xemacs: Downgrade to 21.4.22; fix symlink; fix ctags conflict

[burkhard.militzer@…]

Dear Ports Community,

I am a daily Xemacs user and rely on Mac Ports to install it. After upgrading to El Capitan, I would like to report three issues:

(A) Currently Ports supports only the recent (but unstable) beta version of Xemacs 21.5.16, which causes problems on my end. If someone could put back the last stable version 21.4.22 then I could keeping editing my C++ files without frequent crashes.

(B) A simpler request: There is a problem with the installation of the package libraries. As is, the link in /opt/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-21.5.16 links to itself indefinitely. I fixed it by hand with

/opt/local/lib/xemacs>sudo rm xemacs-21.5.16
/opt/local/lib>sudo rm -rf xemacs
/opt/local/lib>sudo ln -s xemacs-21.5.16 xemacs

(C) Currently I cannot have Xemacs and ImageMagick installed at the same time. Maybe this could be fixed also:

sudo port install imagemagick
Password:
--->  Computing dependencies for ImageMagick
Error: Unable to execute port: Can't install ctags because conflicting ports are active: xemacs

Thanks a lot,

Burkhard

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

a) xemacs was updated to a beta version because it was stated that the stable version didn't work. See #19833.

b) If that's true, we can fix the symlink.

c) It is true that ctags and xemacs were marked as conflicting with one another in r141410. This is typically done when two ports try to install different files to the same name/location. How would you suggest this conflict be resolved?

[dstrubbe (David Strubbe)]

Hi Burkhard,

You can always go back to a previously installed version if you are having trouble with a newer one: e.g. 'port activate xemacs @21.4.22'.

[dstrubbe (David Strubbe)]

What is the purpose of this symlink anyway? I checked, the situation was the same for version 21.4.22, i.e. the file linked to itself. Are you sure the way you listed is how it is supposed to be linked?

ctags conflict fixed in r142233.

[burkhard.militzer@…]

Replying to dstrubbe@…:

Hi Burkhard,

You can always go back to a previously installed version if you are having trouble with a newer one: e.g. 'port activate xemacs @21.4.22'.

Unfortunately, I lost all previously installed ports when I upgrade to Mac OS to El Capitan. Now, there is no "xemacs @21.4.22" to be activated. When I instead type "sudo port install xemacs@21.4.22" it installs version "xemacs-21.5.16".

Best wishes,

Burkhard

[burkhard.militzer@…]

Replying to dstrubbe@…:

What is the purpose of this symlink anyway? I checked, the situation was the same for version 21.4.22, i.e. the file linked to itself. Are you sure the way you listed is how it is supposed to be linked?

The link points to a large number of additional packages. Without those xemacs is not useful (to me at least).

ctags conflict fixed in r142233.

Thank you so much. I will give it a try.

Still, if some guru could compile version 21.4.22 (or some other stable version) under El Capitan this would be extremely helpful.

Thanks again,

Burkhard

[dstrubbe (David Strubbe)]

You can always go back to a previously installed version if you are having trouble with a newer one: e.g. 'port activate xemacs @21.4.22'.

Unfortunately, I lost all previously installed ports when I upgrade to Mac OS to El Capitan. Now, there is no "xemacs @21.4.22" to be activated. When I instead type "sudo port install xemacs@21.4.22" it installs version "xemacs-21.5.16".

Ok, never mind that suggestion then. You cannot specify which version you want to install at the command line; the only way to get older ones is described here: howto/InstallingOlderPort.

If this version is crashing all the time, I guess we'll need to go back to 21.4.22, as I assume that it is due to bugs as opposed to anything we can fix in the packaging. (Incidentally, note that there are also other emacs ports, such as emacs-mac-app, which is what I typically use.)

Do you have an opinion on the issue in #19833, namely whether 21.4.22 was able to work with the sumo packages?

[dstrubbe (David Strubbe)]

What is the purpose of this symlink anyway? I checked, the situation was the same for version 21.4.22, i.e. the file linked to itself. Are you sure the way you listed is how it is supposed to be linked?

The link points to a large number of additional packages. Without those xemacs is not useful (to me at least).

I am not questioning whether we need to have the link, the question is: what is it supposed to be pointing at? To put another way, the offending line is below; what should it be changed to?

system "cd ${destroot}${prefix}/lib && ln -s xemacs-${version} xemacs"

As I wrote before, if you think the current situation is broken, it seems it was broken for 21.4.22 also.

Cheers, David Strubbe

PS We met on the astronomy ski trip some years ago, not sure if you remember me!

PPS I was working with a file in a C++ Monte Carlo code recently, signed "Burkhard Militzer, Urbana 4-1-99"

[carlos.solans@…]

Replying to dstrubbe@…:

Somehow the xemacs folder already exists in destroot by the time the system call is made. Therefore it has to be removed before the symlink. New line should be:

system "cd ${destroot}${prefix}/lib && rm -rf xemacs && ln -s xemacs-${version} xemacs"

Cheers, Carlos

[carlos.solans@…]

Portfile patch for this issue

[davidvogan]

Replying to carlos.solans@…:

I have experienced essentially the same problem with xemacs-21.5.16 (under El Capitan). I have not tried the new portfile, so don't know whether that already fixes the problem; didn't want to try, because more or less I fixed it: by copying the directory xemacs-packages from xemacs-21.5-b16 (which looks like an artifact of an earlier version) to xemacs-21.5.16. Now I can at least access a lot of modes (latex, fontlock,...) that were inaccessible before.

