org-capture and time clocking misbehaving

Question

I am sure some of you may have gathered (from my recent barrage of questions) that I am setting up org-mode on emacs and walking through Brent Hansen's impressive org set up. He is a clocking fanatic, and I like a lot of the stuff he does to track time spent on projects.

I (think) haven't messed up in setting things up, but whenever I try to clock in our out of a task I get an error with a lot of gibberish (reported below). I've tried to see if there are some patterns to how the error emerges but am unable to discover them. They seem to happen pretty often but not all the time which makes debugging them an even bigger pain.

Typically, when I clock out of a task (but sometime when I clock in too), I get a message like this

save-excursion: Wrong number of arguments: #[(drawer pos) "rÂ!
Ã!pq~bÄÅ    ÆQÇ\"$ÈÉ!+" [pos drawer markerp marker-buffer org-in-regexp "^[     ]*:" ":[    ]*
[   ]*:END:[    ]*
?" 2 replace-match ""] 4 ("/Users/krishnan/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20140210/org.elc" . 450779)], 1
[a-z..]:Set [SPC]:clear [2 times]

As always, I am happy to follow up to questions that might help discover the source of the error. I have not been able to discern if it standard practice to include my entire .emacs etc, but am happy to post follow up information as is needed.

Many thanks in advance!

