dmb@morgoth.UUCP (David M. Brown) (06/24/87)
[Gnu Emacs 18.37 under Ultrix 2.0 on a MircoVAX II]
THE SCENARIO:
I have written a package of elisp code providing a major mode (Array
mode) for editing arrays. (We use them as input files for finite-
difference groundwater flow and transport models.) This is my first
foray into lisp. I seem to have managed okay by copying others
peoples' styles in the ~emacs/lisp/*.el files. I've gone over the
code a few times, now, and will offer it to FSF after I get it
reviewed by a real lisp hacker.
THE PROBLEM:
Twice, while the package was loaded, I have gotten illegal instruction
fatal errors during garbage collection.
The first time it happened, I thought it might be due to the string
"\M-a" in the doc-string for the major mode. I do have
meta-characters in string arguments for define-key, but in alloc.c, it
appears that longer strings are handled differently than short
strings. I took out the "\" and it didn't happen again for a long
time.
But it has happened once again! Could the length of the doc-string
(over 2500 bytes) be of concern? What lisp constructs could be
suspect? I don't think I have used any special, unusual, or otherwise
fancy features of elisp (if there are any).
I have tried in vain to replicate the bug. I loaded array.el and then
forcing emacs to gc multiple times by loading every .el and .elc file
in ~emacs/lisp. I tried the same thing with array.elc.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
David Brown
{harvard | ll-xn | mirror}!adelie!morgoth!dmb
GZA, 320 Needham St., Newton Upper Falls, MA 02164
(617) 969-0050
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