Re: installed 22.1-0ubuntu4~feisty1, should i remove /etc/emacs21/site-start.d

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

() imputerate <imputerate@puteracy.com>
() Sat, 1 Sep 2007 19:07:11 -0700 (PDT)

   thi; would you take minute and go over the commands i issued to
   call strace; did i get them right? was the output the expected
   one? what about the "load" lines?

look, i'm an old dude who can't remember dow, moy, yoc, or just
plain epoch; you expect me to remember the POINT?!  :-/

i suggested the strace command to help you be able to diagnose
things yourself (so that you can be curmudgeonly standoffish to the
next generation, you see ;-).  the thinking is this:

 - strace insinuates itself between a program and the operating
   system API (aka "system calls"), reporting the arguments to the
   call and the return value in the format:

     FUNCTION (ARG0, ARG1, ...) => RETURN-VALUE

 - the "-e open" option restricts the tracing to the open(2) system
   call.  the paren-two-close means you can put the cursor on that
   word and type `M-x man RET RET' to see more info.  (try it!)

 - this means that for our purposes, FUNCTION will be "open", ARGn
   will include a filename, and RETURN-VALUE will be an integer (-1
   for problems or non-negative if All Goes Well).

 - the file descriptor is used for subsequent (progam level)
   processing, such as reading, writing, etc.  key concept: if
   there is no file descriptor there is no interaction!

 - we are all islands mucking around w/ magical trees that talk to
   each other.  we cannot talk to each other directly.  this may be
   saddening but it is also a challenge: how to know which way the
   wind blows for someone else's tree?  how indeed?!

i was hoping you would take the hint, but here is a more explicit
suggestion: apply the scientific method.  (a) what is it you want
to discover?  (b) what is the link between what you want to
discover and what you can observe?  (c) how can you provoke
behavior that can be observable?  (d) D is for DO AN EXPERIMENT!
(which you did, cool!)  (e) work "backwards" using the link (b)
to make a statement about your model of Reality.  (f) if you don't
achieve (a), no worries, try again from (c) or (b).

after some practice, the "backwards" in (e) will come more
naturally and you may feel it is more like "sideways" or
"upsidedown" or CURRENT-FAVORITE-PREPOSITION...  then you will be
able to rail on for half an hour, making a scotch-induced ass of
yourself in public in the name of helping others w/ their personal
emacs issues...  ah, life.

good luck!

thi