edit 1: Following @iqbal-ansari , I did M-x toggle-debug-on-error which produces the following gunk:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-number-of-arguments #[(drawer pos) "r\302!\203
\303!\202pq\210\212\214~\210b\210\304\305   \306Q\307\"\205$\310\311!+\207" [pos drawer markerp marker-buffer org-in-regexp "^[     ]*:" ":[    ]*
[   ]*:END:[    ]*
?" 2 replace-match ""] 4 ("/Users/krishnan/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20140210/org.elc" . 450779)] 1)
  org-remove-empty-drawer-at(307)
  (save-excursion (beginning-of-line 0) (org-remove-empty-drawer-at (point)))
  bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out()
  #[(f) " \207" [f] 1](bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out)
  mapc(#[(f) " \207" [f] 1] (org-clock-remove-empty-clock-drawer bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out bh/clock-out-maybe))
  byte-code("\306 \204\307\310\"    \311 \210\203\312\313\314\"\210\202\315\316!\210\f\2035\317\320r\321
!q\210@)\322\314\323%\2027A\324B!\322\211\211\211\211\211CDEFGHIAIJ\212\325 q\210\214~\210
b\210\326\327!\210\330\331KP!\203~\332\327!L\232\203~\332\333!H\202\216\203\212\312\313\322\"\210\202\216\334\335!\210\336\225b\210`\337 |\210\340c\210\341M\206\242I\342\343#G\344\345\346\347G!\"!\344\345\346\347H!\"!ZF\350F\351\245!EFE\351_ZF\350F\352\245!DF\211\352_ZF\353\354\355ED#\261\210N\205\364ED\\\336U\211C\203\326\327!\210`\337 |\210\330\356!\203d`TV\203\357\327!\210
\322\211\223\210O\322\211\223\210P\2033\360\361\322\211\211\211\362\363\314!\364Q&\210Q\203@\365Q!\210\322QR\203M\365R!\210\322R\307\310\"  A\203\234\212\366\314!\210\314\322ST\367A!\203\205\330U!\210A\332\333!!\211V\203\201\370V!\210)\202\233A\203\233\330W\331A\371R!\204\233\370A!\210+\311 \210\372\373\374E\352_D\\!\375QGC\203\267\376\202\270\377#\210XEYZ\232\203\335[\201]=\203\335S\203\335\307\201^E\"E\201_\201`E\"\210)\306 ?\205\362\322\211\\.\n\207" [global-mode-string org-frame-title-format-backup frame-title-format fail-quietly switch-to-state org-clock-marker org-clocking-p delq org-mode-line-string force-mode-line-update throw exit t user-error "No active clock" completing-read "Switch to state: " marker-buffer nil "DONE" org-current-time org-clocking-buffer beginning-of-line 1 looking-at "[  ]*" match-string 2 error "Clock start time is gone" 0 point-at-eol "--" org-insert-time-stamp with-hm inactive org-float-time apply encode-time org-parse-time-string floor 3600 60 " => " format "%2d:%02d" "\n" delete-char org-add-log-setup clock-out ...] 10)
  org-clock-out()
  org-clock-out-if-current()
  run-hooks(org-after-todo-state-change-hook)
  byte-code("\306\307!\210\310\311P!\203\312 \210\307\310\n!\203\313\225Sb\210\310\314\315Q!\204)\310\316!\210\304 \317 \304 @\320\216\321\322\323\307\211$*ABBCCDDE\313\232\203X\322E\324\202ZFF\325\326!G\313\224H\327G!I\330IJ\"\211KA@L\331K8M\332K8NG\206\212\333O\307PGQ\235\211RAST\203\303E\334\232\203\255U\335=\204\276E\204\303U\203\303U\335=\204\303\336 \202E\337\232\203\341U\203\324T\204\341\340\341\342\343Q\"\322\307$\202E\344=\203\376G\203\370S\205S@\202Q@\202E\345=\203/RQ\232?\205G\203\"\346QGSG\347#Q8\202Q#\350#!@)\202U\307=\203DE\351\232\203D\322\211E\206E\203\310E\333\232\203T\322\202E\352=\203_\322\202E\353=\203qM\206V@\202E\354=\203\210IW\235A@\206W@\202E\355=\203\246\356W!WIW\235A@\206\242W@)\202EQ\235@\206E;\203\275\357\360E\"\202\361E!SQ8\202R\204\330I\206Q@\202GN\232\203\344\322\202S\204\355\322\202L\362>\203XY=\203S@\202SG\313V\205M\206V@\202S@Z\363\364ZO#\206&Z\211Z\2034\365Z\365Q\2025\365[\366\367\370G\371Z\372
\257\\\322\211]^=\203\230GV\235?_\212\304 @\373\216\212\214~\210\374\375\\\"-\204\230\376\377!\203\201\357\201jGZ`$\210\202\230\201k\201jGZ`$\210\201l\201m\322\"\210\201n\f!\210\201o[\307\211#\210\201pH!\204\276\201k\201q\201r[!\"\210I\204\342\327Z!I\330IJ\"\211KA@L\331K8M\332K8NE\201s>\203\201k\201t\346aG\201u\330Za\"a>G#aG\201v\201w\330Za\"\365#$\210ZV\235?_ZV\235\205,GV\235?^A\203:\201xA!\210D\204DB\203\357F\307=\204\357E\201y>\204\357\330ZD\"A@\206g\347\330GD\"8\211]\324=\203{F\324=\203{\201z]Z\204\205b\203\232Z\203\244Zc\235\203\244Gc\235\204\244\201{\322\211\201|#\210^\203\324B\203\324\201{\201|\201} \"\210]\204\324B\324=\203\324\201~\353ZG\201\324%\210Z\203\357]\203\357\201~\201\200ZG\201]%\210\201\201Z!\210d\203e\204\201\202\322\307\"\210f\203\201\203 \210\201\204\201\205!\210E\203,ZV\235\204,\327Z!I\201\206\317 \201\207 \201\210I$\210^\203a\201\211\201g!\203Z\304 @\201\212\216\201\213 g*\201\214Z!\210\201\215 \203\235n\204\235\212\201\216\326!\210\310h!)\203\235`\347\211\225\206\204\326\225\\W\203\235\347\225\206\220\326\225b\210\310\365!\203\235\201\217 \210i\203\256\212\201\220\201i\\\"\210) \205\264\312 .\207" [org-comment-string commentp org-outline-regexp org-todo-regexp match-data startpos org-back-to-heading t looking-at "^\\*+ " org-toggle-comment 0 " +" "\\( +\\|[  ]*$\\)" "\\(?: *\\|[    ]*$\\)" point-at-bol ((byte-code "\301\302\"\207" [save-match-data-internal set-match-data evaporate] 3)) org-entry-get nil "LOGGING" note match-string 1 org-get-todo-sequence-head assoc 3 4 "" (4) prefix org-fast-todo-selection (4) org-icompleting-read "State: " mapcar list right left - 2 last (4) none done nextset previousset reverse user-error "State `%s' not valid in this file" prefix-numeric-value ...] 10)
  org-todo(nil)
  call-interactively(org-todo)
  org-agenda-todo(nil)
  call-interactively(org-agenda-todo nil nil)

