Subject: 24.1; emacsclient: alternate editor does not inherit options (like --tty and --eval)

From: Albert <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 17:04:53 +0200

This bug report will be sent to the Bug-GNU-Emacs mailing list
and the GNU bug tracker at debbugs.gnu.org.  Please check that
the From: line contains a valid email address.  After a delay of up
to one day, you should receive an acknowledgement at that address.

Please write in English if possible, as the Emacs maintainers
usually do not have translators for other languages.

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug, and
the precise symptoms of the bug.  If you can, give a recipe
starting from `emacs -Q':

On commandline enter:
emacsclientw.exe --alternate-editor="runemacs.exe" --eval "(gomoku)"

Result:
- when emacs is already running: starts a game of gomoku
- when not already running: opens the file '(gomoku)'

Problem:
I would like to have a game of gomoku started in both cases.

This would also apply to some of the other options, like --tty and
--frame-parameters.

Suggestions:
1. Of course in the general case that the alternate editor is for example
vi you do not want the options given to the vi editor. An extra option like
'--alternate-editor-is-emacs' or '--alternate-editor-inherit-options' could
determine whether the options that are valid for a normal emacs are
passed on. Or an extra option '--alternate-emacs=EMACS-EDITOR' that
behaves in the proposed way.

2. Under Unix giving the empty string to '--alternate-editor' starts the deamon
and lets emacsclient try again. This is also a good solution. Under
MS-Windows the deamon mode is not available, perhaps here the empty
string could mean "start emacs with the same options".

The second suggestion seems to be the better one.

Best regards,
Albert.

If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
please include the output from the following gdb commands:
    `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
For information about debugging Emacs, please read the file
d:/albert/gnu/emacs/emacs-24.1/etc/DEBUG.

In GNU Emacs 24.1.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2012-06-10 on MARVIN
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
Configured using:
 `configure --with-gcc (4.6) --cflags
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.8/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.8/src
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libpng-dev_1.4.3-1/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/zlib-dev_1.2.5-2/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/giflib-4.1.4-1/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/jpeg-6b-4/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/tiff-3.8.2-1/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/gnutls-3.0.9/include'

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: ENG
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: cp1252
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Dired by name

Minor modes in effect:
  show-paren-mode: t
  server-mode: t
  icomplete-mode: t
  global-linum-mode: t
  linum-mode: t
  display-time-mode: t
  cua-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  size-indication-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo>
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo>
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo>
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo>
<help-echo> <help-echo> <menu-bar> <help-menu> <se
nd-emacs-bug-report>

Recent messages:
Loading icomplete...done
Loading server...done
Loading paren...done
Albert: end of dot.emacs-custom
Loading d:/albert/gnu/emacs/emacs-24.1/site-lisp/albert-site-lisp/dot.emacs-custom...done
Albert: end of dot.emacs
Loading d:/albert/gnu/emacs/emacs-24.1/site-lisp/albert-site-lisp/dot.emacs...done
Could not find .emacs, reading dot.emacs instead...done
Albert: end of default.el
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.

Load-path shadows:
d:/albert/gnu/emacs/.emacs.d/elpa/sunrise-commander-20120729/.dir-locals
hides d:/albert/gnu/emacs/emacs-24.1/lisp/gnus/.dir-locals

Features:
(shadow sort gnus-util mail-extr emacsbug message format-spec rfc822 mml
mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev
gmm-utils mailheader sendmail rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util
mail-prsvr mail-utils dired regexp-opt magit-autoloads
sunrise-commander-autoloads package tabulated-list paren server
icomplete linum time cua-base cus-start cus-load easy-mmode easymenu
printing ps-print ps-def lpr edmacro kmacro tex-mik tex-site time-date
tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 disp-table
ls-lisp w32-win w32-vars tool-bar dnd fontset image fringe lisp-mode
register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse
jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cham georgian
utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean
japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian
cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev
minibuffer loaddefs button faces cus-face files text-properties overlay
sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget
hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process multi-tty emacs)