Infinite recursion: Customize Faces/Basic faces/Default/Height

[jjl]

I'm using GNU Emacs 21.2.1 from Debian 3 r0.

If I customize Faces/Basic faces/Default, adjusting Height (in 1/10
point units) to 140, and then apply the change to the current session,
emacs appears to go into an infinite loop.  The only frame present
clears of all text, and repeatedly resizes between maximised and a
smaller size, until I kill it.

Using scale rather than point size causes the same problem.  Other
options in the group do not cause a problem.

If I change another option in the group, then look in .emacs to see
what customize generated, I find this:

(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom -- don't edit or cut/paste it!
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 '(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground "#000000"
 :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil :underline
 nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 164 :width condensed :family
 "adobe-courier")))))


This works fine.  If I then manually change height to 140, emacs has
trouble at
startup:

> (/usr/bin/emacs)
> Loading disp-table...done
> Loading tool-bar...done
> Loading image...done
> Loading tooltip...done
> Loading 00debian-vars...done
> Loading 50gettext (source)...done
> Loading server...done
> Loading font-lock...
> Loading regexp-opt...done
> Loading font-lock...done
> Loading paren...done
> 
> 
> An error has occurred while loading `/home/john/.emacs':
> 
> error: "Variable binding depth exceeds max-specpdl-size"
> 
> To ensure normal operation, you should investigate the cause
> of the error in your initialization file and remove it.  Start
> Emacs with the `--debug-init' option to view a complete error
> backtrace
> face-spec-choose: Variable binding depth exceeds max-specpdl-size


but I do get the right font, at the right size (14 pt).

Here is the output with --debug-init:

> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Variable binding depth exceeds 
> max-specpdl-size")
>   frame-update-face-colors(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :background "#ffffff" #<frame 
> emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   set-face-attribute(default #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ > :background 
> "#ffffff")
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))) #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   face-set-after-frame-default(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :width condensed #<frame 
> emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   set-face-attribute(default #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ > :width 
> condensed)
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))) #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   face-set-after-frame-default(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :width condensed #<frame 
> emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   set-face-attribute(default #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ > :width 
> condensed)
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))) #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   face-set-after-frame-default(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :width condensed #<frame 
> emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   set-face-attribute(default #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ > :width 
> condensed)
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))) #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   face-set-after-frame-default(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :width condensed #<frame 
> emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)

[...long snip...]

>   set-face-attribute(default #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ > :width 
> condensed)
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))) #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   face-set-after-frame-default(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :width condensed #<frame 
> emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   set-face-attribute(default #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ > :width 
> condensed)
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))) #<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   face-set-after-frame-default(#<frame emacs@alice 0x84562c8\ >)
>   internal-set-lisp-face-attribute(default :height 140 0)
>   set-face-attribute(default nil :height 140)
>   face-spec-set(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "#ffffff" :foreground 
> "#000000" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil 
> :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 140 :width condensed 
> :family "adobe-courier"))))
>   custom-set-faces((default ((t ...))))
>   eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*> nil "~/.emacs" nil t)
>   load-with-code-conversion("/home/john/.emacs" "~/.emacs" t t)
>   load("~/.emacs" t t)
>   #[nil "Â,TB$(O

[oops, that last line refuses to paste into this crummy webmail thing]

>   command-line()
>   normal-top-level()


John

-- 
  John J Lee
  jjlee@fastmail.fm