4

I'm experiencing a weird problem with Emacs on Windows where sometimes, after a while, the current buffer I'm in throws an error when attempting to save the file. I can't seem to reliably reproduce the issue (since when I first open the file, it saves fine and even for a few times after that), but after working on it for a while, suddenly I'll get an error when attempting to save the file. The only resolution is to restart Emacs; simply killing and re-opening the buffer has no effect. Turning on toggle-debug-on-error gives me the following:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (file-error "Opening output file" "invalid argument" "c:/Users/sonictk/Git/experiments/opengl_test/main.cpp") write-region(nil nil "c:/Users/sonictk/Git/experiments/opengl_test/main.cpp" nil t "~/Git/experiments/opengl_test/main.cpp") basic-save-buffer-2() basic-save-buffer-1() basic-save-buffer() save-buffer(1) call-interactively(save-buffer nil nil) command-execute(save-buffer)

I'm not sure how to go about debugging this further since these seem to be built-in functions; could anyone provide any advice on how best I should proceed?

I tried turning on debug-on-entry for write-region for a file that doesn't seem to have the issue compared with a file that does, and I couldn't see any difference passed to the function calls

``` This works:

write-region(nil nil "c:/Users/sonictk/Git/experiments/opengl_test/shaders/vert.glsl" nil t "~/Git/experiments/opengl_test/shaders/vert.glsl")

Somehow, this doesn't, after a while:

  • write-region(nil nil "c:/Users/sonictk/Git/experiments/opengl_test/main.cpp" nil t "~/Git/experiments/opengl_test/main.cpp") ```

I can't understand it; what could be the issue?

UPDATE: As usual, I find the answer only after giving up after a few hours and posting on the interwebs; turns out irony-mode was keeping an open file handle to the file in question for some reason which prevented anything (not just Emacs) from overwriting the file. Now I just have to figure out why irony is behaving the way it is only with this file in particular.

Improve this question
7
  • Are you using the latest stable release of Emacs for Windows; i.e. 25.3?
    – lawlist
    Jan 2, 2018 at 0:05
  • @lawlist I'm currently on GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-mingw32) of 2015-04-11 on LEG570. I'm a little skeptical that it's the Emacs version specifically, since this seems to happen only with this file for some reason that I haven't quite managed to figure out yet. I could try upgrading, but I'd prefer for that to be a last resort.
    – sonictk
    Jan 2, 2018 at 0:13
  • I had the same problem using C-x C-w with the same name worked for me. I've also had this issue when I've had opened Notepad++ but not the file I was saving in Emacs and closing Notepad++ solved the issue.
    – jcubic
    Sep 11, 2018 at 13:47
  • 1
    Since today I'm also experiencing a similar issue... I'm using doom on Linux, and in my case just one buffer gets crazy (a LaTeX one for me): I can't save (even in a new file), can't kill the buffer, it displays when I try to save a "waiting" mouse cursor that diseapear when I C-g, but I can continue typing, change the modes, create and save other buffers (including at the same path)... I'm using emacs 27.1. Did you understood what was wrong?
    – tobiasBora
    Dec 15, 2020 at 20:52
  • 1
    if I have git diff open while saving a file with a diff, this happens. from your prompt it looks like you're editing source code in git, so maybe you were diffing it at the time.
    – mhb
    Jun 22, 2021 at 23:05

0

Reset to default

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.