Subject: bug#51841: 27.2; erc-insert-marker has no value

From: "J.P." <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2021 14:53:35 -0800

Rostislav Svoboda <[email-masked]> writes:

> Hi. The bug
>     "erc-insert-marker has no value, please report a bug"
> gets triggered when I run `M-x erc-mode` in an existing IRC channel.
>
> Thanks in advance for fixing it.
>
> Bost

Hi Bost,

I think what's happening is that all your local variables are getting
killed by manually running `erc-mode'. And replacements are hard won
because ERC is a bit funny when it comes to setting up buffers and
initializing local variables. This causes real problems, like imposing
artificial burdens on modules, for example. (I have a patch that I think
improves the situation here [1], but that's a whole other discussion.)

The error you saw is from the function `erc-beg-of-input-line', which is
used throughout ERC. That message probably wasn't intended for folks
invoking `erc-mode' manually, which you've probably gathered by now.
However, you're welcome to share whatever it was that drove you to try
that in the first place, if you think there's more to consider here.

Thanks,
J.P.

[1] https://gitlab.com/jpneverwas/erc-tools/-/raw/39b10aa2a1832586aeef34b9a6f045d6e0f9b015/bugs/49860/patches/wip/0024-Enable-local-ERC-modules-in-erc-mode-buffers.patch