmacs dir.
Downladed 1.6.1, installed it. Runs good the first time.

But had problems again, with error: Cannot open load file yasnippet.

I looked at the bundled init_load_packages.el, some some unknown
reason, they are the old version we discussed yesterday again.

Could it _POSSIBLY_ for some reason the old version of the init files
gets into the build?? If you think for just 1 min and don't think so,
then just let me know.

I'm still looking into it. The problem is more complex because i have
several keyboard macro utils set to launche switch emacs etc... at
first i thought something wrong with my code or for some reason they
have to do with the emacs error, maybe env var or something, but then
i can't start ErgoEmacs.exe by double clicking itself... long story
short, some simple report usually took 30 min or more to come up.

The old version of command-frequency.el file also got returned to
c:/Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs:

---------------------------------------
after a while i started to write a bug report (see below), but
realized it's not about them... the problem is for some reason the
elisp init files somehow become a very old versions.


I'll now de-install everything, start fresh with 1.6.1, and pay
careful attention to see when the init files becomes the old versions.

------------------------------
2009-09-27

Summary: when ErgoEmacs.exe is launched from keyboard macros programs,
it gives a error: “Cannot open load file yasnippet”.

Detail:

i have AutoHotKey set up so that i press F6 it launches ErgoEmacs.
Here's the code:

F6::
IfWinExist ahk_class Emacs
{
WinActivate
}
Else
{
Run "C:\Program Files (x86)\ErgoEmacs\ErgoEmacs.exe"
WinWait ahk_class Emacs
WinActivate
}
Return

Also, with Microsoft's keyboard's IntelliType Pro, you can assign keys
to special launch apps. One of the key i assigned is to launch
ErgoEmacs. The path given is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\ErgoEmacs\ErgoEmacs.exe

same error.

This is the 1.6.1 build.
--------------------------------------------------

Xah

[Xah Lee]

something is very strange on my computer.

forget about my previous report. I have new findings.

apparently, if i use emacs dired to view dir files,

  c:/Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs

i'm seeing a strange old version of the dir and files. The content does not agree if i use PowerShell to view the dir and files...

So, i'm putting this out quickly, so you don't waste time about my previous report.

i'm guessing either some magical cache is playing on me, or some strange dir mapping is going on that i'm not aware at all...

Sorry for the trouble. Let me find out exactly what's going on in next few hours and report back if necessary.

 Xah

[Xah Lee]

Here's a example of my dired:

  c:/Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs:

  total used in directory 1000 available 432116576

  drwxrwxrwx  1 Administrators None      0 09-27 05:41 .

  drwxrwxrwx  1 Administrators None      0 08-28 04:16 ..

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None 966371 09-15 22:29 UnicodeData.txt

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 xah            None      0 09-27 04:56 command-frequency.el

  drwxrwxrwx  1 Administrators None      0 09-27 13:37 ergoemacs-keybindings

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 xah            None    597 09-08 10:22 init.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   1043 09-27 09:42 init.elc

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 xah            None   9112 09-08 12:25 init_clean_menus.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None  11904 09-27 09:42 init_clean_menus.elc

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   1408 09-26 18:53 init_functions.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   1979 09-27 09:42 init_functions.elc

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None    215 09-16 08:13 init_keybinding.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None    817 09-27 09:42 init_keybinding.elc

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 xah            None   4462 09-27 05:43 init_load_packages.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 xah            None   4426 09-27 05:41 init_load_packages.el~

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   4035 09-27 09:40 init_settings.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   2523 09-27 09:42 init_settings.elc

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   7418 09-27 09:40 init_version.el

  -rw-rw-rw-  1 Administrators None   6823 09-27 09:42 init_version.elc

note the existence of command-frequency.el there.

Yes the dired has be updated with g.

but here's output from cmd.exe

C:\Program Files (x86)\ErgoEmacs\ergoemacs>dir

 Volume in drive C is HP

 Volume Serial Number is 0082-41C7

 Directory of C:\Program Files (x86)\ErgoEmacs\ergoemacs

09/27/2009  01:37 PM    <DIR>          .

09/27/2009  01:37 PM    <DIR>          ..

09/27/2009  01:37 PM    <DIR>          ergoemacs-keybindings

09/27/2009  09:40 AM             1,109 init.el

09/27/2009  09:42 AM             1,043 init.elc

09/26/2009  12:23 AM            15,544 init_clean_menus.el

09/27/2009  09:42 AM            11,904 init_clean_menus.elc

09/26/2009  06:53 PM             1,408 init_functions.el

09/27/2009  09:42 AM             1,979 init_functions.elc

09/16/2009  08:13 AM               215 init_keybinding.el

09/27/2009  09:42 AM               817 init_keybinding.elc

09/16/2009  08:21 AM             4,774 init_load_packages.el

09/27/2009  09:40 AM             4,035 init_settings.el

09/27/2009  09:42 AM             2,523 init_settings.elc

09/27/2009  09:40 AM             7,418 init_version.el

09/27/2009  09:42 AM             6,823 init_version.elc

09/15/2009  10:29 PM           966,371 UnicodeData.txt

              14 File(s)      1,025,963 bytes

               3 Dir(s)  442,487,373,824 bytes free

C:\Program Files (x86)\ErgoEmacs\ergoemacs>

very very strange.

Using GNU Emacs started with -Q on the dir shows the same content as ErgoEmacs.

perhaps there's some strange dir mapping going on, but i couldn't imagine what it could be. Even suppose so, i'm not aware i have a old version dir of source code that shows the same as the output in emacs dired.

 Xah

[Xah Lee]

could this possible be a NTFS corruption? Basically, my Windows Vista froze about 2 or 3 times per week, so i had to hold down power key to reboot.

