GNU bug report logs - #8472
24.0.50; weird emacs bugs causing data lossage

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

From: joakim <at> chopper.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 24.0.50;  weird emacs bugs causing data lossage
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:39:55 +0200

* weird emacs bugs causing data lossage
<2011-04-10 Sun>
the journal.organisation file gets cropped to only these two
characters; **

it happens when I do an org capture and org narrows the
buffer. the croping happens on disk for some reason which emacs
detects. Maybe autosave didnt understand the buffer narrowing.

Emacs ask if I really want to edit the buffer and I say
no. Then Emacs redisplay seems to hang.

This happened several times. Most times I had to kill emacs and loose
my work. This time I tried more debugging. Lately I run Emacs in a
debugger. Weirdly gdb refused to break itho a prompt. ctrl z and fg
woke up gdb. Then I tried strace and noticed emacs was polling a
select repetadly which is maybe normal. The broken emacs was still
stuck at the minibuffer prompt. 

it occured to me that maybe Emacs wasnt totaly hung maybe just
redisplay. So I tested emacs client and I could recover data like
this:

 emacsclient -e "(let ((b (set-buffer \"journal.org\")) (text  (buffer-string))) (set-text-properties 0 (length text) nil text)text)"

There are two weird things here:
- the file was truncated. Maybe this is due to a combination of
  narrowing and automatic save.
- redisplay hangs in minibuffer input. I have no idea about why this
  happens.

So. Probably several strange bugs conspiring together.



In GNU Emacs 24.0.50.3 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.22.0)
 of 2011-04-09 on chopper
Windowing system distributor `Fedora Project', version 11.0.10905000
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: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: @im=none
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Org

Minor modes in effect:
  predictive-which-dict-mode: t
  auto-completion-mode: t
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  erc-truncate-mode: t
  erc-track-mode: t
  erc-spelling-mode: t
  erc-ring-mode: t
  erc-pcomplete-mode: t
  erc-netsplit-mode: t
  erc-log-mode: t
  erc-button-mode: t
  erc-fill-mode: t
  erc-autojoin-mode: t
  erc-autoaway-mode: t
  ido-everywhere: t
  erc-stamp-mode: t
  erc-match-mode: t
  delete-selection-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  erc-smiley-mode: t
  erc-irccontrols-mode: t
  recentf-mode: t
  which-function-mode: t
  grab-and-drag-mode: t
  yas/global-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  abbrev-mode: t

Recent input:
<return> C-x C-x C-s <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <down> <up> <C-right> 
<C-right> <C-left> <C-left> <right> <C-right> <right> 
<right> M a y b e SPC a u t o s a v e SPC d i d n t 
SPC u n d e r s t a h <backspace> h <backspace> h <backspace> 
t <backspace> SPC t h e SPC b u f f e r SPC n a r r 
o w i n g . <return> <return> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> C-x C-s <down> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <C-right> 
<C-right> s C-x C-s <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <up> <up> <up> <C-right> 
<C-right> <C-right> <C-right> <C-right> <C-right> <C-right> 
<backspace> <backspace> e <down> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> C-a C-x C-s C-SPC <C-down> <C-down> 
<C-down> <C-down> <C-down> <C-down> <C-down> <C-down> 
<C-down> M-w <return> S o . SPC P r o b a b l y SPC 
s e v e r a l SPC s t r a n g e SPC b u g s SPC c o 
s <backspace> n s p i r i n g SPC t o g e t h . C-x 
C-s <return> C-SPC <C-up> <C-up> <C-up> <C-up> <C-up> 
<C-up> <C-up> <C-up> <C-up> <C-up> <up> M-w C-x C-s 
<menu> r e p o r SPC e m SPC SPC <return>

Recent messages:
byte-code: End of buffer [3 times]
Saving file /home/joakim/Plans/Emacs.org...
Wrote /home/joakim/Plans/Emacs.org
Mark set
Auto-saving...
Saving file /home/joakim/Plans/Emacs.org...
Wrote /home/joakim/Plans/Emacs.org
Mark set
Saving file /home/joakim/Plans/Emacs.org...
Wrote /home/joakim/Plans/Emacs.org

Load-path shadows:
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/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/ezimage hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/ezimage
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/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/eieio/eieio-speedbar hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/emacs-lisp/eieio-speedbar
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/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/eieio/eieio-base hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/emacs-lisp/eieio-base
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/eieio/eieio hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/emacs-lisp/eieio
/home/joakim/.emacs.d/elpa/emms-3.0/tq hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/emacs-lisp/tq
/home/joakim/.emacs.d/elpa/ert-0.1/ert hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/emacs-lisp/ert
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/eieio/eieio-datadebug hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/emacs-lisp/eieio-datadebug
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/cedet-idutils hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/cedet-idutils
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/inversion hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/inversion
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/ede/ede hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/ede
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/data-debug hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/data-debug
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/semantic/semantic hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/semantic
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/cedet hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/cedet
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/srecode/srecode hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/srecode
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/pulse hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/pulse
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/mode-local hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/mode-local
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/cedet-files hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/cedet-files
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/cedet-cscope hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/cedet-cscope
/home/joakim/.elisp/cedet/common/cedet-global hides /usr/local/share/emacs/24.0.50/lisp/cedet/cedet-global

