How can I load the solarized-dark theme correctly in Aquamacs from .emacs?

Question

I load the solarized-dark theme in the last line of my .emacs files thusly:

(load-theme 'solarized-dark t)

However, this causes Aquamacs to look like: If I then load the theme again by entering M-x load-theme RET solarized-dark, the theme looks correct: How can I get the theme to load correct from my .emacs?

Answer 1

This is possibly due to a legacy startup setting in Aquamacs. You have a couple of options to fix it.

Patch Aquamacs

Try the patch posted here, which worksforme.

--- Contents/Resources/lisp/aquamacs/macosx/aquamacs-frame-setup.el.orig    2017-04-06 14:38:45.000000000 -0400
+++ Contents/Resources/lisp/aquamacs/macosx/aquamacs-frame-setup.el 2017-04-06 16:30:54.000000000 -0400
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
  '((create-frame-min-width 68)
 ;; do not set any fonts here. aquamacs.el takes care of this,
 ;; checking that the fonts actually exist.
-   (default-frame-alist 
+   (initial-frame-alist 
      ((foreground-color . "Black") (background-color . "White") 
       (cursor-type . box) (cursor-color . "Red")
       (vertical-scroll-bars . right)  

Edit your init-file

In your ~/.emacs or ~/.emacs.d/init.el or ~/Library/Preferences/Aquamacs Emacs/Preferences.el (where ever you load your theme from, add (setq default-frame-alist nil) before you load your theme, a la:

(when window-system
  (when (featurep 'aquamacs)
    (setq default-frame-alist nil))
  (load-theme 'my-new-theme t))

Or, more simply:

(setq default-frame-alist nil)
(load-theme 'my-new-theme t)