GNU bug report logs - #47168
28.0.50; Infinite recursion in project-root

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

From: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 28.0.50; Infinite recursion in project-root
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2021 19:04:46 +0200

When for some reason the argument of 'project-root' becomes nil,
for example, when the current buffer is not under version control,
then

  (project-root (project-current))

goes into infinite recursion:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Lisp nesting exceeds ‘max-lisp-eval-depth’")
  project-root(nil)
  project-roots(nil)
  ...
  project-root(nil)
  project-roots(nil)
  ...

Message #8 received at 47168 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Dmitry Gutov <dgutov <at> yandex.ru>
To: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>, 47168 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>
Subject: Re: bug#47168: 28.0.50; Infinite recursion in project-root
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2021 04:47:15 +0200

Hi Juri,

On 15.03.2021 19:04, Juri Linkov wrote:
> When for some reason the argument of 'project-root' becomes nil,
> for example, when the current buffer is not under version control,
> then
> 
>    (project-root (project-current))
> 
> goes into infinite recursion:
> 
> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Lisp nesting exceeds ‘max-lisp-eval-depth’")
>    project-root(nil)
>    project-roots(nil)
>    ...
>    project-root(nil)
>    project-roots(nil)
>    ...

Note that the right way to write this code is either

  (project-root (project-current t))

or

  (when-let ((project (project-current)))
    (project-root project))

so we only see this when the programmer failed to account for the 
absence of current project.

Still, it would be nice to never show a backtrace like this, even in 
those cases.

The idea here was to keep compatibility with backends which implement 
project-roots and not project-root (perhaps the built-in vc backend in 
Emacs 27), as well as let the clients call either project-root or 
project-roots, also for backward compatibility purposes. Worst case, we 
can give up on that and require all 3rd party code standardize on 
project-root and have all users install the latest project.el from ELPA.

But perhaps we still can have it both ways?

Stefan, any chance there's a relatively non-dirty way we can check 
whether there is a non-default implementation for the generic function 
with given args, before calling it? That would allow us to break recursion.

Message #11 received at 47168 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Dmitry Gutov <dgutov <at> yandex.ru>
Cc: 47168 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
Subject: Re: bug#47168: 28.0.50; Infinite recursion in project-root
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:54:37 -0400

> Stefan, any chance there's a relatively non-dirty way we can check whether
> there is a non-default implementation for the generic function with given
> args, before calling it?

Not really, no.  We could refrain from providing a default
implementation, and instead add a method to `cl-no-next-method` or
something like that, but I'm not sure it would make much difference.

> That would allow us to break recursion.

But we could use some dynamically-scoped
`project--within-roots-fallback` variable to break such recursion ;-)


        Stefan

Message #16 received at 47168-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Dmitry Gutov <dgutov <at> yandex.ru>
To: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
Cc: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>, 47168-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#47168: 28.0.50; Infinite recursion in project-root
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2021 18:51:36 +0200

On 17.03.2021 05:54, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> But we could use some dynamically-scoped
> `project--within-roots-fallback` variable to break such recursion;-)

Good idea, thanks!

Applied and pushed.

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