file completion

[vose]

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In GNU Emacs 21.3.1 (i386-pc-linux-gnu, Motif Version 2.1.30)
 of 2004-08-14 on gandalf
configured using `configure  --prefix=/usr --host=i386-pc-linux-gnu 
--mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share 
--sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --with-x --with-xpm --with-jpeg 
--with-tiff --with-gif --with-png --with-x-toolkit=motif'
Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: nil
  locale-coding-system: nil
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug
and the precise symptoms of the bug:

C-x C-f TAB does not show directory contents:

vose@gandalf TCS $ ls -l
total 3496
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 219223 Jan 18 11:09 Arnold.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 542076 Jan 18 11:09 Beyer_Meyer-Nieberg.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 179163 Jan 18 11:09 Blass_Mitavskiy.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 257691 Jan 18 11:10 Jaegerskuepper.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 190683 Jan 18 11:10 Jansen.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 169844 Jan 18 11:10 Kumar.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 254236 Jan 18 11:10 Li.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 461736 Jan 18 11:10 Mitavskiy_Rowe.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 269952 Jan 18 11:10 Poli.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 147531 Jan 18 11:10 Rowe_Vose_Wright.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 219319 Jan 18 11:10 Stephens.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 302869 Jan 18 11:10 Toussaint.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users 272211 Jan 18 11:10 Whitley_Rowe.pdf
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users   7814 Feb 14 06:51 invite
-rw-r--r--  1 vose users   7783 Feb 11 14:49 invite~

Instead, TAB behaves as if the only file in the directory is "invite".
It is as if some mischevious devil is in emacs which says "no, I won't
allow files to be visible; only files which I happen to like today (if
any) will be shown"!

Recent input:
DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL A SPC SPC DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL 
DEL DEL DEL DEL SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC DEL DEL 
DEL DEL DEL DEL SPC DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL A SPC SPC 
C-g C-z ESC x f i n TAB d - f i l TAB TAB TAB RET SPC 
SPC DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL DEL C-g C-g ESC x f i n 
TAB d - f i l TAB - l i TAB RET SPC SPC SPC C-g ESC 
x r e p o TAB r TAB RET

Recent messages:
Loading dired...done
Reading directory /home/vose/conferences/Aizu/papers/TCS/...done
Quit
Making completion list... [2 times]
execute-extended-command: Quit
keyboard-quit: Quit
Making completion list...
execute-extended-command: Quit
Making completion list...
Loading emacsbug...done