Too much shell-escaping (was:[preview-latex-devel] rel-0-8-1; make breaks)

Peter Dyballa wrote:
> Today I spent some time with installing preview-latex in 
> /Library/Application Support/Emacs and I found that already during make 
> an error occurs:
> 
> 	/sw/bin/emacs -batch -q -no-site-file -no-init-file --eval (setq 
> load-path (cons "." load-path)) -eval (let ((dir (pop 
> command-line-args-left))) (if (not (string-equal dir "")) (push dir 
> load-path))) /Library/Application Support/Emacs -f batch-byte-compile 
> preview.el
> 	
> 	In toplevel form:
> 	preview.el:57:11:Error: Cannot open load file: tex-buf
> 	make: *** [prv-emacs.elc] Error 1

You would get this if a vanilla Emacs can load tex-site.el but
tex-site does not contain the correct load-path to tex-buf.el(c).
tex-site sets the load-path, so this is a symptom that there is
something wrong with your AUCTeX installation.

> tex-buf.el is in
> 
> 	pete 51 /\ ls -l /Library/Application\ Support/Emacs/auctex/tex-buf*
> 	-rw-r--r--  1 pete  admin  69293 23 Dez 00:16 /Library/Application 
> Support/Emacs/auctex/tex-buf.el
> 	-rw-r--r--  1 pete  admin  58774 23 Dez 00:16 /Library/Application 
> Support/Emacs/auctex/tex-buf.elc
> 
> Reason might be that Makefile has as line #25:
> 
> 	auctexdir = /Library/Application\ Support/Emacs#
> 
> which is definitely wrong! 

No, it is correct. tex-site.el is in that directory, is it not? The
auctexdir variable is used to give the load-path to tex-site.el for an
Emacs which is not loading any site or user init files. That is, so
that tex-site.el can be found, even with -no-site-file -no-init-file.
And it works! tex-site.el is loaded first during the compilation, and
it is found since the warning is not for tex-site.el.

But the next file to be loaded is tex-buf.el and this file is not
found, even though the load-path to that file (and all other AUCTeX
files) is set in tex-site.el. There is definetly something wrong with
the value of TeX-lisp-directory in there.

> I invoked configure in any of these two:
> 
> 	./configure --with-emacs=/sw/bin/emacs 
> --with-lispdir=/Library/Application Support/Emacs
> 	./configure --with-emacs=/sw/bin/emacs 
> --with-lispdir=/Library/Application Support/Emacs 
> --with-tex-site=/Library/Application Support/Emacs

You did something to it to keep the spaces, I think. A backslash or
perhaps quotes?

> tex-site.el right now can't give a correct answer because it has 
> learned:
> 
> 	(defvar TeX-lisp-directory "/Library/Application\ Support/Emacs/auctex"
> 	  "*The directory where the AUCTeX lisp files are located.")
> 
> which is later re-used as:
> 
> 	(add-to-list 'load-path TeX-lisp-directory)
> 
> Erroneously. "/Library/Application Support/Emacs/auctex" becomes 
> "/Library/ApplicationSupport/Emacs/auctex" and so AUCTeX installation 
> can't be found.

A-ha! There is too much shell-escaping here.

<technical mumbo-jumbo>
ISTR writing code in aclocal.m4 with _two_ variables, one to be
shell-escaped and one to be used in the lisp code. This code seems to
have gone. Either I never checked it in (but I doubt that) or
something else has happened. Perhaps this business of sync'ing AUCTeX
and prewiew-latex aclocal.m4. It is too late now (I need some sleep to
fend off this cold I got from my kids), I'll have a look some other
time.
</technical mumbo-jumbo>

> Can it be that the INSTALL file has an incorrect 
> description?

No.

> Because when I configure
> 
> 	./configure --with-emacs=/sw/bin/emacs 
> --with-lispdir=/Library/Application Support/Emacs 
> --with-tex-site=/Library/Application Support/Emacs/auctex
> 
> line #25 of Makefile now has:
> 
> 	auctexdir = /Library/Application\ Support/Emacs/auctex#
> 
> Which does not help either because
> 
> 	/sw/bin/emacs -batch -q -no-site-file -no-init-file --eval (setq 
> load-path (cons "." load-path)) -eval (let ((dir (pop 
> command-line-args-left))) (if (not (string-equal dir "")) (push dir 
> load-path))) /Library/Application Support/Emacs/auctex -f 
> batch-byte-compile preview.el
> 	
> 	In toplevel form:
> 	preview.el:57:11:Error: Cannot open load file: tex-site
> 	make: *** [preview.elc] Error 1

Now you'll get the warning about tex-site not being found, as I expected.
See above.

> Maybe configure itself needs an update near line# 1737. And/Or 
> Makefile/Makefile.in.

Not really. aclocal.m4 does, and tex-site.el.in (in AUCTeX). Not
configure.ac, though. Note that configure is a generated file.

> Letting GNU Emacs do its batch runs without '-no-site-file' (on ELCC) 
> makes everything right.

Sure. Probably you have some customization in the site init file that
allows AUCTeX to run. Do you manually add something to load-path?

This is an AUCTeX bug report, really, no fault of preview-latex. 
Cc'ing the auctex list. I'll fix it, but not today. 

/JÅ