Re: Bug: wrong-type-argument when changing TODO state [7.7]

[Stelian Iancu <lists@siancu.net>]

On 30.08.2011 19:21, Nick Dokos wrote:
> Nick Dokos<nicholas.dokos@hp.com>  wrote:
>
>> I'm pretty tired and I might have misunderstood what is happening here,
>> so don't put too much weight on the following. I'll need some sleep
>> before I can take a whack at it again however.
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> Nick Dokos<nicholas.dokos@hp.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> Stelian Iancu<stelian.iancu@gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>> So it is a customization issue. Now the question is what :-). I should
>>>>> mention that I am using both dev versions for Emacs and org-mode
>>>>> (Emacs from bzr from a few days ago and org-mode from git from a few
>>>>> days ago) on Mac OS X 10.7. Emacs is installed using homebrew.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ok, it seems like I've found the culprit. It's this line:
>>>>
>>>> ;; Make org-mode default for all the new files
>>>> (setq major-mode 'org-mode)
>>>>
>>>> If I comment it out, it all works beautifully. I thought it was
>>>> because I was executing it before loading org-mode, but I've made sure
>>>> org-mode is loaded before executing that line and I still get the same
>>>> error.
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas why it happens?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Yes - don't ever do that. The major mode of a buffer is set by calling a
>>> function (e.g. the org-mode function for buffers that should be in org
>>> mode).  That function does a million things to make sure that everything
>>> works properly: your setting a single variable does none of that and all
>>> you end up doing is confusing emacs.
>>>
>>> In most cases, you don't even call the mode function explicitly: it is
>>> called for you automatically, e.g. through the setting of auto-mode-alist.
>>> I have the following in my basic customizations:
>>>
>>> (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.org$" . org-mode))
>>>
>>> That says to emacs: when find-file is called to open a file whose name
>>> ends in `.org' arrange to call the function org-mode on it. The function
>>> takes care of the setting of major-mode.
>>>
>>> Be sure to read Ch.23 of the emacs manual on major modes.
>>>
>
> This is all correct I think (except for the ominous first
> sentence).  But having
>
> (setq major-mode 'org-mode)
>
> in one's .emacs should not have any effect: major-mode is
> buffer local, so the setting above should not have any
> effect on *anything*, afaict.  To make org-mode the
> default mode for new buffers, you'd have to say
>
> (setq-default major-mode 'org-mode)
>
> I've added each of those to my minimal .emacs and I have
> no problem using S-{right,left} to change the TODO state
> in a .org file. When I set org-mode to be the default
> major mode and I open an unrelated file, its major mode
> is set to org-mode, but when I S-{right,left} at some
> arbitrary place, I get a message:
>
> To use shift-selection with Org-mode, customize
> `org-support-shift-select'
>
> and the corresponding message in the *Messages* buffer
> is:
>
> if: To use shift-selection with Org-mode, customize
> `org-support-shift-select'
>
> That's an error, but it's a "reasonable" error: not right
> but not too bad.
>
> And when I ``find-file foo.bar'' which would normally
> open it in fundamental mode, I do get it in org-mode and
> everything works as it should: I can add headlines and
> change TODO states normally.
>
> So to summarize: no idea why that setting should have any
> effect at all.
>
> Nick
>
> PS. The only possible explanation I can think of is
> version differences:
>
> Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.7.205.gce02a)
>
> GNU Emacs 24.0.50.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+
> Version 2.22.0) of 2011-07-30
>
> I have not tried with emacs 23.
>
>

You are right, adding either of the two settings to the minimal .emacs 
doesn't change anything, it still works.

I'm on:

GNU Emacs 24.0.50.1 (i386-apple-darwin11.1.0, NS apple-appkit-1138.00) 
of 2011-08-24 on iancumac.local

Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.4.1639.gd203.dirty)

The interesting thing though is that it works now with the normal 
configuration, after removing the setting, even though it shouldn't have 
any effect.

Thanks,
S.