Re: emacsserver unstable?

[Sven Bretfeld]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2007 at 07:44:02PM +0200, Peter Dyballa wrote:

> Can you try to minimise your user init file, ~/.emacs or such? Could  
> be there is some code that causes the error you see ...

Prepare for the hammer! The issue is in fact related to some code
lines in my init file, not to any cronjob or library on my
system. It's something nobody would probably have expected and it
twists my mind.

The dying of the server seems to depend on the interplay of two
definitions in my .emacs. I will call them code A and code B for
explanation (it's only phenomenology, since I cannot explain what
causes the problem):

Code A:

;; color-theme-------------------------
     (require 'color-theme)
     (color-theme-calm-forest)
;;-------------------------------------

Code B:

;; geometry of frames------------------
(setq default-frame-alist (append (list
  '(width  . 82)
  '(height . 45))
  default-frame-alist))

(add-to-list
  'default-frame-alist
  '(font  . "-Adobe-Courier-Medium-R-Normal--24-240-75-75-M-150-ISO8859-1"))
;;-------------------------------------

What happens is as follows:

- If both codes are on:
  Emacsserver dies after some minutes. I don't
  know when exactly this happens. It seems to be a matter of time, not
  a matter of doing anything. But it's hard to say. Phenomenologically:
  I start Emacs. I change to Mutt (which runs on a different virtual
  desktop) and prepare to compose an email. Emacsclient starts a new
  frame on that virtual desktop with Mutt-mode (same size and color as
  the initial frame, all other buffers of the session are
  accessible). After composing the message I hit C-c C-c and return to
  Mutt to send it. Thereafter, I'm working again on some LaTeX stuff
  in the initial frame. Compose a message again after some
  minutes. Working. Again LaTeX stuff. Again trying to send an
  Email. No frame is started, no Emacsclient available!

- If only Code A is on (Code B commented):
  The initial frame starts a little smaller. Not a problem, I can
  maximize the frame. But, when I start to compose a message from
  Mutt, the new frame is much too small (about half the geometry of the
  initial frame) and with a much smaller font. Too small to work
  with (that's why I inserted code B at all). But emacsserver seems to
  be stable.

- If only Code B is on (Code A commented):
  This is the worst version. Emacsserver seems to be stable, but
  (apart from not having my beloved colors) a strange behavior occurs
  with the fonts. And this really upsets me because I don't know
  why and it didn't happen before I discovered the color-theme half a
  year ago. I often use characters with uncommon accents, for example an n
  with dot above (341797, #o1233445, #x53725, U+1E45). Without the
  color theme newly inserted occurrences of these characters come in
  adobe-helvetica, not in adobe-courier (which is my standard
  font). Older occurrences of these characters are displayed as
  normal. It looks very ugly of course. How can this happen?
  Adobe-courier is defined via customize my standard-font. Nowhere
  have I defined adobe-helvetica. There are font-definitions in
  color-theme.el but this behavior, however, occurs when the
  color-themes are off. Where is the conflict?

- If both codes are commented:
  Same as the previous. Only a smaller initial frame.

What can we make out of this? The font problem, I feel, is
interrelated with the server-problem. Something seems to be in
conflict, but I cannot figure it out.

If someone is inclined to help me figuring out my problem, it might be
best to attach the relevant parts of my .emacs down below.

Please excuse the length of my posting and the ignorance displayed in
it.

Help is much welcome.

Greetings,

Sven

;;;;;;;;;;;~/.emacs

(custom-set-variables
  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(case-fold-search t)
 '(current-language-environment "UTF-8")
 '(default-input-method "rfc1345")
 '(delete-selection-mode nil nil (delsel))
 '(global-font-lock-mode t nil (font-lock))
 '(scroll-bar-mode (quote right))
 '(show-paren-mode t nil (paren))
 '(transient-mark-mode t))
(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground "#000000" 
:inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil :underline nil 
:slant normal :weight normal :height 200 :width normal :family 
"adobe-courier")))))

;;-----------------------------------------------------------------
;; color-theme
;;-----------------------------------------------------------------
     (require 'color-theme)
;     (color-theme-gnome2)
     (color-theme-calm-forest)
;      (color-theme-dark-blue)
;     (color-theme-dark-blue2)
;      (color-theme-deep-blue)
;     (color-theme-subtle-hacker)

;;----------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Grösse des Frames beim Starten
;;----------------------------------------------------------------------

(setq default-frame-alist (append (list
  '(width  . 82)
  '(height . 45))
  default-frame-alist))

(add-to-list
  'default-frame-alist
  '(font  . "-Adobe-Courier-Medium-R-Normal--24-240-75-75-M-150-ISO8859-1"))

;;-----------------------------------------------------------------
;; Emacs und Mutt
;;-----------------------------------------------------------------

;; Start emacsclient in its own frame------------------------------
  (add-hook 'server-switch-hook
              (lambda nil
                (let ((server-buf (current-buffer)))
                  (bury-buffer)
                  (switch-to-buffer-other-frame server-buf))))

  (add-hook 'server-done-hook 'delete-frame)
  (add-hook 'server-done-hook (lambda nil (kill-buffer nil)))

;; When in Terminal------------------------------------------------
(when (not window-system)
  (set-keyboard-coding-system locale-coding-system)
  (set-terminal-coding-system locale-coding-system)
  (color-theme-emacs-nw)
)

;; mutt-mode-------------------------------------------------------
(setq load-path (cons "~/elisp/mutt" load-path))
(require 'mutt)
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("mutt-kamaloka.dhatu" . mutt-mode))
(push '(".*/tmp/mutt.*\\'" . mutt-mode) auto-mode-alist)

;;-----------------------------------------------------------------
;; Start emacsserver
;;-----------------------------------------------------------------
(server-start)