Hmmm . . . gibberish . . . my instinct would be that either there were some characters that did not get copied and pasted correctly when you modified the source code, or there was an error byte-compiling the file. I would delete the *.elc and byte-compile a new one. On one occasion I spent a great deal of time tracking down misbehavior of a semi-related issue, and it turned out that an old version of Emacs existed on my hard-drive and that is what was being used to byte-compile when building from source. — lawlist, Feb 14 '14 at 00:43
Try doing `M-x toggle-debug-on-error` this will post a stacktrace whenever error occurs. This might help you debug the issue also post it here so that so that people may help you better. — , Feb 14 '14 at 16:08
Hey, @iqbalansari, I reproduced the backtrace in an edit above. It looks like a lot of garbage to me — krishnan, Feb 14 '14 at 21:31
Hey @lawlist, I'm not sure what you mean by byte compiling a new org.elc. I'm a super n00b. Any sources you can point me to on what exactly I should do (or a list of steps I should follow?) — krishnan, Feb 14 '14 at 21:32
From a `dired-mode` buffer that displays the directory "/Users/krishnan/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20140210` you would place the cursor on `org.el` and press the capital letter `B` and then confirm `yes`. I recommend manually deleting `org.elc` before you byte-compile a new one. You can also type `M-x byte-compile RET` and then type `/Users/krishnan/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20140210/org.el` — lawlist, Feb 15 '14 at 01:56

score 15 · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-15T12:23:42.090

The issue is caused by the line (org-remove-empty-drawer-at (point)) in the function bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out. If you read the documentation of the function org-remove-empty-drawer-at (do C-hforg-remove-empty-drawer-atRET, it says that the function accepts two arguments drawer and point while the function bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out passes only one argument (point). This causes the error you reported. It seems the code was written for an older version of org-mode.

This is a temporary solution, remove the line

(add-hook 'org-clock-out-hook 'bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out 'append)

from your init file (and restart emacs). This will get rid of the error.

UPDATE

I got (I think) a permanent solution to the problem. The first argument to the function org-remove-empty-drawer-at is the name of the drawer to remove, from Brent Hansen's setup it seems he wants to remove empty 'LOGBOOK' drawers, in this case the modify the function bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out as follows

(defun bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out ()
  (interactive)
  (save-excursion
    (beginning-of-line 0)
    (org-remove-empty-drawer-at "LOGBOOK" (point))))

Note that the argument "LOGBOOK" has been added to the call to function org-remove-empty-drawer-at. Also now you do not need to remove the line

(add-hook 'org-clock-out-hook 'bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out 'append)

from your init file.

Do you know if there's a way to report this to the good Brent Hansen? — krishnan, Feb 16 '14 at 05:29
Hi @krishnan, I am glad I could help! Brent Hansen has his email address at the bottom of this page [http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html] perhaps you can report it via the email address. — , Feb 16 '14 at 05:43

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 11 '16 at 16:36

Faced this issue after updating to Org-mode version 8.3.3 (8.3.3-51-g30bcff-elpa). Before the update, it was already working on my Emacs 24.4 (Linux OS, built from sources), thanks to the answer from user2053036.

Looks like the extra parameter is no longer needed in this version. My working init file now looks like:

(defun bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out ()
   (interactive)
   (save-excursion
     (beginning-of-line 0)
     (org-remove-empty-drawer-at (point))))

(add-hook 'org-clock-out-hook 'bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out 'append)

Had just this problem. (Org-mode version 8.3.4 (8.3.4-9-gfda14f-elpa) and indeed the extra parameter is no longer needed. — FredrikHedman, May 09 '16 at 10:54

org-capture and time clocking misbehaving

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