GNU bug report logs - #16154
Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Reinhard Kotucha <reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 08:59:25 +0100

Hi,
when I do (as root)

   su nobody
   VISUAL=/usr/local/bin/emacs-24.3 crontab -e

Emacs says

   Creating directory: permission denied, //.emacs.d/

and refuses to do anything useful.  It's on purpose that user 'nobody'
doesn't have a writable HOME directory.

My current workaround is to put the lines

  if [[ ${LOGNAME} == 'nobody' ]]; then
    EDITOR=vim
  else
    EDITOR=emacs
  fi
 
into /etc/bashrc.

It would be better if Emacs can be used even if the HOME directory
isn't writable.  

vim allows me to edit the crontab and issues a warning 

  E138: Can't write viminfo file /.viminfo!

afterwards end but emacs refuses to do anything useful if $HOME isn't
writable. 

Regards,
  Reinhard

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover                              mailto:reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 12:40:25 +0100

Reinhard Kotucha writes:
>    Creating directory: permission denied, //.emacs.d/
>
> and refuses to do anything useful.  It's on purpose that user 'nobody'
> doesn't have a writable HOME directory.

It looks like nobody doesn't have a non-writable HOME, but no HOME at
all (or "/") on your system.

> It would be better if Emacs can be used even if the HOME directory
> isn't writable.  

Well, in my testing Emacs works (giving just a warning about the
non-writable .emacs.d and then moving on), both 24.3 and trunk from a
few days back.  Perhaps you have something in site-lisp that assumes a
writable ~/.emacs.d?


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

SD adaptation for Waldorf microQ V2.22R2:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSDada

Message #11 received at 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>
Cc: 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 18:25:50 +0200

> From: Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>
> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 12:40:25 +0100
> 
> > It would be better if Emacs can be used even if the HOME directory
> > isn't writable.  
> 
> Well, in my testing Emacs works (giving just a warning about the
> non-writable .emacs.d and then moving on), both 24.3 and trunk from a
> few days back.

Indeed, same here.

Message #14 received at 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
To: 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>,
 reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 14:47:46 -0500

Not sure why you guys are saying this works in 24.3, because I only
fixed this in trunk semi-recently:

http://debbugs.gnu.org/13930

Ie, this should be fixed in 24.4.
Of course, "refuses to do anything useful" is very vague, so I have no
way to test whatever the OP was seeing works now.

PS it's not a good idea to omit the OP from replies.

Message #19 received at 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
Cc: reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de, Stromeko <at> nexgo.de, 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 22:17:27 +0200

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
> Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>, reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de
> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 14:47:46 -0500
> 
> 
> Not sure why you guys are saying this works in 24.3, because I only
> fixed this in trunk semi-recently:
> 
> http://debbugs.gnu.org/13930
> 
> Ie, this should be fixed in 24.4.

"This" being what?

> Of course, "refuses to do anything useful" is very vague, so I have no
> way to test whatever the OP was seeing works now.

I assumed that "refuses to do anything useful" means you cannot visit
a file, edit it, and save it.  That works for me, both in 24.3 and the
current trunk.  FWIW, I did

   HOME=/whatever emacs -Q

and in that session I could visit files, edit them, and save them.
Sure, Emacs bitched at me at startup, but that's it.

Message #22 received at 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Reinhard Kotucha <reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de>
To: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>,
 reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de, 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 04:01:18 +0100

On 2013-12-15 at 14:47:46 -0500, Glenn Morris wrote:

 > Not sure why you guys are saying this works in 24.3, because I only
 > fixed this in trunk semi-recently:
 > 
 > http://debbugs.gnu.org/13930
 > 
 > Ie, this should be fixed in 24.4.
 > Of course, "refuses to do anything useful" is very vague, so I have no
 > way to test whatever the OP was seeing works now.

Sorry for having been so imprecise.  With "refuses to do anything
useful" I meant that it didn't load the crontab.  There is only the
scratch buffer.  Seems that I encountered the bug you fixed.

I'll try the version in trunk tomorrow.

Thanks,
  Reinhard

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover                              mailto:reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message #25 received at 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>
To: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
Cc: reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de, 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:24:42 +0100

Glenn Morris writes:
> Not sure why you guys are saying this works in 24.3, because I only
> fixed this in trunk semi-recently:
>
> http://debbugs.gnu.org/13930
>
> Ie, this should be fixed in 24.4.

It "worked for me" since I didn't test with enough command line
arguments to see that the processing of the command line would be
incomplete in 24.3.

> Of course, "refuses to do anything useful" is very vague, so I have no
> way to test whatever the OP was seeing works now.

It's become clear in the meantime that the bug is indeed that file(s)
given on the command line won't open in 24.3.  You can still work on
them once Emacs has started and complained about the non-writable
~/.emacs.d/, though.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

Wavetables for the Waldorf Blofeld:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#BlofeldUserWavetables

Message #28 received at 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Reinhard Kotucha <reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de>
To: reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de
Cc: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>,
 Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de>, 16154 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16154: Emacs crashes if $HOME isn't writable
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 22:15:33 +0100

On 2013-12-16 at 04:01:18 +0100, Reinhard Kotucha wrote:

 > On 2013-12-15 at 14:47:46 -0500, Glenn Morris wrote:
 > 
 >  > Not sure why you guys are saying this works in 24.3, because I only
 >  > fixed this in trunk semi-recently:
 >  > 
 >  > http://debbugs.gnu.org/13930
 >  > 
 >  > Ie, this should be fixed in 24.4.
 >  > Of course, "refuses to do anything useful" is very vague, so I
 >  > have no way to test whatever the OP was seeing works now.
 > 
 > Sorry for having been so imprecise.  With "refuses to do anything
 > useful" I meant that it didn't load the crontab.  There is only the
 > scratch buffer.  Seems that I encountered the bug you fixed.
 > 
 > I'll try the version in trunk tomorrow.

Dear Glenn,
I installed emacs-24.3.50 now and it works like a charm.

Thanks again,
  Reinhard

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover                              mailto:reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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