Installing helm-projectile results in "mapc: Lisp nesting exceeds ‘max-lisp-eval-depth’"

Question

Context

• Linux Mageia 7.
• Emacs 26.3 (vanilla install).

Problem

Reproducible steps:

1. (Re)Move the content of ~/.emacs.d/elpa.
2. Start emacs with no configuration (emacs -Q).

3. In the *scratch* buffer, run:

   (package-initialize)
   (with-eval-after-load "package"
       (setq package-archives
             (append '(("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/"))
                     package-archives))
   

4. M-x list-packages.
5. Install helm-projectile (20190731.1538).

The error message appears:

mapc: Lisp nesting exceeds ‘max-lisp-eval-depth’

Do you know what's going on?

Below is the whole *Messages* buffer:

nil
(("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/") ("gnu" . "https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/"))
Importing package-keyring.gpg...done
Package refresh done
Mark set
Mark saved where search started
Mark set
Mark saved where search started
Install package ‘helm-projectile-20190731.1538’? (y or n) y
Package menu: Operation started [Installing 1]
Setting ‘package-selected-packages’ temporarily since "emacs -q" would overwrite customizations
Dependency cycle going through "helm-20191006.647"
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Generating autoloads for epl.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/epl-20180205.2049/epl-autoloads.el [2 times]
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/epl-20180205.2049... [3 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/epl-20180205.2049/epl.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/epl-20180205.2049/epl.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/epl-20180205.2049...
Done (Total of 1 file compiled, 2 skipped)
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Generating autoloads for pkg-info.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/pkg-info-20150517.1143/pkg-info-autoloads.el [2 times]
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/pkg-info-20150517.1143... [3 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/pkg-info-20150517.1143/pkg-info.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/pkg-info-20150517.1143/pkg-info.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/pkg-info-20150517.1143...
Done (Total of 1 file compiled, 2 skipped)
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Generating autoloads for projectile.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/projectile-20191006.926/projectile-autoloads.el [2 times]
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/projectile-20191006.926... [3 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/projectile-20191006.926/projectile.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/projectile-20191006.926/projectile.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/projectile-20191006.926...
Done (Total of 1 file compiled, 2 skipped)
Generating autoloads for helm-org.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-org-20190819.617/helm-org-autoloads.el [2 times]
Unable to activate package ‘helm-org’.
Required package ‘helm-3.3’ is unavailable
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Parsing tar file...done
Extracting async-20190503.656/
Extracting async-20190503.656/dired-async.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/dired-async.el
Extracting async-20190503.656/async-bytecomp.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async-bytecomp.el
Extracting async-20190503.656/smtpmail-async.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/smtpmail-async.el
Extracting async-20190503.656/async-pkg.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async-pkg.el
Extracting async-20190503.656/async.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async.el
Generating autoloads for async-bytecomp.el...done
Generating autoloads for async-pkg.el...done
Generating autoloads for async.el...done
Generating autoloads for dired-async.el...done
Generating autoloads for smtpmail-async.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async-autoloads.el [2 times]
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656... [2 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async-bytecomp.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async-bytecomp.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656... [2 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/async.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656...
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/dired-async.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/dired-async.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656...
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/smtpmail-async.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656/smtpmail-async.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/async-20190503.656...
Done (Total of 4 files compiled, 2 skipped)
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Parsing tar file...done
Extracting helm-core-20191003.1622/
Extracting helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-source.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-source.el
Extracting helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-lib.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-lib.el
Extracting helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-multi-match.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-multi-match.el
Extracting helm-core-20191003.1622/helm.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm.el
Extracting helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-core-pkg.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-core-pkg.el
Generating autoloads for helm-core-pkg.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-lib.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-multi-match.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-source.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-core-autoloads.el [2 times]
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622... [3 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-lib.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-lib.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622...
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-multi-match.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-multi-match.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622...
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-source.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm-source.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622...
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622/helm.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-core-20191003.1622...
Done (Total of 4 files compiled, 2 skipped)
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Generating autoloads for popup.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/popup-20160709.1429/popup-autoloads.el [2 times]
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/popup-20160709.1429... [3 times]
Compiling /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/popup-20160709.1429/popup.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/popup-20160709.1429/popup.elc
Checking /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/popup-20160709.1429...
Done (Total of 1 file compiled, 2 skipped)
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
Parsing tar file...done
Extracting helm-20191006.647/
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-eval.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-eval.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-for-files.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-for-files.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-net.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-net.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-dabbrev.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-dabbrev.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-shell.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-shell.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-x-files.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-x-files.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-elisp-package.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-elisp-package.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-utils.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-utils.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-semantic.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-semantic.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-bookmark.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-bookmark.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-help.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-help.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-adaptive.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-adaptive.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-grep.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-grep.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-config.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-config.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-font.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-font.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-comint.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-comint.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-imenu.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-imenu.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-occur.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-occur.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-easymenu.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-easymenu.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-tags.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-tags.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-elisp.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-elisp.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-misc.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-misc.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-id-utils.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-id-utils.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-types.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-types.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-eshell.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-eshell.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-info.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-info.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-command.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-command.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-regexp.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-regexp.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/emacs-helm.sh
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/emacs-helm.sh
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-find.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-find.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-mode.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-mode.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-external.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-external.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-buffers.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-buffers.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-sys.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-sys.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-ring.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-ring.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-locate.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-locate.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-files.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-files.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-man.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-man.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-pkg.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-pkg.el
Extracting helm-20191006.647/helm-color.el
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-color.el
Generating autoloads for helm-adaptive.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-bookmark.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-buffers.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-color.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-comint.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-command.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-config.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-dabbrev.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-easymenu.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-elisp-package.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-elisp.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-eshell.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-eval.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-external.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-files.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-find.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-font.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-for-files.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-grep.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-help.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-id-utils.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-imenu.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-info.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-locate.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-man.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-misc.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-mode.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-net.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-occur.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-pkg.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-regexp.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-ring.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-semantic.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-shell.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-sys.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-tags.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-types.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-utils.el...done
Generating autoloads for helm-x-files.el...done
Wrote /home/bitouze/.emacs.d/elpa/helm-20191006.647/helm-autoloads.el [2 times]
mapc: Lisp nesting exceeds ‘max-lisp-eval-depth’

Answer 1

This seems to be due to a bug introduced recently in library async.el. It seems to affect Helm code (at least).

See https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs/2019-10/msg00021.html.

Answer 2

I fixed this issue by commenting out all the lines related to helm in my config, launching emacs and installing the package I needed, and once the package was installed, uncommenting the lines in my config.