For several months now I have been getting the error "File mode
specification error: (error Before first heading)" when I open some of
my Org files. [After the error message, the file opens just fine and Org
works normally.]
What distinguishes the Org files that do not suffer from this problem
from those that do is that they have a headline in the first line of
the file.
A fairly minimal recipe:
1. $ cat > ~/temp-org-test.org
An introduction.
* A Headline
Some text.
** Sub-Topic 1
** Sub-Topic 2
*** Additional entry
^D
2. $ emacs &
3. Visit ~/temp-org-test.org
At this point the error message "File mode specification error: (error
Before first heading)" is displayed.
Note: This test file is from
http://orgmode.org/worg/dev/org-syntax.html.
Setting debug-on-error, I get the following backtrace:
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Before first heading")
signal(error ("Before first heading"))
error("Before first heading")
outline-back-to-heading()
outline-flag-subtree(t)
hide-subtree()
(save-excursion (goto-char (point-min)) (hide-subtree) (show-children
keep-levels) (condition-case err (while (outline-get-next-sibling)
(hide-subtree) (show-children keep-levels)) (error nil)))
outline-hide-sublevels(1)
org-overview()
org-content()
org-set-startup-visibility()
org-mode()
set-auto-mode-0(org-mode nil)
set-auto-mode()
normal-mode(t)
after-find-file(nil t)
find-file-noselect-1(#<buffer temp-org-test.org> "~/temp-org-test.org"
nil nil "~/temp-org-test.org" (801256 64773))
find-file-noselect("/home/nlj/temp-org-test.org" nil nil nil)
find-file("/home/nlj/temp-org-test.org")
On the other hand, if I edit the test file and add a headline on the
first line of the file, for example
* COMMENT This is dummy headline
then the error does not occur. Of course, this seems a rather ugly
work-around.
Emacs : GNU Emacs 25.0.92.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.18.9)
of 2016-04-18
Package: Org-mode version 8.3.4 (8.3.4-39-ge0acd8-elpa @
/home/nlj/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20160418/)
current state:
==============
(setq
org-export-backends '(ascii beamer html icalendar latex odt)
org-tab-first-hook '(org-hide-block-toggle-maybe
org-babel-hide-result-toggle-maybe
org-babel-header-arg-expand)
outline-minor-mode-hook '(outshine-hook-function)
org-speed-command-hook '(org-speed-command-default-hook
org-babel-speed-command-hook)
org-reverse-note-order t
org-occur-hook '(org-first-headline-recenter)
org-checkbox-hierarchical-statistics nil
org-metaup-hook '(org-babel-load-in-session-maybe)
org-agenda-start-on-weekday nil
org-log-done t
org-format-latex-options '(:foreground default :background default :scale 1.5
:html-foreground "Black" :html-background
"Transparent"
:html-scale 1.0 :matchers ("begin" "$1" "$" "$$"
"\\(" "\\["))
org-confirm-shell-link-function 'yes-or-no-p
org-finalize-agenda-hook '(nlj-agenda-to-appt)
org-startup-folded 'content
org-file-apps '((auto-mode . emacs) ("\\.mm\\'" . default) ("\\.x?html?\\'" .
