Re: tramp (2.2.3-pre); a bit too eager

[Michael Albinus]

Dave Abrahams <address@hidden> writes:

Hi Dave,

> I recently added this to my .emacs:
>
>       ;; If I don't set this during startup, an error can cause it to
>       ;; be set to something that invokes TRAMP whenever I try to
>       ;; switch buffers.
>       (setq default-directory "~")
>
> The problem was that an error loading my personal .loaddefs.el file was
> liable to leave default-directory (globally somehow) set such that TRAMP
> would intervene (and fail) every time I even tried ido-switch-buffer.  I
> couldn't even switch to my *Messages* buffer without first doing `M-:
> (setq default-directory "~")'.

`default-directory' is a buffer local variable. It is essential for
Tramp to trust a correct value here, I don't see a scenario where Tramp
could detect an improper setting.

> I'm sure this is at least partly ido's fault, but TRAMP should probably
> not ever be involved in Emacs becoming totally unusable except to
> someone who can guess the magic incantaion.

Tramp is invoked based on file name syntax. If `default-directory' has a
remote file name syntax, chances are good that the Tramp file name
handler is called.

Maybe the best would be to try to reproduce the problem from your
environment. Do you have an .emacs plus a scenario, which is know to
reproduce the problem?

Best regards, Michael.