Org export fails with #+Title and #+Author

[rrottier]

After updating to the latest Spacemacs org export started failing for any Latex export with a #+TITLE or #+AUTHOR field.

I did a fresh clone and install of Spacemacs 0.104.2 but this did not help. The error message is:

Wrong type argument: listp, #("201424155" 0 9 (:parent (#0)))

It seems somewhat related to #3121 but did not resolve with the reinstall as for the original poster.

[robbyoconnor]

Thank you for the report, please when you report a bug like this, _ALWAYS_ include output of SPC hds...it is helpful :)

[rrottier]

Sorry, done now.

System Info

• OS: darwin
• Emacs: 24.5.1
• Spacemacs: 0.104.2
• Spacemacs branch: master (rev. 074f425)
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Layers:

(auto-completion emacs-lisp git markdown latex org osx
                 (shell :variables shell-default-height 30 shell-default-position 'bottom)
                 spell-checking syntax-checking version-control)

[robbyoconnor]

did you test this in develop? I just did and it worked.

[robbyoconnor]

Here is my SPC hds output:

System Info

• OS: gnu/linux
• Emacs: 24.4.1
• Spacemacs: 0.105.0
• Spacemacs branch: develop (rev. 9e794df)
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Layers:

((auto-completion :variables auto-completion-return-key-behavior 'complete auto-completion-tab-key-behavior 'cycle auto-completion-complete-with-key-sequence nil auto-completion-enable-help-tooltip t auto-completion-enable-sort-by-usage t auto-completion-show-snippets-in-popup t)
 better-defaults emacs-lisp
 (git :variables git-magit-status-fullscreen t)
 github gnus version-control markdown syntax-checking
 (latex :variables latex-enable-auto-fill t)
 (colors :variables colors-enable-rainbow-identifiers t colors-enable-nyan-cat-progress-bar t)
 dockerfile ansible puppet evil-commentary
 (evil-snipe :variables evil-snipe-enable-alternate-f-and-t-behaviors t)
 fasd finance floobits xkcd autohotkey
 (c-c++ :variables c-c++-enable-clang-support t)
 (clojure :variables clojure-enable-fancify-symbols t)
 extra-langs go
 (haskell :variables haskell-enable-ghci-ng-support t haskell-enable-shm-support t haskell-enable-hindent-style "andrew-gibiansky")
 html java javascript
 (python :variables python-enable-yapf-format-on-save t)
 racket
 (ruby :variables ruby-version-manager `rvm)
 ruby-on-rails rust scala shell-scripts restclient themes-megapack tmux vim-empty-lines spotify pandoc vagrant
 (ibuffer :variables ibuffer-group-buffers-by 'projects)
 semantic deft
 (shell :variables shell-default-shell 'eshell shell-default-position 'bottom shell-default-height 30 shell-default-term-shell "/bin/zsh")
 typescript
 (eyebrowse :variables eyebrowse-display-help t)
 (perspectives :variables perspective-display-help t)
 erc chrome d extra-langs smex emoji gtags prodigy evernote
 (org :variables org-enable-github-support t)
 search-engine evil-little-word yaml sql nim ipython-notebook lua scheme purescript sml common-lisp ranger wakatime dash spell-checking jabber deft cscope vinegar unimpaired rcirc games react)

[robbyoconnor]

Here is my testing file

#+TITLE: Testing 123
#+AUTHOR: Robert O'Connor 
* Hi 
** Hey

Here is the associated generated TeX:

% Created 2015-10-03 Sat 04:21
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{fixltx2e}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{grffile}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{rotating}
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{capt-of}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\author{Robert O'Connor}
\date{\today}
\title{Testing 123}
\hypersetup{
 pdfauthor={Robert O'Connor},
 pdftitle={Testing 123},
 pdfkeywords={},
 pdfsubject={},
 pdfcreator={Emacs 24.4.1 (Org mode 8.3.2)}, 
 pdflang={English}}
\begin{document}

\maketitle
\tableofcontents

\section{Hi}
\label{sec:orgheadline2}
\subsection{Hey}
\label{sec:orgheadline1}
\end{document}

And the PDF output:

[robbyoconnor]

I suspect this is a case of not having the proper executables on your system...if I am wrong, I'll accept that but I'm not sure I am in this case...

[rrottier]

Switched to develop:

System Info

• OS: darwin
• Emacs: 24.5.1
• Spacemacs: 0.105.0
• Spacemacs branch: nil (rev. 9e794df)
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Layers:

(auto-completion emacs-lisp git markdown latex org osx
                 (shell :variables shell-default-height 30 shell-default-position 'bottom)
                 spell-checking syntax-checking version-control)

Works now, I had tried it before but this time also trashed my elpa directory. Thanks

[robbyoconnor]

I'd love to know what the issue is...

[robbyoconnor]

I just looked, there are literally no commits in develop that changed the org layer..so I'm curious what would cause this...

