GNU bug report logs - #1687
Emacs.app -- Warning: desktop file appears to be in use by PID 537.

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Message #5 received at submit <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Gilbert Harman" <harman <at> princeton.edu>
To: emacs-pretest-bug <at> gnu.org
Subject: Emacs.app -- Warning: desktop file appears to be in use by PID 537.
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:14:16 -0500

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Using Emacs.app, GNU Emacs 23.0.60.1 (i386-apple-darwin9.5.0, NS
apple-appkit-949.35) of 2008-12-14 on GH-iMAC.local.

If I choose "Quit Emacs" from the "Emacs" menu, the next time I start up
Emacs, I get a warning of the form: Warning: desktop file appears to be in
use by PID 537.  Furthermore, if I then try to send a bug report, Emacs.app
freezes after I enter the above as subject of the bug report.

No problem if instead I had chosen "Exit Emacs" from the "File" menu, or use
C-x C-c.

No problem using "Quit Emacs" in Carbon Emacs: GNU Emacs 22.3.1
(i386-apple-darwin9.5.0, Carbon Version 1.6.0) of 2008-10-27 on
leopard.local. (same machine)

  Gil

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #12 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Adrian Robert <adrian.b.robert <at> gmail.com>
To: 1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: "Gilbert Harman" <harman <at> princeton.edu>
Subject: Re: Emacs.app -- Warning: desktop file appears to be in use by PID 537.
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:01:15 +0200

> If I choose "Quit Emacs" from the "Emacs" menu, the next time I  
> start up
> Emacs, I get a warning of the form: Warning: desktop file appears  
> to be in
> use by PID 537.  Furthermore, if I then try to send a bug report,  
> Emacs.app
> freezes after I enter the above as subject of the bug report.

I can't reproduce this here on 2009/01/21.  How are you starting  
Emacs in these cases?

Message #17 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: Warning: desktop file appears to be in use by PID ...
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:13:02 -0500

I'm encountering the same problem (on WinXP).  I _think_ it just started
today (though it may have started yesterday).

It happens when I start emacs via the Start Menu and when I start it
from an icon on the desktop.

Exiting with C-x C-c doesn't change the behavior.

Message #22 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>,
        1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: Warning: desktop file appears to be in use by PID ...
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:42:34 +0100

On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 21:13, Relson, David <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com> wrote:

> I'm encountering the same problem (on WinXP).  I _think_ it just started
> today (though it may have started yesterday).

Do you mean the same problem as originally reported, i.e.:

  - enter emacs
  - quit emacs
  - enter emacs again => "Warning: desktop file appears to be in use by PID..."

If so, could you please try to find a minimal setup that triggers the
bug? I'm unable to reproduce it on Windows XP.

    Juanma

Message #27 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:55:05 -0500

Yes, I have the same problem as originally reported.

I have a .emacs file in my ~/ directory, i.e. c:\user.  With the
following line:

    (desktop-read)

The problem occurs.  Without the line, the problem goes away.

The problem occurs when the above line is the _only_ line in .emacs

My original .emacs file uses desktop-read in the following manner:

;; This enables saving the current desktop on shutdown.  
;; The ESC-x desktop-save command must be given once 
;; for this to work in perpetuity. 
(desktop-load-default)
(desktop-read)

I've run the desktop-save command but that didn't solve the problem.
FWIW, desktop-save put its .emacs.desktop in c:/Program
Files/GNU/ntemacs22/bin (which seems reasonable).  I copied the
.emacs.desktop file to c:/user but it didn't help.

Message #32 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>,
        1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:31:00 +0100

> I have a .emacs file in my ~/ directory, i.e. c:\user.  With the
> following line:
>
>    (desktop-read)
>
> The problem occurs.  Without the line, the problem goes away.

Does it also happen if you use

 (desktop-save-mode 1)

instead?

    Juanma

Message #37 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: emacs bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:29:29 -0500

Found the cause !!

File c:/user/.emacs.desktop.lock contains the PID in the error message.

Deleting the file makes the warning go away.

I've done some further testing.  With emacs open, the lock file is
created.  If I open a second copy of emacs, the message appears.  

This is a change in behavior.  I used to be able to open multiple copies
of emacs without error messages.

FWIW, due to a hard drive upgrade I have a new installation of emacs
(v22.1.50.10).  Previously I was running v22.1.1

Message #42 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: "Juanma Barranquero" <lekktu <at> gmail.com>, <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: RE: bug#1687: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:39:11 -0500

With two lines in .emacs, i.e.

(desktop-load-default)
(desktop-save-mode 1)

The PID warning appears when I open a second copy of emacs.  I used to
be able to open multiple copies of emacs without warnings.

Message #47 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
Cc: 1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:54:54 +0100

> With two lines in .emacs, i.e.
>
> (desktop-load-default)
> (desktop-save-mode 1)

Why do you use `desktop-load-default'? Have you tried just with
`desktop-save-mode'?

> I used to
> be able to open multiple copies of emacs without warnings.