Replying to dstrubbe@…:

Somehow the xemacs folder already exists in destroot by the time the system call is made. Therefore it has to be removed before the symlink. New line should be:

system "cd ${destroot}${prefix}/lib && rm -rf xemacs && ln -s xemacs-${version} xemacs"

Cheers, Carlos

[burkhard.militzer@…]

Replying to dstrubbe@…:

What is the purpose of this symlink anyway? I checked, the situation was the same for version 21.4.22, i.e. the file linked to itself. Are you sure the way you listed is how it is supposed to be linked?

ctags conflict fixed in r142233.

Sorry, the conflict between ctags and xemacs was not resolved for my system:

--->  Fetching archive for ctags
--->  Attempting to fetch ctags-5.8_2.darwin_15.x86_64.tbz2 from http://packages.macports.org/ctags
--->  Attempting to fetch ctags-5.8_2.darwin_15.x86_64.tbz2 from http://mse.uk.packages.macports.org/sites/packages.macports.org/ctags
--->  Attempting to fetch ctags-5.8_2.darwin_15.x86_64.tbz2 from http://lil.fr.packages.macports.org/ctags
--->  Fetching distfiles for ctags
--->  Verifying checksums for ctags
--->  Extracting ctags
--->  Applying patches to ctags
--->  Configuring ctags
--->  Building ctags
--->  Staging ctags into destroot
--->  Installing ctags @5.8_2
--->  Activating ctags @5.8_2
Error: org.macports.activate for port ctags returned: Image error: /opt/local/bin/ctags is being used by the active xemacs port.  Please deactivate this port first, or use 'port -f activate ctags' to force the activation.
Please see the log file for port ctags for details:
    /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_tarballs_ports_devel_ctags/ctags/main.log
Error: Problem while installing ctags
To report a bug, follow the instructions in the guide:
    http://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets

[burkhard.militzer@…]

Replying to dstrubbe@…:

You can always go back to a previously installed version if you are having trouble with a newer one: e.g. 'port activate xemacs @21.4.22'.

Unfortunately, I lost all previously installed ports when I upgrade to Mac OS to El Capitan. Now, there is no "xemacs @21.4.22" to be activated. When I instead type "sudo port install xemacs@21.4.22" it installs version "xemacs-21.5.16".

Ok, never mind that suggestion then. You cannot specify which version you want to install at the command line; the only way to get older ones is described here: howto/InstallingOlderPort.

If this version is crashing all the time, I guess we'll need to go back to 21.4.22, as I assume that it is due to bugs as opposed to anything we can fix in the packaging. (Incidentally, note that there are also other emacs ports, such as emacs-mac-app, which is what I typically use.)

Do you have an opinion on the issue in #19833, namely whether 21.4.22 was able to work with the sumo packages?

Yes, the packages worked fine for me in version 21.4.22. Any 21.4 version could possibly work fine. I can re-confirm that 21.5.16 crashes often and behaves weird in some situations (e.g. cursor jumps to a new location when you click into an xemacs window.)

Burkhard

[dstrubbe (David Strubbe)]

Sorry, the conflict between ctags and xemacs was not resolved for my system:

I think you'll have to deactivate xemacs, as suggested by the error message. Then activate ctags, and rebuild or update xemacs.

[dstrubbe (David Strubbe)]

Returned to version 21.4.22 in r142901.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Replying to burkhard.militzer@…:

(A) Currently Ports supports only the recent (but unstable) beta version of Xemacs 21.5.16, which causes problems on my end. If someone could put back the last stable version 21.4.22 then I could keeping editing my C++ files without frequent crashes.

Reverted to 21.4.22 in [374ac29b5fec4ff66ac8f77d564ebdfb6bf1a39d/macports-ports].

(B) A simpler request: There is a problem with the installation of the package libraries. As is, the link in /opt/local/lib/xemacs/xemacs-21.5.16 links to itself indefinitely. I fixed it by hand with

/opt/local/lib/xemacs>sudo rm xemacs-21.5.16
/opt/local/lib>sudo rm -rf xemacs
/opt/local/lib>sudo ln -s xemacs-21.5.16 xemacs

Symlink fixed in [5d07b81c117614b33f87111337b921ce7a0b158e/macports-ports].

(C) Currently I cannot have Xemacs and ImageMagick installed at the same time. Maybe this could be fixed also:

sudo port install imagemagick
Password:
--->  Computing dependencies for ImageMagick
Error: Unable to execute port: Can't install ctags because conflicting ports are active: xemacs

ctags conflict fixed in [a4eb176e37ce6d3e0e327842615e9965d9481e6a/macports-ports] and [fdc9c8b5acfa36ae7403211f7e4f2fc835a9e883/macports-ports].