Features:
(shadow gnus-cite mail-extr emacsbug newcomment mule-util cal-move
cedet-edebug debug org-timer dabbrev predictive-html auto-overlay-flat
predictive-texinfo predictive-latex predictive-auto-overlay-auto-dict
auto-overlay-nested auto-overlay-self auto-overlay-line
auto-overlay-word predictive timerfunctions auto-overlays
auto-overlay-common dict-tree trie tNFA queue heap avl-tree
completion-ui-sources completion-ui-menu pos-tip completion-ui-tooltip
completion-ui-echo completion-ui-hotkeys completion-ui-dynamic
completion-ui-popup-frame completion-ui quail org-wl org-w3m org-vm
org-rmail org-mhe org-mew org-irc org-jsinfo org-infojs org-html org-exp
ob-exp org-exp-blocks org-agenda org-info org-gnus org-docview
org-bibtex org-bbdb org ob-emacs-lisp ob-tangle ob-ref ob-lob ob-table
org-footnote org-src ob-comint ob-keys ob ob-eval org-complete org-list
org-faces org-compat org-entities org-macs semantic-tag-write
semanticdb-typecache semantic-tag-file vc-git semanticdb-file
semantic-edit filecache bookmark shell jka-compr multi-isearch apropos
woman man help-mode ielm semantic-el semantic-bovine bovine-debug
semantic-debug paredit zoom-frm frame-cmds frame-fns avoid emvkbd view
boxquote rect grep-edit winner browse-kill-ring jv-timeclock ses unsafep
timeclock-visualize auto-edit-substitute erc-truncate erc-track
erc-spelling flyspell ispell erc-ring erc-pcomplete erc-netsplit erc-log
erc-button erc-fill erc-join erc-autoaway zen-1-theme tsdh-dark-theme
sha1 hex-util image-file fsdired hide-lines memory-usage my-eshell
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emms-volume-amixer emms-tag-editor emms-i18n emms-mark emms-history
emms-bookmarks emms-last-played emms-stream-info emms-metaplaylist-mode
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emms-source-playlist emms-source-file emms-dbus emms-setup emms
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Message #8 received at 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: joakim <at> verona.se
Cc: 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#8472: 24.0.50;  weird emacs bugs causing data lossage
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:56:42 -0400

> From: joakim <at> chopper.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me

 you-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-i'm-tickling-you

> Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:39:55 +0200
> Cc: 
> 
> Emacs ask if I really want to edit the buffer and I say
> no. Then Emacs redisplay seems to hang.
> 
> This happened several times. Most times I had to kill emacs and loose
> my work. This time I tried more debugging. Lately I run Emacs in a
> debugger. Weirdly gdb refused to break itho a prompt. ctrl z and fg
> woke up gdb.

That might mean that Emacs was stuck in a system call.  But the fact
that it responded to emacsclient eliminates this possibility, I think.

I would try delivering a fatal signal to Emacs ("kill -TERM", for
example) from the shell prompt.  Detaching the debugger under which
you ran Emacs and attaching another instance of GDB is another thing
to try.

> it occured to me that maybe Emacs wasnt totaly hung maybe just
> redisplay.

I don't see how this can be true.  If redisplay infloops, it will
never return, and the rest of Emacs will never get to do anything,
including the calls to `select' that you saw in strace.

> So I tested emacs client and I could recover data like
> this:
> 
>  emacsclient -e "(let ((b (set-buffer \"journal.org\")) (text  (buffer-string))) (set-text-properties 0 (length text) nil text)text)"

Now I don't understand how come you couldn't break into it from GDB.

> There are two weird things here:
> - the file was truncated. Maybe this is due to a combination of
>   narrowing and automatic save.

Can't happen, auto-save forces temporary widening of the buffer (as
you'd expect ;-).

> - redisplay hangs in minibuffer input. I have no idea about why this
>   happens.

Doesn't seem to be the case, see above.

Best thing to try next time is somehow to stop Emacs, and then use the
procedure described in etc/DEBUG under "If the symptom of the bug is
that Emacs fails to respond".