So, is it possible, that NTFS is corrupted, and emacs is reading some invisible version on my disk?

when in ErgoEmacs, dired, and if i do eshell, eshell displays the correct version of the dir. Just not dired. To my knowledge, emacs dired does not have any cache mechanism.

 Xah

[David Capello]

Hi Xah, I'm back. I just read your mails. I think you have
a big NTFS mess.
Did you try to run checkdisk or something?
Did you try to remove the command-freq from ergoemacs/?
Did you see command-freq from Windows Explorer in ergoemacs/
directory (e.g. you can see the same content in Explorer
and dired)?

The only thing I can tell you is that after installing 1.6.1,
I get a working copy of ErgoEmacs with the files installed
as I expected. Could any other user confirm this?

Xah, could you test the installer in a virtual machine (or
in other pc)?

[David Capello]

On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Xah Lee <xah...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Here's a example of my dired:

> [...]

> note the existence of command-frequency.el there.
> Yes the dired has be updated with g.
> but here's output from cmd.exe

> [...]
> very very strange.

Very strange, tell me what the Explorer show to you.
Could this be a problem with permissions? (I saw xah
and Administrators users mixed...)

[Xah Lee]

at this point, it's obvious this problem is just on my machine, nothing to do with ErgoEmacs or the latest release.

Summary or repeat of few points:

• GNU Emacs dired shows the content of a dir and files in it, and this is not in agreement with cmd.exe, PowerShell, or explorer, or eshell from gnu emacs. All of the latter shows the same.

Note that this is GNU Emacs started with -Q.

something odd is happening here... well have to investigate and write back... just a quick mail to clarify now.

 Xah

[Xah Lee]

some more report on this... probably nothing to do with ErgoEmacs but
just for info of this thread.

It only happens on that particular dir as far as i know. ( at c:/
Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs/ )

If i install 1.6.1 at c:/Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs2/ for example,
all is good.

When i install 1.6.1 on the suggested path at c:/Program Files (x86)/
ErgoEmacs/ , all files are GOOD if i start it with -Q, *BUT* it
*seems* after starting emacs with my own init files, the dir c:/
Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs/
gets tainted (as if some old files from nowhere gets copied over).

Of course, i know my elisp init files did no such thing (and have
double checked. It'd be crazy if my init file does some copying of
dir, or that particular dir at all... but possibly i'll check every
single line later.).

The more strange thing is that dired shows a content that is different
from all OS's tools (explorer.exe, cmd.exe, etc).

once the dir is tainted, using dired with GNU Emacs with -Q, shows the
same tainted dir.

Note that in dired of that dir, i can create files, rename files, etc.
Nothing indicates that dired is broken. Everything appears normal,
just that dired disagrees with all OS's tools on that dir's content.

i tried to create files in system or in dired, tried to rename files
and see what happens...

The symptom appears to be: dired's content of that dir seems to be a
layer on top of the actual dir. dired will see content created by the
system, but the system do not see any file or dir created in dired of
that dir. Very strange.

...i did a disk check on C from “Properties, Tools, Check Now”, but it
ask me to schedule it on restart. So i did, and it did check. I don't
see any bad message but the system restarted before i can read fully.
I still need to look and find the log file where that is reported...
(do you know by chance?) I haven't yet fully explored Windows sys
admin tools.

(i'll probably write better report on this whole situation later) also
because am not familiar with Windows, so many things such as how to
check disk on Windows takes a lot more time to grope...

Xah

[David Capello]

Hi Xah

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 12:10 PM, Xah Lee <xah...@gmail.com> wrote:
> some more report on this... probably nothing to do with ErgoEmacs but
> just for info of this thread.
>
> It only happens on that particular dir as far as i know.  ( at c:/
> Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs/ )
>
> If i install 1.6.1 at c:/Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs2/ for example,
> all is good.

Is good to hear that.

> When i install 1.6.1 on the suggested path at c:/Program Files (x86)/
> ErgoEmacs/ , all files are GOOD if i start it with -Q, *BUT* it
> *seems* after starting emacs with my own init files, the dir c:/
> Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs/
> gets tainted (as if some old files from nowhere gets copied over).

Maybe there is a special minor mode, or some weird configuration
in your ~/.emacs.d directory. Did you try to remove all .emacs.desktops?
Could you send me your .emacs and .emacs.d folder? I could test something
in my home later.

Bye, good luck!

[Xah Lee]

David wrote:
> > When i install 1.6.1 on the suggested path at c:/Program Files (x86)/
> > ErgoEmacs/ , all files are GOOD if i start it with -Q, *BUT* it
> > *seems* after starting emacs with my own init files, the dir c:/
> > Program Files (x86)/ErgoEmacs/ergoemacs/
> > gets tainted (as if some old files from nowhere gets copied over).
>
> Maybe there is a special minor mode, or some weird configuration
> in your ~/.emacs.d directory. Did you try to remove all .emacs.desktops?
> Could you send me your .emacs and .emacs.d folder? I could test something
> in my home later.
>
> Bye, good luck!

sent u my init files as one zip.

they are also online :)
http://xahlee.org/emacs/xah_emacs_init.html

don't think it'll help diagnozie this problem...

the key strange thing is that dired is showing a dir that is different
from the system. This is a curious problem... but i put it in delay
now.

Xah

[David Capello]

Hi Xah, about your problem of "NTFS corruption", maybe it can be just
the Vista's Virtual Store that is doing some kind of background magic:

http://www.windyweather.net/wp/2008/09/29/vista-virtual-store/

[Xah Lee]

Thank you very much David! That is it!

Without this lead i don't know when i'd came to it. Looking at my
virtual store's path, i see other mysteries i had with modifying my
intelliType keys caused by it.

Xah