GNU bug report logs - #79864
Bug in EMACS 30.2 / Will not run macro saved in .emacs file

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

From: Lawrence Lawson Maley <cablemapping <at> aol.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Bug in EMACS 30.2 / Will not run macro saved in .emacs file
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:35:54 -0800

11-19-2025 ... Dear Emacs,

I think I have discovered a bug in version 30.2.  I could not find a 
mention of this in reported bugs.

I created a macro in EMACS, saved and named it. (I have done this many 
times)

I tested the macro and it worked as expected.

I inserted it into my .emacs file as usual.

(defalias 'doit
   (kmacro "C-c C-p C-x o C-x 1 C-x 2 C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x 
^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x o C-x b p y t h o n <return> C-x o"))

I restarted EMACS and was unable to run the macro.

I installed EMACS 29 and everything worked normally.

Thank you for your time,

Larry Maley

Message #8 received at 79864 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Lawrence Lawson Maley <cablemapping <at> aol.com>
Cc: 79864 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79864: Bug in EMACS 30.2 / Will not run macro saved in .emacs
 file
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:25:41 +0200

> Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:35:54 -0800
> From:  Lawrence Lawson Maley via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org>
> 
> I think I have discovered a bug in version 30.2.  I could not find a 
> mention of this in reported bugs.
> 
> I created a macro in EMACS, saved and named it. (I have done this many 
> times)
> 
> I tested the macro and it worked as expected.
> 
> I inserted it into my .emacs file as usual.
> 
> (defalias 'doit
>     (kmacro "C-c C-p C-x o C-x 1 C-x 2 C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x 
> ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x o C-x b p y t h o n <return> C-x o"))
> 
> I restarted EMACS and was unable to run the macro.
> 
> I installed EMACS 29 and everything worked normally.

Thanks.

Please tell more details about the following two aspects of the issue:

  . what exactly does "was unable to run the macro" mean? what
    happened when you tried to run it?
  . what preliminary steps are needed to run the macro? since the
    macro invokes quite a few commands, each of which could signal an
    error (which then aborts the macro), how to prepare an "emacs -Q"
    session for running the macro? for example, I guess we need more
    than one window, some command bound to "C-c C-p", etc. -- please
    describe these preliminary steps in detail, so someone could try
    reproducing what you do

If I put the defalias you show in an otherwise empty ~/.emacs, start
Emacs 30.2, and then type "M-x doit RET", I get:

  After 0 kbd macro iterations: execute-kbd-macro: Keyboard macro terminated by a command ringing the bell

This tells me that some command in the macro signaled an error, and
that terminated the macro.  But since the macro invokes commands that
need some prerequisites to work, I'm not sure I reproduced correctly
what happens in your case.

I tried starting Emacs 29.3 with the same .emacs file, and the result
was identical: the same error message due to some command signaling an
error.

Message #11 received at 79864 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: cablemapping <at> aol.com
Cc: 79864 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79864: Bug in EMACS 30.2 / Will not run macro saved in .emacs
 file
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2025 12:21:51 +0200

Ping!  Lawrence, could you please answer my questions below, so we
could make progress with this issue?

> Cc: 79864 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:25:41 +0200
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
> 
> > Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:35:54 -0800
> > From:  Lawrence Lawson Maley via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
> >  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org>
> > 
> > I think I have discovered a bug in version 30.2.  I could not find a 
> > mention of this in reported bugs.
> > 
> > I created a macro in EMACS, saved and named it. (I have done this many 
> > times)
> > 
> > I tested the macro and it worked as expected.
> > 
> > I inserted it into my .emacs file as usual.
> > 
> > (defalias 'doit
> >     (kmacro "C-c C-p C-x o C-x 1 C-x 2 C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x 
> > ^ C-x ^ C-x ^ C-x o C-x b p y t h o n <return> C-x o"))
> > 
> > I restarted EMACS and was unable to run the macro.
> > 
> > I installed EMACS 29 and everything worked normally.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Please tell more details about the following two aspects of the issue:
> 
>   . what exactly does "was unable to run the macro" mean? what
>     happened when you tried to run it?
>   . what preliminary steps are needed to run the macro? since the
>     macro invokes quite a few commands, each of which could signal an
>     error (which then aborts the macro), how to prepare an "emacs -Q"
>     session for running the macro? for example, I guess we need more
>     than one window, some command bound to "C-c C-p", etc. -- please
>     describe these preliminary steps in detail, so someone could try
>     reproducing what you do
> 
> If I put the defalias you show in an otherwise empty ~/.emacs, start
> Emacs 30.2, and then type "M-x doit RET", I get:
> 
>   After 0 kbd macro iterations: execute-kbd-macro: Keyboard macro terminated by a command ringing the bell
> 
> This tells me that some command in the macro signaled an error, and
> that terminated the macro.  But since the macro invokes commands that
> need some prerequisites to work, I'm not sure I reproduced correctly
> what happens in your case.
> 
> I tried starting Emacs 29.3 with the same .emacs file, and the result
> was identical: the same error message due to some command signaling an
> error.
> 
> 
> 
> 

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