emacs --debug-init help needed

[Robin Hankin]

Hi guys.

I'm having problems with emacs reporting an init file error.
After unpacking ess-5.21.tar.gz with tar -xvzf 
(and not touching anything inside it),

emacs --debug-init gives the following error message:

>Debugger entered--Lisp error: 
>(wrong-type-argument symbolp (&optional 
>start-args))
>   (defun (&optional start-args) "Call , i.e., 
>the R version '' using ESS.\nThis function was 
>generated by `ess-r-versions-create'." 
>(interactive "P") (let (...) (R start-args)))
>   eval-buffer()
>   (save-excursion (set-buffer eval-buf) 
>(delete-region (point-min) (point-max)) (setq 
>versions (mapcar ... ...)) 
>(ess-write-to-dribble-buffer (format "(R): 
>ess-r-versions-create making M-x defuns for %s" 
>...)) (while versions (setq version ... versions 
>...) (setq beg ...) (insert template) (goto-char 
>beg) (while ... ...) (goto-char ...)) 
>(eval-buffer) (kill-buffer eval-buf))
>   (let ((template "") (beg) (versions) (version) 
>(eval-buf ...)) (setq template "(defun R-X.Y 
>(&optional start-args)\n  \"Call R-X.Y, i.e., 
>the R version 'R-X.Y' using ESS.\nThis function 
>was generated by `ess-r-versions-create'.\"\n 
>(interactive \"P\")\n  (let 
>((inferior-R-program-name \"R-X.Y\"))\n    (R 
>start-args)))\n\n") (save-excursion (set-buffer 
>eval-buf) (delete-region ... ...) (setq versions 
>...) (ess-write-to-dribble-buffer ...) (while 
>versions ... ... ... ... ... ...) (eval-buffer) 
>(kill-buffer eval-buf)))
>   ess-r-versions-create()
>   eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*<2>> nil 
>"/users/sat/rksh/ess-5.2.1/lisp/ess-site" nil t)
> 
>load-with-code-conversion("/users/sat/rksh/ess-5.2.1/lisp/ess-site.el" 
>"/users/sat/rksh/ess-5.2.1/lisp/ess-site" nil 
>nil)
>   load("/users/sat/rksh/ess-5.2.1/lisp/ess-site")
>   eval-buffer(#<buffer  *load*> nil "~/.emacs" nil t)
>   load-with-code-conversion("/users/sat/rksh/.emacs" "~/.emacs" t t)
>   load("~/.emacs" t t)
>   #[nil "Öó 	=É «»QÇ5  
>	Š=É'  «ÀÃ#É# ÕÇ5 ‘Ç5  
>	¦=É1 -Ç5 «-Q""\n"â#à"=ÉF ÀÉà '!'öÉà ÷!â
×P
ÿ
>!Éd 
>Ço ÿ\f!Én \fÇo ÀâÉá \f\"ÉÖ Ž¤\f#àÐð!à\f*Üñ À
 
>"Þ"â#))á" [init-file-user system-type 
>user-init-file-1 user-init-file source alt 
>ms-dos "~" "/_emacs" windows-nt directory-files 
>nil "^\\.emacs\\(\\.elc?\\)?$" "~/.emacs" 
>"~/_emacs" vax-vms "sys$login:.emacs" "/.emacs" 
>t load file-name-extension "elc" 
>file-name-sans-extension ".el" file-exists-p 
>file-newer-than-file-p message "Warning: %s is 
>newer than %s" sit-for 1 "default" 
>inhibit-default-init inhibit-startup-message] 
>5]()
>   command-line()
>   normal-top-level()


I can make emacs start with no error message by commenting out the line
(load "/users/sat/rksh/ess-5.2.1/lisp/ess-site")
from my .emacs file.

Can anyone help?


-- 
Robin Hankin
Uncertainty Analyst
Southampton Oceanography Centre
SO14 3ZH
tel +44(0)23-8059-7743
initialDOTsurname at soc.soton.ac.uk (edit in obvious way; spam precaution)