bug#63228: 13.2.0; TeX-auto-generate-global TeX-auto-parse-region: Wrong type argument: stringp, nil

[Sebastian Drude]

Dear AUCTeX maintainers and other friendly souls on this list,


I am coming back to AUCTeX after many years, now on a Linux-MINT system 
(Debian-based).

I understand that, in order to be able to get command-expansion etc. for 
all (La)TeX packages, I need to run the command 
"TeX-auto-generate-global" once.  As I am a regular user, I first had to 
use "sudo" to give myself write permissions to the 
"/var/lib/auctex/emacs" directory.

But then, after parsing quite a number of files, the parser stops while 
parsing many files with the error message
"TeX-auto-parse-region: Wrong type argument: stringp, nil"

When I move the offending file from its directory in 
/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/ temporarily to some other directory,
the error repeats with some other file.  After moving about 30 files, I 
decided that something must be wrong.  I uninstalled the AUCTeX package 
which I installed via my package management system (Mint's Software 
Manager), which was an old version (11.91-2ubuntu2), and installed 
AUCTeX via ELPA.

Still, the error persists.

As I have not any fancy configurations not extra TeX packages installed, 
I wonder whether this is a known error which occurs with certain TeX 
style, class and further files, or whether something is not right with 
my AUCTeX installation or more generally my system.

Here is the backtrace:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument stringp nil)
  looking-at(nil)
  TeX-auto-parse-region(TeX-auto-full-regexp-list nil 999999)
  TeX-auto-parse()
  TeX-auto-store("/var/lib/auctex/emacs/amsppt.el")
  TeX-auto-generate("amsppt.sty" "/var/lib/auctex/emacs/")
  #f(compiled-function (file) #<bytecode 0x1107a75>)("amsppt.sty")
  mapcar(#f(compiled-function (file) #<bytecode 0x1107a75>) ("." ".." 
"amsppt.sti" "amsppt.sty" "amsppt1.tex" "amstex.bug" "amstex.tex"))
  TeX-auto-generate("base" "/var/lib/auctex/emacs/")
  #f(compiled-function (file) #<bytecode 0x1107a75>)("base")
  mapcar(#f(compiled-function (file) #<bytecode 0x1107a75>) ("." ".." 
"base" "config"))
  TeX-auto-generate("amstex" "/var/lib/auctex/emacs/")
  #f(compiled-function (file) #<bytecode 0x1107a75>)("amstex")
  mapcar(#f(compiled-function (file) #<bytecode 0x1107a75>) ("." ".." 
"amstex" "context" "cslatex" "csplain" "eplain" "fontinst" "generic" 
"jadetex" "lambda" "latex" "latex-dev" "lollipop" "lualatex" "luatex" 
"mex" "mltex" "plain" "platex" "psizzl" "ptex" "startex" "support" 
"texsis" "uplatex" "uptex" "xelatex" "xetex" "xmltex"))
  TeX-auto-generate("/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/" 
"/var/lib/auctex/emacs/")
  #f(compiled-function (macro) #<bytecode 
0x10fb1f5>)("/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/")
  mapc(#f(compiled-function (macro) #<bytecode 0x10fb1f5>) 
("/var/lib/texmf/tex/" "/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/" 
"/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst/" "/usr/share/texmf/tex/" 
"/usr/share/texmf/bibtex/bst/" 
"/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/pbibtex/bst/" "/usr/share/texmf/jtex/" 
"/usr/share/texmf/jbibtex/bst/"))
  TeX-auto-generate-global()
  funcall-interactively(TeX-auto-generate-global)
  call-interactively(TeX-auto-generate-global record nil)
  command-execute(TeX-auto-generate-global record)
  execute-extended-command(nil "TeX-auto-generate-global" nil)
  funcall-interactively(execute-extended-command nil 
"TeX-auto-generate-global" nil)
  call-interactively(execute-extended-command nil nil)
  command-execute(execute-extended-command)


I cannot imagine that AUCText should have difficulties to parse so many
files which are part of the regular LiveTeX distriution, but I am unable
to figure out what causes the parsing error, and at what the AUCTeX
parser is looking when it is looking at nil.


Any help very much appreciated.
Thanks, Sebastian


Emacs  : GNU Emacs 26.3 (build 2, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.14)
 of 2020-03-26, modified by Debian
Package: 13.2.0

