README provides incorrect installation instructions

[jamshark70]

Per #4, "you probably installed the project by copying the folder directly -- you are intended to install it via CMake, which configures sclang-vars.el.in to produce sclang-vars.el."

But README says:

Installation (detailed)

Put all *.el files in emacs' load-path. e.g. if you put them in ~/emacs/, add the following lines to ~/.emacs (or whatever your init file is called):

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/emacs") (require 'sclang)

for the HTML help system to fully function also add

(require 'w3m)

now put all *.sc files in sclang's library path, e.g. if you put them in a non-standard location, such as ~/SuperCollider/Emacs, add the following to ~/.config/SuperCollider/sclang_conf.yaml (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/SuperCollider/sclang_conf.yaml (macOS):

includePaths: [~/SuperCollider/Emacs]

(note normally this is not needed as they are put into sclang's library path during installation with scons).

Oh... haha... scons... anybody remember scons?

This needs an update.

[dyfer]

I'd only like to add that it would be wonderful to add a little more details how to get this to work on macOS - in cmake I had to specify emacs path to be /Applications/Emacs.app/... and I believe I had to put more things in my .emacs file (set-variable 'sclang-program...?), but I'm not an Emacs user so I can't assess how much of that was my lack of Emacs knowledge, and how much could be provided as explicit installation instructions here...

[jamshark70]

#28 and #30 are recent issues caused by the incorrect documentation.

We will keep having user issues opened about this until the documentation is corrected.

[Sleepful]

Here is what I get from trying to (require sclang):

Eager macro-expansion failure: (file-missing "Cannot open load file" "No such file or directory" "sclang-vars")

What are the instructions for installing through Cmake?

[Sleepful]

Okay okay, here is what I'm trying, following these two comments: About installing in Doom emacs: https://github.com/supercollider/scel/issues/8#issuecomment-748875811 About CMAKE: https://github.com/supercollider/scel/issues/30#issuecomment-648689971

First install package:

(package! sclang-mode :recipe (:host github :repo "supercollider/scel" :files ("el/*.el")))

Install these if do not have em (MACOS):

$ brew install cmake
$ brew install --cask supercollider

Then build with CMAKE (directory for straight.el):

$ cd ~/.emacs.d/.local/straight/repos/scel/sc
$ cmake .. -DSC_EL=ON                        
$ make                                       
$ sudo make install                          

THEN this works:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/SuperCollider")
(require 'sclang)

However, now I get Searching for program: No such file or directory, sclang. Need to update my emacs path or whatever...

A backtrace of the error

a bit of a backtrace

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (file-missing "Searching for program" "No such file or directory" "sclang")
  #<subr make-process>(:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel"))
  apply(#<subr make-process> (:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel")))
  make-process--with-editor-process-filter(#<subr make-process> :name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel"))
  apply(make-process--with-editor-process-filter #<subr make-process> (:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel")))
  #f(advice-wrapper :around #<subr make-process> make-process--with-editor-process-filter)(:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel"))
  apply(#f(advice-wrapper :around #<subr make-process> make-process--with-editor-process-filter) (:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel")))
  explain-pause--wrap-make-process(#f(advice-wrapper :around #<subr make-process> make-process--with-editor-process-filter) :name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel"))
  apply(explain-pause--wrap-make-process #f(advice-wrapper :around #<subr make-process> make-process--with-editor-process-filter) (:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel")))
  make-process(:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel"))
  apply(make-process (:name "SCLang" :buffer "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" :command ("sclang" "-iscel")))
  start-process("SCLang" "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" "sclang" "-iscel")
  apply(start-process "SCLang" "*SCLang:PostBuffer*" "sclang" "-iscel")
  sclang-start()
  #<subr funcall-interactively>(sclang-start)
  apply(#<subr funcall-interactively> sclang-start)
  funcall-interactively(sclang-start)
  #<subr call-interactively>(sclang-start record nil)
  apply(#<subr call-interactively> (sclang-start record nil))
  explain-pause--wrap-call-interactively(#<subr call-interactively> sclang-start record nil)

So I add the path...

(setenv "PATH" (concat (getenv "PATH") ":/Applications/SuperCollider.app/Contents/MacOS"))
(setq exec-path (append exec-path '(":/Applications/SuperCollider.app/Contents/MacOS"))

now I do M-x sclang-start.... it turns on! yay!

However I can't evaluate a line yet...

Some more info here just in case

[Sleepful]

From README:

now put all *.sc files in sclang's library path

What's sclang's library path? How do I know?

[dyfer]

What's sclang's library path? How do I know?

Not 100% sure but I think that means the "Extensions" path. On macOS it's in ~/Library/Application Support/SuperCollider/Extensions or something like that

[Sleepful]

Got it working! Thank you so much @dyfer, that was the step I was missing!

cp -R ~/Library/Application Support/SuperCollider/Extensions/scide_scel ~/.emacs.d/.local/straight/repos/scel/sc/*

[Sleepful]

Impossible to figure this out from the README, thanks to everyone that has contributed by bringing this up, you are the difference between a silent Emacs and a happy Emacs.

[dyfer]

@Sleepful glad to have helped!

Since you went through this setup recently, would you be able to propose changes to the Readme? A PR would be best, but if not then even pointing out how to update which and sections would possibly push this forward.

[jxa]

FWIW, I also struggled through this install recently. I'm on a Mac, using doom emacs config. I would love it if this library behaved like a normal emacs package and we could just pull it from melpa or configure it using straight.el, etc. Instead, every time this repo gets updated I need to deal with the sclang-vars problem...

I'm willing to put in some work, if the community agrees it would be desirable.

I see a few things that would need to be addressed:

• Remove the cmake script
• Convert sclang-vars.el.in to sclang-vars.el
• Require user to customize those vars when installing from melpa
• scripts which build the linux packages could overwrite sclang-vars.el or use some other mechanism for setting paths (this is the part I know least about)

I have probably missed some things. Please let me know. I have done some work with elisp before but never cmake or platform-specific packaging.