Autoload generated with wrong path when .emacs.d is a symlink and find-file-visit-truename is non-nil

[kisaragi-hiu]

What's wrong

My ~/.emacs.d is a symlink to ~/.dotfiles/emacs/.emacs.d, and I set find-file-visit-truename to t.

Autoloaded commands fail to load the files that they are associated with, even though require works.

(I'll explain why this is happening below.)

Directions to reproduce

1. mkdir -p /tmp/home, cd /tmp/home, export HOME=$(pwd) (to not be affected by existing config)

2. mkdir -p .dotfiles/emacs/.emacs.d, ln -s .dotfiles/emacs/.emacs.d .emacs.d

3. Put this into /tmp/home/.emacs.d/init.el:

   ;; straight.el bootstrap
   (defvar bootstrap-version)
   (defvar straight-repository-branch "develop")
   (defvar straight-vc-git-default-clone-depth 1) ; speed this up
   (let ((bootstrap-file
          (expand-file-name "straight/repos/straight.el/bootstrap.el" user-emacs-directory))
         (bootstrap-version 5))
     (unless (file-exists-p bootstrap-file)
       (with-current-buffer
           (url-retrieve-synchronously
            "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raxod502/straight.el/develop/install.el"
            'silent 'inhibit-cookies)
         (goto-char (point-max))
         (eval-print-last-sexp)))
     (load bootstrap-file nil 'nomessage))
   
   (setq find-file-visit-truename t)
   
   ;; Using a package with autoloads for demonstration
   (straight-use-package 'ag)

4. Try to run ag; this will fail as the autoloads file looks like this (docstring omitted):

   (autoload 'ag "../../../../../../.emacs.d/straight/build/ag/ag" ...)
   

Why this is happening

(I don't know why it didn't happen in Emacs 27. Perhaps it's a change introduced by make-directory-autoloads.)

make-directory-autoloads does not resolve symlinks in its DIR argument (or files within that directory) even when find-file-visit-truename is non-nil — this is as expected.

However, it does visit its OUTPUT-FILE argument with find-file in a call to autoload-find-generated-file.

In the example, one of the input files in make-directory-autoloads would be /tmp/home/.emacs.d/straight/build/ag/ag.el, but its associated output file would be resolved to /tmp/home/.dotfiles/emacs/.emacs.d/straight/build/ag/ag-autoloads.el. This then turns into the train of ../s when it's made relative.

To work around this, find-file-visit-truename should probably be let-bound to nil in straight--build-autoloads.

(This also happens for package.el, which makes it seem like an upstream bug.)

Version information

• Emacs version: 28.1
• Operating system: Arch Linux
• straight.el: 4517e11

[progfolio]

Duplicate of: #701

Your assessment is correct. I suggest adding to the upstream bug thread linked in #701 so this can be fixed in Emacs proper.

[kisaragi-hiu]

I'll add the details to the upstream bug report; in the meantime I'm opening #945 to work around it in Emacs 28.

[progfolio]

I'll add the details to the upstream bug report; in the meantime I'm opening #945 to work around it in Emacs 28.

Sounds good. I'll take a look at the pull once the upstream report thread has been bumped.
I don't disagree that we should be able to work around this, but it's important that the problem is addressed upstream, too.

[progfolio]

I did not notice the Emacs bug thread getting bumped. Took the liberty of suggesting a patch there first.

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-emacs/2022-05/msg00795.html

[doolio]

Just encountered this issue with Emacs 28.2. I take it the upstream issue has not been resolved yet. Is this only affecting straight users?

[progfolio]

Just encountered this issue with Emacs 28.2. I take it the upstream issue has not been resolved yet. Is this only affecting straight users?

#701 (comment)

Problem hasn't been addressed upstream. I suggest adding to any of the upstream threads mentioned here.