M-x shell does not work on Windows when default-directory too long

[Michael Schierl]

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Please write in English if possible, because the Emacs maintainers
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[cc to bug-gnu-emacs since the bug occurs as well:
In GNU Emacs 21.3.1 (i386-msvc-windows98.3000)
 of 2003-03-28 on buffy]

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug
and the precise symptoms of the bug:

Start Emacs with -q.

Open an existing file with a long path (e.g. 
"c:/temp/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir/foo.txt").
 

Press M-x shell RET

A shell window will appear but there is nothing in it - no prompt no
nothing. Entered Commands will not have any effects.

--Or:--

Evaluate the following code and run M-x shb.

(defvar shb-procname shell-file-name)

;; the environment will not change anything; i just put it there to
;; show that it is *not* an environment memory overflow
(defvar shb-proc-env '("TMP=C:\\TEMP" 
                       "TEMP=C:\\TEMP" 
                       "PROMPT=$p$g" 
                       "COMSPEC=C:\\WINDOWS\\COMMAND.COM"))

(defvar shellbug-not-so-long-name (concat "c:/temp/deepdir/deepdir"
                                          "/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir"
                                          "/deepdir/deepdir/deepdir"))

(defvar shellbug-long-name (concat shellbug-not-so-long-name 
                                   "/deepdir/"))

(make-directory shellbug-long-name t)

(defun shellbug (procname bufname)
  (kill-buffer (get-buffer-create bufname))
  (switch-to-buffer (get-buffer-create bufname))
  (let ((process-environment shb-proc-env))
    (make-comint-in-buffer procname (get-buffer-create bufname)
                           shb-procname nil "-i")))

(defun shb () (interactive)
  (let ((default-directory shellbug-long-name))
    (shellbug "shellbug1" "*shell-doesnt-work*"))
  (let ((default-directory shellbug-not-so-long-name))
    (shellbug "shellbug2" "*shell-works*"))
  (pop-to-buffer "*shell-doesnt-work*"))

Then you will see two windows of which one shows a shell and the
other does not. So the reason for the bug is really the too long
default-directory.

This bug appears both on my unstable emacs and on my stable one - and
it can be quite annoying until you found the reason why M-x shell
suddenly stops working...

Michael

In GNU Emacs 21.3.50.1 (i386-mingw-windows98.3000)
 of 2004-05-19 on BERATUNG4
configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.3) --cflags -I../../jpeg-6b-1/include 
-I../../libpng-1.2.4-1/include -I../../tiff-3.5.7/include 
-I../../xpm-nox-4.2.0/include -I../../zlib-1.1.4-1/include'

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: deu
  locale-coding-system: cp1252
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Lisp Interaction

Minor modes in effect:
  tool-bar-mode: t
  encoded-kbd-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  unify-8859-on-encoding-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t

Recent input:
<down-mouse-1> <mouse-1> M-x r e p o r <tab> 
<return>

Recent messages:
Loading mwheel...done
(C:\PROGRAMME\EMACS-21.3.50.2\BIN\EMACS.EXE -q)
Loading encoded-kb...done
Loading tool-bar...done
Loading image...done
Loading tooltip...done
Making completion list...
Loading help-mode...done
Loading emacsbug...done