default)
("\\.pdf\\'" . "evince %s"))
org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-done t
org-support-shift-select 'always
org-default-notes-file "/data/org//notes.org"
org-capture-templates '(("t" "Todo" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory
"/organiser.org") "Todos")
"* TODO %?\n:LOGBOOK:\n CREATED: %U\n:END:\n%i\n"
:prepend t
:kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1)
("e" "Event" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory
"/organiser.org") "Events")
"* %?\n:LOGBOOK:\n CREATED: %U\n:END:\n%i\n"
:kill-buffer t
:empty-lines 1)
("a" "Appointment" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory "/organiser.org")
"Appointments")
"* APPT %?\n:LOGBOOK:\n CREATED: %U\n:END:\n%i\n"
:kill-buffer t
:empty-lines 1)
("l" "Log" plain (file (concat org-directory
"/log.org"))
"* %U\n\n%?\n%i\n" :kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1
:clock-in t
:clock-resume t)
("n" "Note" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory "/notes.org")
"Notes")
"* %^{Enter Note Title} %^g\n :PROPERTIES:\n
:Created: %U\n :END:\n\n%?\n%i\n" :kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1 :clock-in t
:clock-resume t)
("o" "Old-style Dated Note" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory "/notes.org")
"Dated Notes")
"* %U\n%?\n%i\n" :kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1
:clock-in t
:clock-resume t)
("j" "Journal" entry
(file+datetree (concat org-directory "/journal.org"))
"* %U\n%?\n%i\n" :kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1
:clock-in t
:clock-resume t)
("w" "Work caputres")
("wt" "Work – Miscellaneous Todo" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory "/work.org")
"Miscellaneous Tasks")
"* TODO %?\n:LOGBOOK:\n CREATED: %U\n:END:\n%i\n"
:prepend t
:kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1 :clock-in t
:clock-resume t)
("wm" "Work – Meeting Appointment" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory "/work.org")
"Meetings")
"* MTNG %?\n:LOGBOOK:\n CREATED: %U\n:END:\n%i\n"
:kill-buffer t
:empty-lines 1 :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
("wn" "Work – Note" entry
(file+headline (concat org-directory "/work.org")
"Notes")
"* %U\n%?\n%i\n" :kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1
:clock-in t
:clock-resume t)
("c" "Capture" plain (file (concat org-directory
"/notes.org"))
"%U\n Context: %a\nCapture: %i\nComments: %?\n"
:prepend t
:kill-buffer t :empty-lines 1)
)
org-after-todo-state-change-hook '(org-clock-out-if-current)
org-from-is-user-regexp "\\<REDACTED\\>"
org-src-mode-hook '(org-src-babel-configure-edit-buffer
org-src-mode-configure-edit-buffer)
org-agenda-before-write-hook '(org-agenda-add-entry-text)
org-babel-pre-tangle-hook '(save-buffer)
org-mode-hook '(navi-make-org-mode-promotion-headings-list turn-on-font-lock
#[nil "\300\301\302\303\304$\207"
[org-add-hook change-major-mode-hook org-show-block-all
append local] 5]
#[nil "\300\301\302\303\304$\207"
[org-add-hook change-major-mode-hook
org-babel-show-result-all append
local]
5]
org-babel-result-hide-spec org-babel-hide-all-hashes)
org-refile-targets '((org-agenda-files :maxlevel . 5))
org-archive-hook '(org-attach-archive-delete-maybe)
org-replace-disputed-keys t
org-clock-persist t
org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c-hook '(org-babel-hash-at-point
org-babel-execute-safely-maybe)
org-directory "/data/org/"
org-cycle-hook '(org-cycle-hide-archived-subtrees org-cycle-hide-drawers
org-cycle-show-empty-lines
org-optimize-window-after-visibility-change)
org-agenda-finalize-hook '(nlj-agenda-to-appt)
org-agenda-ndays 7
org-catch-invisible-edits 'show
org-deadline-warning-days 21
org-confirm-elisp-link-function 'yes-or-no-p
org-metadown-hook '(org-babel-pop-to-session-maybe)
org-log-into-drawer t
org-contacts-icon-use-gravatar nil
org-agenda-skip-deadline-if-done t
org-hierarchical-todo-statistics nil
org-agenda-files '("/data/org/contacts.org" "REDACTED"
"/data/org//organiser.org" "/data/org//log-and-centre.org"
"/data/org//log.org" "/data/org//journal.org"
"/data/org//roles-and-goals.org"
"/data/org//org-usage-notes.org")
org-clock-out-hook '(org-clock-remove-empty-clock-drawer)
org-archive-save-context-info '(time file category todo itags olpath ltags)
)
