snippets/go-mode/default: Invalid Read Syntax: "#" on Emacs development

[rye]

I'm currently running a version of Emacs that updates nightly to the latest Emacs version of the Git clone of the BZR repo. Today, I noticed a problem with loading, which prevents yasnippet from loading entirely:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (invalid-read-syntax "#")
  eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*> nil "/home/krye/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140929.240/snippets/go-mode/default" nil t)  ; Reading at buffer position 2
  load-with-code-conversion("/home/krye/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140929.240/snippets/go-mode/default" "/home/krye/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140929.240/snippets/go-mode/default" t t)
  load("default" t t)
  #[0 "�\205\262�   \306=\203��\307�\310Q\202;� \311=\204��\307�\312Q\202;�\313\307\314\315#\203*�\316\202;�\313\307\314\317#\203:�\320\nB�\321\202;�\316\322�\323�\322\211#\210�\322=\203a�\324\325\326\307�\327Q!\"\323�\322\211#\210�\322=\203`���\210�\203\243�\330�!\331\232\203\243�\332�!\211\333P\334�!\203}�\211\202\210�\334�!\203\207��\202\210�\314\262��\203\241�\335��\"\203\237�\336\337��#\210\340\341!\210��\266�\f?\205\260�\314�\323\342\322\211#)\262�\207" [init-file-user system-type delayed-warnings-list user-init-file inhibit-default-init inhibit-startup-screen ms-dos "~" "/_emacs" windows-nt "/.emacs" directory-files nil "^\\.emacs\\(\\.elc?\\)?$" "~/.emacs" "^_emacs\\(\\.elc?\\)?$" (initialization "`_emacs' init file is deprecated, please use `.emacs'") "~/_emacs" t load expand-file-name "init" file-name-as-directory "/.emacs.d" file-name-extension "elc" file-name-sans-extension ".el" file-exists-p file-newer-than-file-p message "Warning: %s is newer than %s" sit-for 1 "default"] 7]()
  command-line()
  normal-top-level()

Any ideas? I'll be glad to test any patches or pull requests.

[joaotavora]

Any ideas?

No. Sorry, but I need a way to reliably reproduce the error. Read https://github.com/capitaomorte/yasnippet#important-note-regarding-bug-reporting

FWIW I'm also running fairly recent emacsen.

I will reopen this issue once you provide this information.

[rye]

I just updated Emacs to no avail—still the same problem.

Currently running off of the following commit (obtained using git log -1):

commit 9722cc67f2c4e13d5758b9bc73c0e1b6acbabe8e
Author: Dmitry Antipov <dmantipov@yandex.ru>
Date:   Thu Oct 2 18:01:27 2014 +0400

    * alloc.c (mark_overlay): Assume that overlay boundaries are
    always markers.  Add comment.
    * lread.c (read_internal_start): Use convenient validate_subarray.
    Adjust docstring.
    (Fread_from_string): Adjust docstring.

I suppose it may be a problem with my configuration, seeing as when I run the following code in a emacs -Q instance, I can run (require 'yasnippet) just fine:

(setq load-path (cons (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20140929.240/") load-path)))

I'll investigate further.

[npostavs]

This is the same as AndreaCrotti/yasnippet-snippets#55. I think the problem is that package.el adds the snippet directories to the load-path so a snippet called "default" overrides the elisp "default" library.

startup.el:

(defun command-line ()
  "A subroutine of `normal-top-level'.
Amongst another things, it parses the command-line arguments."
...
                      (unless inhibit-default-init
                        (let ((inhibit-startup-screen nil))
                          ;; Users are supposed to be told their rights.
                          ;; (Plus how to get help and how to undo.)
                          ;; Don't you dare turn this off for anyone
                          ;; except yourself.
                          (load "default" t t)))

[joaotavora]

@npostavs well spotted, is there a way to prevent snippet directories from being added to the load-path? According to the doc of normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path, placing a .nosearch file in a directory prevents it from adding the file to the laod path so if package.el uses that, this would be an easy fix, no?

[treese]

As a workaround for this problem until a complete fix is sorted out, it usually suffices to put (setq inhibit-default-init t) in .emacs. This keeps Emacs from looking for "default", and most installations don't have a default file that matters.

[joaotavora]

@treese and @rye I still haven't understood very well from this thread what is a reproducible way to see the error happening. I'm guessing it happens only with very recent emacsen, and when yasnippet is required from the user's init file.

I would try to add an empty .nosearch to the snippets/ subdir then. And if it works I would submit that change to yasnippet-snippets.

[treese]

I ran into it by installing the yasnippets package using the package system, which then seems to automatically add a huge number of directories to the load-path. I am using Aquamacs 3.0 on a Mac, which is based on Emacs version 24.3.50.2. I will try the .nosearch file.

[npostavs]

I ran into it by installing the yasnippets package using the package system, which then seems to automatically add a huge number of directories to the load-path.

Hmm, I just tried that with emacs 24.3.3 and 24.3.94.1 and it didn't happen to me.

[npostavs]

Maybe it's not from package.el. @rye, @treese: do you possibly have something like

(normal-top-level-add-to-load-path "~/.emacs.d")

in your init.el?

[rye]

In my former Emacs configuration (since opening this issue, I've started work on a new one—it was time for one anyways), I did have something like that. It appears that Emacs was trying to load the snippets as LISP code (?).

From my original configuration, I had the following code getting called on startup:

;; file: init-lib.el
(defun init--add-directory-to-load-path (path)
  "Adds a directory to the load-path"

  (let ((default-directory path))
    (setq load-path
          (append
           (let ((load-path (copy-sequence load-path)))
             (normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path))
           load-path)))
  (message "Added %s to the load-path" path))

(provide 'init-lib)

and it was getting called like so:

;; file: init.el

(load-file "~/.emacs.d/init-lib.el")
(require 'init-lib)

(init--add-directory-to-load-path "~/.emacs.d/elpa/")
(init--add-directory-to-load-path "~/.emacs.d/lisp/")

So it is very possible that code that was called after that was trying to load the snippets as Emacs-Lisp code. I'm not sure, though. One of the reasons I started rewriting my config was that it was just a jumbled mess that was pretty hard to understand, and was very inconsistent.

So far, I haven't run into this problem on my fresh config. I think that it might have been a code completion package that was causing these problems in my former config—I seem to remember some -eldoc package in the backtrace when I was debugging this at first. I'll report if any specific package causes this breakage again, and I'll open an issue with that package's developers also. I think that having a .nosearch file, if it works properly, would be a good safeguard for yasnippet-snippets to have employed.

[joaotavora]

think that having a .nosearch file, if it works properly, would be a good safeguard for yasnippet-snippets to have employed.

Can you try it and report back here, please?

[treese]

I tried .nosearch and it seems to solve the problem. I submitted it as a pull request on yasnippet-snippets.

[joaotavora]

Nice one @treese