[TheBB]

If he also upgraded the packages when he switched to develop, that's probably what solved it.

[robbyoconnor]

That could do it...whatever packages he was using, must have been ancient...whatever...it works...

[rrottier]

I have no idea what it was but it could not have been a package upgrade. I deleted the entire .emacs.d folder for both the 0.104 install and the 0.105 install and cloned the repo again. I tried to update from 0.104 to 0.105 in place and this did not resolve the issue. Then I posted this issue and after robbyoconnor's comment I tried again this time wiping the folder and resyncing.

I just looked through the entire changelist and there is nothing that looks like it explains while this works. But also looking at #2856 it seems like the issue can disappear and re-appear by itself.

[robbyoconnor]

In the future before you wipe your entire install -- try updating packages by clicking the [Update]' button on the home buffer...if you are away from it...type SPC b h -- another way to do it is to wipe elpa/, but it's the more radical solution -- updating packages will work just as well.

[rrottier]

Sure thing. That would be my normal way of updating but I was getting desperate to get org-export working again...

[jm2dev]

After installing spacemacs I cannot export orgmode files which start with the TITLE tag. I experienced this issue when I loaded org layer.

Sample document that doesn't export to anything, I tried html and utf-8 text.

#+TITLE: Sample title
* Overview
Lorem ipsum

System Info

• OS: gnu/linux
• Emacs: 24.5.1
• Spacemacs: 0.105.19
• Spacemacs branch: master (rev. 5f26b82)
• Graphic display: t
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Editing style: emacs
• Completion: helm
• Layers:

(emacs-lisp git org scala python)

[jm2dev]

As per issue #3314 and following @liangwang recommendation I deleted all org-* directories under $HOME/.emacs.d/elpa and restarted Emacs. I was able to export again orgmode files with title tag.

[dmusican]

Confirmed that the solution from @jm2dev worked for me.

[Emiluren]

Worked for me too 😄

[joshcho]

I am getting this error again. Anyone have any idea why this is happening?

[jonpither]

Getting this error also.

[diadochos]

I have this since yesterday too. I've re-installed all org-, ob-, and ox- libraries.

Procedure to reproduce

Minimum working example

1. Create test.org with the content below:

#+TITLE: Foo

2. M-x org-latex-export-as-latex

What I get

• The export stops there (Emacs does not halt)
• An error in the *Messages* buffer:
  apply: Wrong type argument: listp, #("Foo" 0 3 (:parent (#0)))

My info

System Info 💻

• org-20161118

• org-plus-contrib-20161118

• OS: darwin

• Emacs: 25.1.1

• Spacemacs: 0.200.5

• Spacemacs branch: master (rev. 664ba6a)

• Graphic display: t

• Distribution: spacemacs

• Editing style: vim

• Completion: helm

• Layers:

(csv bibtex
     (auto-completion :variables auto-completion-enable-sort-by-usage t auto-completion-enable-snippets-in-popup t auto-completion-enable-help-tooltip t auto-completion-private-snippets-directory "~/.emacs.d.bak/snippets/")
     better-defaults ipython-notebook emacs-lisp
     (org :variables org-enable-github-support t)
     osx spell-checking syntax-checking
     (ruby :variables ruby-enable-enh-ruby-mode t ruby-version-manager 'rbenv ruby-test-runner 'rspec)
     python javascript latex yaml php gtags ess version-control git html clojure extra-langs dash docker my-keybindings my-config-from-spacemacs-base realgud)

• System configuration features: NOTIFY ACL GNUTLS LIBXML2 ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS NS MODULES

[angry-bird]

same errer here, and also i have the similar problem when using org-ref to get bibtex entry : doi-link-menu: Wrong number of arguments: #[(doi bibfile) blablablabla...
And all these problems are related to my org updating, and i guess there are many other tiny tricky problems with org 9.0, even with with-eval-after-load in .spacemacs
By the way, I add a \ before title, and it correctly export. But the title contains the unwanted backslash.

[shersk2]

I get the same error. Is there some workaround for this so I can export documents until the bug is fixed? Or will I have to reinstall Emacs?

[diadochos]

@angry-bird @shersk2

Workaround 1

Upgrade to the latest version, and try commenting out org-mode settings in your personal .emacs.d .
(i.e. use the latest org-mode with the default settings of spacemacs)
In my case the problem is gone. I'll try to figure out which part of my config is causing the problem, when I get the time.

Workaround 2

If above doesn't work,

1. Download the desired version of org-mode from a commit at https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs-elpa-mirror
   Check commit logs, find the commit that contains a previous version of org-mode, click "Browse files", and just literally get copies of org/org-* and org/org-plus-contrib-* in your local.
2. Remove the latest version of org-mode from .emacs.d/elpa/ .
3. M-x package-install-file and then choose the downloaded files.
4. Restart Emacs

You should be able to use the older version of org-mode until you use the upgrading feature of spacemacs.

