Attempt to use tex-buffer etc. freezes Emacs

[Joe Fineman]

When I attempt to use tex-buffer in latex mode, Emacs freezes (goes
into an infinite loop).  The misbehavior occurs without any
customizations active (with my .emacs file named away).  The dribble
file from such a test follows:

~/b/bk/<tab><tab><tab>
kre<tab><backspace><return><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>f<help-echo><help-echo><down-mouse-1><mouse-1><double-down-mouse-1><double-mouse-1><triple-down-mouse-1><triple-mouse-1><triple-down-mouse-1><triple-mouse-1><triple-down-mouse-1><triple-mouse-1><triple-down-mouse-1><triple-mouse-1><triple-down-mouse-1><triple-mouse-1>////////////`<backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace><backspace>~/.em<tab><return><backspace><return><help-echo><down><down><down>s<help-echo><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up><up>R.emacs<return>

The output of M-x emacs-version, giving the version number & machine,
is

GNU Emacs 21.1.1 (i386-msvc-windows98.2222) of 2001-10-23 on SPARKYBEAR

If you need the actual .tex file that I was trying to run, let me
know.

In the manual you ask for

   * The operands given to the `configure' command when Emacs was
     installed.

I did not do the installation.  The person who did says:

> Since the emacs on your system was downloaded as a pre-compiled
> **binary** (for Windows), I don't think the question is meaningful
> in your case.

Here are some previous postings on gnu.emacs.help that contain
additional information that may be useful to you.  Note in particular
that this problem, or something like it, has occurred on another
machine and with other versions of Emacs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

On 15 February 2000 Bas Michelsen inquired in this company:

> I am recently converted to gnu-emacs 20.4.1. When in TeX-mode 
> (I don't use Auc-TeX) the commands tex-buffer  or tex-file etc. 
> make emacs to hang. I cannot use the menubar any more and have
> to kill emacs from the shell. 
> Does anyone know what this is?

There was no reply.

I am having the same problem in Gnu Emacs 20.7.1 under Windows 98.
The behavior is the same if the variable TeX-run-command is set to
some innocuous value such as "C:/bin/date.exe".

Is this a bug?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@is.elta.co.il>
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
Subject: Re: Attempt to use tex-file crashes Emacs (contd)
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001 07:42:21 +0200

Joe Fineman wrote:

[...]

Do you have an antivirus installed on that machine?  If so, switch it
to a less aggressive mode, or disable it entiely.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

On 6 September I posted here the following inquiry:

[...]

The only reply was a suggestion that it might be due to antivirus
software, which I do not have.

Recently I switched to the wondrous Gnu Emacs 21.1, largely in the
hope that the problem might disappear.  It did not, but it became
somewhat more transparent; viz., instead of freezing Emacs completely,
tex-buffer now puts it into an infinite loop, which can be terminated
with CTRL-g in the usual way.  Pursuing it with the debugger, I find
that it takes the following form: 

Debugger entered--entering a function:
* sleep-for(1)
* tex-start-shell()
* tex-region(1 77)
* byte-code("�€ed\"�‡" [tex-region] 3)
* tex-buffer()
* call-interactively(tex-buffer)

Debugger entered--entering a function:
* buffer-size()
* tex-start-shell()
* tex-region(1 77)
* byte-code("�€ed\"�‡" [tex-region] 3)
* tex-buffer()
* call-interactively(tex-buffer)

Evidently the program is waiting, a second at a time, for text to
appear in a certain buffer, and it never does.

I am not a programmer.  Does this behavior suggest anything to anyone
who is?  Is the fact that my Emacs quasi shell is Cygwin perhaps
relevant?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your attention.
-- 
---  Joe Fineman    jcf@TheWorld.com

||:  The distinction between qualitative and quantitative  :||
||:  differences is a matter of degree.                    :||