current state:
==============
(setq
 AUCTeX-date "2023-04-24"
 window-system 'x
 LaTeX-version "2e"
 TeX-style-path '("/var/lib/auctex/emacs/"
          "/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/style"
          "/home/sebastian/.emacs.d/auctex/auto"
          "/home/sebastian/.emacs.d/auctex/style" "auto" "style")
 TeX-auto-save t
 TeX-parse-self t
 TeX-master nil
 TeX-command-list '(("jTeX" "%(PDF)jtex %`%S%(PDFout)%(mode)%' %t" 
TeX-run-TeX
             nil (plain-tex-mode) :help "Run NTT jTeX")
            ("jLaTeX" "%(PDF)jlatex %`%S%(PDFout)%(mode)%' %t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil (latex-mode) :help "Run NTT jLaTeX")
            ("pTeX" "%(PDF)ptex %(kanjiopt)%`%S%(PDFout)%(mode)%' %t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil (plain-tex-mode) :help "Run ASCII pTeX")
            ("pLaTeX"
             "%(PDF)platex %(kanjiopt)%`%S%(PDFout)%(mode)%' %t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil (latex-mode) :help "Run ASCII pLaTeX")
            ("Mendex" "mendex %(mendexkopt)%s" TeX-run-command nil t
             :help "Create index file with mendex")
            ("jBibTeX" "jbibtex %s" TeX-run-BibTeX nil t :help
             "Run jBibTeX")
            ("pBibTeX" "pbibtex %(kanjiopt)%s" TeX-run-BibTeX nil t
             :help "Run pBibTeX")
            ("-" "" ignore nil t)
            ("TeX"
             "%(PDF)%(tex) %(file-line-error) %(extraopts) 
%`%S%(PDFout)%(mode)%' %t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil
             (plain-tex-mode ams-tex-mode texinfo-mode) :help
             "Run plain TeX")
            ("LaTeX" "%`%l%(mode)%' %t" TeX-run-TeX nil
             (latex-mode doctex-mode) :help "Run LaTeX")
            ("Makeinfo" "makeinfo %(extraopts) %t" TeX-run-compile nil
             (texinfo-mode) :help "Run Makeinfo with Info output")
            ("Makeinfo HTML" "makeinfo %(extraopts) --html %t"
             TeX-run-compile nil (texinfo-mode) :help
             "Run Makeinfo with HTML output")
            ("AmSTeX" "amstex %(PDFout) %(extraopts) %`%S%(mode)%' %t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil (ams-tex-mode) :help "Run AMSTeX")
            ("ConTeXt"
             "%(cntxcom) --once --texutil %(extraopts) %(execopts)%t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil (context-mode) :help "Run ConTeXt once")
            ("ConTeXt Full" "%(cntxcom) %(extraopts) %(execopts)%t"
             TeX-run-TeX nil (context-mode) :help
             "Run ConTeXt until completion")
            ("BibTeX" "%(bibtex) %s" TeX-run-BibTeX nil t :help
             "Run BibTeX")
            ("Biber" "biber %s" TeX-run-Biber nil t :help "Run Biber")
            ("View" "%V" TeX-run-discard-or-function t t :help
             "Run Viewer")
            ("Print" "%p" TeX-run-command t t :help "Print the file")
            ("Queue" "%q" TeX-run-background nil t :help
             "View the printer queue" :visible TeX-queue-command)
            ("File" "%(o?)dvips %d -o %f " TeX-run-dvips t t :help
             "Generate PostScript file")
            ("Dvips" "%(o?)dvips %d -o %f " TeX-run-dvips nil t :help
             "Convert DVI file to PostScript")
            ("Dvipdfmx" "dvipdfmx %d" TeX-run-dvipdfmx nil t :help
             "Convert DVI file to PDF with dvipdfmx")
            ("Ps2pdf" "ps2pdf %f" TeX-run-ps2pdf nil t :help
             "Convert PostScript file to PDF")
            ("Glossaries" "makeglossaries %s" TeX-run-command nil t
             :help "Run makeglossaries to create glossary file")
            ("Index" "%(makeindex) %s" TeX-run-index nil t :help
             "Run makeindex to create index file")
            ("upMendex" "upmendex %s" TeX-run-index t t :help
             "Run upmendex to create index file")
            ("Xindy" "texindy %s" TeX-run-command nil t :help
             "Run xindy to create index file")
            ("Check" "lacheck %s" TeX-run-compile nil (latex-mode)
             :help "Check LaTeX file for correctness")
            ("ChkTeX" "chktex -v6 %s" TeX-run-compile nil (latex-mode)
             :help "Check LaTeX file for common mistakes")
            ("Spell" "(TeX-ispell-document \"\")" TeX-run-function nil
             t :help "Spell-check the document")
            ("Clean" "TeX-clean" TeX-run-function nil t :help
             "Delete generated intermediate files")
            ("Clean All" "(TeX-clean t)" TeX-run-function nil t :help
             "Delete generated intermediate and output files")
            ("Other" "" TeX-run-command t t :help
             "Run an arbitrary command")
            )
 )


If I may, I also have another question.  When I accessed AUCTeX directly 
in the ELPA (in emacs, via the command "list-packages"), I came to the 
page which says:

auctex is an available obsolete package.
     Status: Available Obsolete from gnu -- Install
    Archive: gnu
    Version: 13.2.0
     Commit: 9d47b0a1bdffb8e01a83bf507dac7677ecca92f7
    Summary: Integrated environment for *TeX*
   Requires: emacs-25.1
   Homepage: https://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/
   Keywords: tex latex texinfo context doctex preview-latex
Other versions: 13.2.0 (installed).

My question: why is there a version (13.2.0) in the gnu-archive which is 
tagged as "obsolete"??  It took me quite a while before I installed 
AUCTeX nevertheless, and now I see that I have these two versions, one 
installed and one on the gnu server.