[angry-bird]

@diadochos Thanks! I removed all folders under .emacs.d/elpa/, and now it works fine.

[alecstein]

I am using emacs, not spacemacs, but maybe this will be useful to some of you. This problem appeared for me immediately upon installing org-ref. I tried uninstalling org-ref but the issue stuck around. Once I removed my org folder I was able to use the #+TITLE tag again.

[adimit]

I am not sure why this issue is closed. I can reproduce it with the current develop HEAD and all recent packages, no user configuration, all executables that need to be present, etc. Deleting org-ref is not an option for me, as I do need it.

My reproduction instructions:

• clone spacemacs repo to .emacs.d, switch to develop
• don't have a ~/.spacemacs, just install everything with a default setup
• export an org-mode file with #+TITLE: or #+AUTHOR: set to LaTeX
  I'm getting Wrong type argument: listp, #("My title…" 0 89 (:parent (#0)))

System Info 💻

• OS: gnu/linux
• Emacs: 25.3.1
• Spacemacs: 0.300.0
• Spacemacs branch: develop (rev. e11f7ba)
• Graphic display: t
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Editing style: vim
• Completion: helm
• Layers:

(helm emacs-lisp neotree)

• System configuration features: XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG IMAGEMAGICK SOUND DBUS GCONF GSETTINGS NOTIFY ACL LIBSELINUX GNUTLS LIBXML2 FREETYPE M17N_FLT LIBOTF XFT ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS GTK3 X11 MODULES XWIDGETS

[Atman50]

Me too. Seems to have broken recently. Completely removed elpa, reloaded. Getting org from https://orgmode.org/packages.
Seems to always fail with #+TITLE or #+AUTHOR

[reconmaster]

I am also getting the same issue with #+AUTHOR and then #+TITLE after removing the #+AUTHOR entry. Fresh .emacs.d/elpa as well. Definitely would like to know why this happened and how to fix. Current version being pulled is:

release_9.1.7-18-g2f587d

[ghost]

Same issue 😿

The solution of @jm2dev works tho.

System Info 💻

• OS: gnu/linux
• Emacs: 25.3.1
• Spacemacs: 0.200.13
• Spacemacs branch: master (rev. c7a103a)
• Graphic display: t
• Distribution: spacemacs-base
• Editing style: hybrid
• Completion: ivy
• Layers:

(html ivy auto-completion better-defaults emacs-lisp git markdown mu4e org finance syntax-checking version-control)

• System configuration features: XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG IMAGEMAGICK SOUND GPM DBUS GCONF GSETTINGS NOTIFY ACL GNUTLS LIBXML2 FREETYPE M17N_FLT LIBOTF XFT ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS GTK3 X11 MODULES

[xanalogica]

Oddly I have it here only when I use #+TITLE: but if I use #+TITLE (without the colon) it works and I also get the correct title displayed. All my other #+BLAH: lines have colons, just not TITLE.

And the syntax coloring for my .org buffer is showing the error color on my #+TITLE: line but when I remove the trailing colon the color switches to non-error. And all the other #+BLAH: lines (with colon) are showing with the correct non-error color.

I can live without the trailing colon but it is mystifying.

Running emacs 25.3-r4:25 under Gentoo Linux.

[harlandski]

As far as I can see the problem lies somewhere in org-plus-contribs. I recently installed org-plus-contrib-20180611 on GNU Emacs 25.1.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.22.11), and immediately encountered the problems described with exporting #+TITLE: #+DATE: and #+AUTHOR:. If I remove this directory, then export works as normal again. The workaround with removing the colons does not work for me.

[irbin-b]

I have updated my emacs libraries and remove unnecessary with M-x package-autoremove. After this restart emacs, and the export works fine.

[Justin-YGG]

solution from @jm2dev worked for me too.

[gkbio]

I got this problem when I upgraded my Org package from the default version.

I fixed the problem without deleting any org folders and just by reloading uncompiled org.

System Config:
I am running WSL on windows 10 - > Emacs 25.3.2 and Org 9.1.14

Temporary Solution:

Emacs File Menu -> Org -> Refresh/Reload ->Reload Org Uncompiled C-u C-c C-x !

Permanent Solution
Delete all .elc files (compiled binary) in installed Org packages and restart emacs.
(this has been mentioned by others in the same chat group)

cd /home/user/.emacs.d/elpa/org-
cd org-20181008/ cd org-ac-20170401.1307/ cd org-ref-20181010.2343/
rm -r *.elc

[mijail73]

This worked for me.
Best way that I have seen to work is to delete (M)Elpa installed Org completely and install it again, but in an emacs -Q session, or do C-u M-x org-reload, and then delete->reinstall Org.
https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/6jeu74/getting_error_exporting_org_doc_because_it_has/