Message #11 received at 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: joakim <at> verona.se
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#8472: 24.0.50;  weird emacs bugs causing data lossage
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:25:23 +0200

Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:

>> From: joakim <at> chopper.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me
>
>  you-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-i'm-tickling-you

Thanks

>
>> Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:39:55 +0200
>> Cc: 
>> 
>> Emacs ask if I really want to edit the buffer and I say
>> no. Then Emacs redisplay seems to hang.
>> 
>> This happened several times. Most times I had to kill emacs and loose
>> my work. This time I tried more debugging. Lately I run Emacs in a
>> debugger. Weirdly gdb refused to break itho a prompt. ctrl z and fg
>> woke up gdb.
>
> That might mean that Emacs was stuck in a system call.  But the fact
> that it responded to emacsclient eliminates this possibility, I think.

I was unclear. I only tried emacsclient after I had get gdb working
again.

I got it working by suspending gdb and resuming it again. and sending
signals to Emacs (I was a bit furious so this part is a bit hazy)

> I would try delivering a fatal signal to Emacs ("kill -TERM", for
> example) from the shell prompt.  Detaching the debugger under which
> you ran Emacs and attaching another instance of GDB is another thing
> to try.

see above.

>> it occured to me that maybe Emacs wasnt totaly hung maybe just
>> redisplay.
>
> I don't see how this can be true.  If redisplay infloops, it will
> never return, and the rest of Emacs will never get to do anything,
> including the calls to `select' that you saw in strace.

Ok. So the hang happens somewhere else. The symptom is that nothing
happens on the display but emacsclient can communicate.

Also, whenever I manage to break into the process with gdb the backtrace
shows Emacs is in the select call. With strace I see that Emacs is not
stuck there but loops. So I figure theres some poll loop running closely
around the select. Or something. Maybe its my constant changing of
network interfaces that invalidates sockets or something.

>> So I tested emacs client and I could recover data like
>> this:
>> 
>>  emacsclient -e "(let ((b (set-buffer \"journal.org\")) (text  (buffer-string))) (set-text-properties 0 (length text) nil text)text)"
>
> Now I don't understand how come you couldn't break into it from GDB.

See above. I only tried this after getting gdb to work again.

>> There are two weird things here:
>> - the file was truncated. Maybe this is due to a combination of
>>   narrowing and automatic save.
>
> Can't happen, auto-save forces temporary widening of the buffer (as
> you'd expect ;-).

Well. The funny thing is that the truncated content of the file is the
exact same content I see in the narrowed buffer on screen.

Org narrows in another window and buffer somehow. Could that interfere?
I dont know the term for what it does yet. "indirect buffer" maybe?

>> - redisplay hangs in minibuffer input. I have no idea about why this
>>   happens.
>
> Doesn't seem to be the case, see above.

Ok.

> Best thing to try next time is somehow to stop Emacs, and then use the
> procedure described in etc/DEBUG under "If the symptom of the bug is
> that Emacs fails to respond".

Ok thanks.

-- 
Joakim Verona

Message #14 received at 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: joakim <at> verona.se
Cc: 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#8472: 24.0.50;  weird emacs bugs causing data lossage
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:36:06 -0400

> From: joakim <at> verona.se
> Cc: 8472 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:25:23 +0200
> 
> I got it working by suspending gdb and resuming it again. and sending
> signals to Emacs (I was a bit furious so this part is a bit hazy)

So from that point on, please use the procedure in etc/DEBUG to find
out where it is looping.

> Ok. So the hang happens somewhere else. The symptom is that nothing
> happens on the display but emacsclient can communicate.

Do you remember what was displayed in the minibuffer at that point, by
any chance?  Was it a single screen line or more than that?  Or maybe
only part of the text was visible, i.e. Emacs froze when it tried to
enlarge (a.k.a. "resize") the echo area?

> Also, whenever I manage to break into the process with gdb the backtrace
> shows Emacs is in the select call. With strace I see that Emacs is not
> stuck there but loops.

This is normal, or at least it could be normal: Emacs usually checks
for any arriving input from any possible sources, and that includes
calls to `select'.  Seeing a lot of calls to `select' is not in itself
a sign of an infloop.  Only the procedure in etc/DEBUG (or something
similar) can give a definitive answer to that.

> So I figure theres some poll loop running closely around the select.

Emacs does that all the time, that's how it knows that input arrived
from a subprocess or a socket, for example.  It polls.

> >> - the file was truncated. Maybe this is due to a combination of
> >>   narrowing and automatic save.
> >
> > Can't happen, auto-save forces temporary widening of the buffer (as
> > you'd expect ;-).
> 
> Well. The funny thing is that the truncated content of the file is the
> exact same content I see in the narrowed buffer on screen.
> 
> Org narrows in another window and buffer somehow. Could that interfere?
> I dont know the term for what it does yet. "indirect buffer" maybe?

Could be.  IOW, if auto-save happened in a buffer whose contents was
just the text you found in the auto-save file.

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Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.