Yes. Opening multiple copies was allowed before, but it leads to the
last Emacs to exit clobbering the desktop file of the previous
instances. You can set `desktop-load-locked-desktop' to t and Emacs
won't ask you when loading the desktop (though it will still ask
before overwriting the previous instance's desktop while exiting).

    Juanma

Message #52 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: "Juanma Barranquero" <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
Cc: <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: RE: bug#1687: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:07:22 -0500

The desktop invocations were part of the standard .emacs file when I
started this job several years ago.  Since they worked, I never paid
attention to them.  Having multiple copies overwrite the previous
desktop when exiting is behavior I don't mind.

I've revised my .emacs file to include:

   (setq desktop-load-locked-desktop t)
   (desktop-save-mode 1)

And things seem fine.

Ciao,

David

Message #57 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>,
        1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: emacs bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:12:15 +0100

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 15:29, Relson, David <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com> wrote:

> Deleting the file makes the warning go away.
>
> I've done some further testing.  With emacs open, the lock file is
> created.  If I open a second copy of emacs, the message appears.

Of course.

> This is a change in behavior.  I used to be able to open multiple copies
> of emacs without error messages.

Yes. It first appeared (in a released version) in Emacs 22.2.

You seem to prefer avoiding the warning and risking losing your desktop. Weird.

> FWIW, due to a hard drive upgrade I have a new installation of emacs
> (v22.1.50.10).  Previously I was running v22.1.1

Yes, the feature was added three weeks after the 22.1 release.

Why are you running 22.1.50? I'd recommend getting 22.3, which has
many bugfixes over what you're using now.

    Juanma

Message #62 received at 1687-done <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
Cc: 1687-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:22:22 +0100

tags 1687 + notabug
quit

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 16:07, Relson, David <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com> wrote:

> I've revised my .emacs file to include:
>
>   (setq desktop-load-locked-desktop t)
>   (desktop-save-mode 1)
>
> And things seem fine.

It will still ask you when exiting.

If you really don't mind the last Emacs standing to win, you can add
this to your .emacs:

;; slightly tested
(add-hook 'kill-emacs-hook
          (lambda ()
            (when (and desktop-dirname desktop-base-file-name)
              (condition-case nil
                  (delete-file (expand-file-name desktop-base-file-name
                                                 desktop-dirname))
                (error nil)))))

    Juanma

Message #67 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: "Juanma Barranquero" <lekktu <at> gmail.com>, <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: RE: bug#1687: emacs bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:29:19 -0500

I've compared old and new copies of desktop.el, i.e.

 49240 Aug 18  2007 c:/Program Files/GNU/ntemacs22/lisp/desktop.el
 45692 Apr 12  2007 d:/Program Files/GNU/emacs-22.1/lisp/desktop.el

And found the appearance of the PID message within the few months from
April to August !

Letting the last instance of emacs overwrite the desktop is not a big
deal.  Since multiple instances start with the same desktop, they'll be
writing similar desktop files, so it's likely that little, or no,
information will be lost.

>> Why are you running 22.1.50? I'd recommend getting 22.3, which has
many bugfixes over what you're using now.

Because when I did a websearch for ntemacs 22.1.50 is what was found.

Message #72 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
Cc: 1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: emacs bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:45:45 +0100

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 16:29, Relson, David <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com> wrote:

> I've compared old and new copies of desktop.el, i.e.
>
>  49240 Aug 18  2007 c:/Program Files/GNU/ntemacs22/lisp/desktop.el
>  45692 Apr 12  2007 d:/Program Files/GNU/emacs-22.1/lisp/desktop.el
>
> And found the appearance of the PID message within the few months from
> April to August !

2007-06-24, to be exact. Three weeks after the release of 22.1.

> Letting the last instance of emacs overwrite the desktop is not a big
> deal.  Since multiple instances start with the same desktop, they'll be
> writing similar desktop files, so it's likely that little, or no,
> information will be lost.

Most of the time. Once or twice, just to keep you on your toes, you
will set up Emacs with lots of loaded files that you need for some
project, and then you'll overwrite the carefully laid desktop with an
empty desktop from a forgotten Emacs instance ;-)

> Because when I did a websearch for ntemacs 22.1.50 is what was found.

If you're using Emacs on Windows, you can download much more
up-to-date versions from here:

http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html

    Juanma

Message #77 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: Juanma Barranquero <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
To: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
Cc: 1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1687: Bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:48:07 +0100

reopen 1687
quit

Oops. Closed by mistake. The OP's problem is not fixed.

    Juanma

Message #82 received at 1687 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Relson, David" <david.relson <at> orion-sys.com>
To: "Juanma Barranquero" <lekktu <at> gmail.com>
Cc: <1687 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: RE: bug#1687: emacs bug 1687
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:58:34 -0500

>> If you're using Emacs on Windows, you can download much more
>> up-to-date versions from here:

>> http://ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html

Thanks!  I wasn't aware of ourcomments.org.  I'm downloading the latest
& greatest as I write this.

David

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