Symbol’s value as variable is void: _ errors

[mooseyboots]

I'm struggling to get transient loading ok after updating magit.

I thought it might be due to version mismatches somewhere, perhaps between built-in versions and non-built-in ones.

when i try to load my init file now, i get Symbol’s value as variable is void: _ errors when trying to load any package that depends on transient.

if i manually go and eval a recent version of the file transient.el from the repo, then the dependents will load fine.

is there a way i can be sure i am running an updated version?

i use straight.el, and i try to mandate using the repo version like so:

(use-package transient
  :straight (transient
	     :source melpa))

or

(use-package transient
  :straight (transient :type git :host github :repo "magit/transient"))

i also updated magit using straight.el.

i'm on emacs 30.0.50.

[mooseyboots]

actually, if i manually eval the built-in version of transient, i also don't seem to get this error, but magit and other dependents will not work properly. (i figure because they need a newer transient to do their thing.)

[tarsius]

In such cases it often helps to do a full re-installation dance. Remove transient and all packages that depend on it. I believe in the case of Straight you have to delete each package in two places to really be sure. The place where the repository is cloned to, and then the place where symlinks to the first place live. Then (or better before) exit Emacs. Restart Emacs. Reinstall the packages.

[tarsius]

is there a way i can be sure i am running an updated version?

I assume so, but I do not use straight myself, so I don't know how.

Also make sure you use a recent build of the emacs development branch.

[mooseyboots]

Also make sure you use a recent build of the emacs development branch.

It appears that this has solved the issue, thanks for the prod, never would have thought of that.

[mooseyboots]

here's a backtrace from init file failing to load:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (void-variable _)
  transient--parse-suffix(transient-common-commands ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set))
  transient--parse-child(transient-common-commands ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set))
  #f(compiled-function (s) #<bytecode -0x143444d775f1a44e>)(("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set))
  mapcan(#f(compiled-function (s) #<bytecode -0x143444d775f1a44e>) (("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)))
  transient--parse-group(transient-common-commands ["Value commands" ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)])
  transient--parse-child(transient-common-commands ["Value commands" ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)])
  #f(compiled-function (s) #<bytecode -0x143444d775f1a44e>)(["Value commands" ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)])
  mapcan(#f(compiled-function (s) #<bytecode -0x143444d775f1a44e>) (["Value commands" ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)] ["Sticky commands" ("C-g" "Quit prefix or transient" transient-quit-one) ("C-q" "Quit transient stack" transient-quit-all) ("C-z" "Suspend transient stack" transient-suspend)] ["Customize" ("C-x t" transient-toggle-common) ("C-x l" "Show/hide suffixes" transient-set-level) ("C-x a" transient-toggle-level-limit)]))
  transient--parse-group(transient-common-commands [:hide #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0x173d2e2d71ee314a>) ["Value commands" ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)] ["Sticky commands" ("C-g" "Quit prefix or transient" transient-quit-one) ("C-q" "Quit transient stack" transient-quit-all) ("C-z" "Suspend transient stack" transient-suspend)] ["Customize" ("C-x t" transient-toggle-common) ("C-x l" "Show/hide suffixes" transient-set-level) ("C-x a" transient-toggle-level-limit)]])
  transient--parse-child(transient-common-commands [:hide #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0x173d2e2d71ee314a>) ["Value commands" ("C-x s  " "Set" transient-set) ("C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save) ("C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset) ("C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev) ("C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next)] ["Sticky commands" ("C-g" "Quit prefix or transient" transient-quit-one) ("C-q" "Quit transient stack" transient-quit-all) ("C-z" "Suspend transient stack" transient-suspend)] ["Customize" ("C-x t" transient-toggle-common) ("C-x l" "Show/hide suffixes" transient-set-level) ("C-x a" transient-toggle-level-limit)]])
  byte-code("\300\301\302\303\304\301\305\306\307\305\310\311\312\313E\314\315\316E\317\320\321E\322\323\324E\325\326\327E&\6\305\330\331\332\333E\334\335\336E\337\340\341E$\305\342\343\344D\345\346\347E\350\351D$%\"@\352\"C#\207" [put transient-common-commands transient--layout eval transient--parse-child vector :hide #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0x173d2e2d71ee314a>) "Value commands" "C-x s  " "Set" transient-set "C-x C-s" "Save" transient-save "C-x C-k" "Reset" transient-reset "C-x p  " "Previous value" transient-history-prev "C-x n  " "Next value" transient-history-next "Sticky commands" "C-g" "Quit prefix or transient" transient-quit-one "C-q" "Quit transient stack" transient-quit-all "C-z" "Suspend transient stack" transient-suspend "Customize" "C-x t" transient-toggle-common "C-x l" "Show/hide suffixes" transient-set-level "C-x a" transient-toggle-level-limit t] 18)
  require(transient nil t)
  (not (require 'transient nil t))
  (if (not (require 'transient nil t)) (display-warning 'use-package (format "Cannot load %s" 'transient) :error) (use-package-statistics-gather :config 'transient nil) (use-package-statistics-gather :config 'transient t))
  (progn (use-package-statistics-gather :init 'transient nil) (if (not (require 'transient nil t)) (display-warning 'use-package (format "Cannot load %s" 'transient) :error) (use-package-statistics-gather :config 'transient nil) (use-package-statistics-gather :config 'transient t)) (use-package-statistics-gather :init 'transient t))
  (condition-case err (progn (use-package-statistics-gather :init 'transient nil) (if (not (require 'transient nil t)) (display-warning 'use-package (format "Cannot load %s" 'transient) :error) (use-package-statistics-gather :config 'transient nil) (use-package-statistics-gather :config 'transient t)) (use-package-statistics-gather :init 'transient t)) ((debug error) (funcall use-package--warning5 :catch err)))
  load-with-code-conversion("/home/mouse/.emacs.d/init.el" "/home/mouse/.emacs.d/init.el" t t)
  load("/home/mouse/.emacs.d/init" noerror nomessage)
  startup--load-user-init-file(#f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0xb0936866aed904c>) #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode -0x1f3c61addc0860f5>) t)
  command-line()
  normal-top-level()

also, i ran into the same error when byte-compiling mastodon.el (which depends on transient via tp.el) for quite a while prior to this magit update, but it never broke anything for me.