Wrong number of arguments: #[(start end)

[Leonid Petrov]

Dear tramp-guru,

  I am running tramp-2.0.38 from HP-UX 11.00 with Emacs 20.7. I need to work
on two remote hosts. Let's call one host "good", another "bad". 
I can read and write remote files on a remote host "good", and I can 
only read files on a remote host "bad". In an attempt to write a file 
to remote host "bad" I see the message:

Wrong number of arguments: #[(start end). 

After that failure remote file has zero length. :-(

Command for accessing a file on "bad" host:
/ssh:address@hidden:/tmp/6.6

Command for accessing a file on "good" host

/ssh:address@hidden:/tmp/6.6

Here is the copy of the Message buffer:


address@hidden's password: ...
address@hidden's password: ...........
tramp: Found remote shell prompt.
tramp: Initializing remote shell
tramp: Waiting 30s for remote `/bin/sh' to come up...
tramp: Setting up remote shell environment
tramp: Determining coding system
Loading mule-util...
Loading mule-util...done
tramp: Waiting 30s for `HISTFILE=$HOME/.tramp_history; HISTSIZE=1'
tramp: Waiting 30s for `set +o vi +o emacs'
tramp: Waiting 30s for `unset MAIL MAILCHECK MAILPATH'
tramp: Waiting 30s for `unset CDPATH'
tramp: Setting shell prompt
tramp: Remote `/bin/sh' groks tilde expansion, good
tramp: Finding command to check if file exists
tramp: Finding a suitable `ls' command
tramp: Checking remote `/bin/ls' command for `-n' option
tramp: Testing remote command `/bin/ls' for -n...
tramp: Testing remote command `/bin/ls' for -n...okay
tramp: Using remote command `/bin/ls' for getting directory listings
tramp: Sending the Perl `file-attributes' implementation.
tramp: Sending the Perl `mime-encode' implementations.
tramp: Sending the Perl `mime-decode' implementations.
tramp: Checking remote encoding command `mimencode -b' for sanity
tramp: Checking remote encoding command `mmencode -b' for sanity
tramp: Checking remote encoding command `recode data..base64' for sanity
tramp: Checking remote encoding command `uuencode xxx' for sanity
tramp: Checking remote decoding command `uudecode -o -' for sanity
tramp: Checking to see if encoding/decoding commands work on remote host...
tramp: Checking to see if encoding/decoding commands work on remote host...done
(New file)
Loading nroff-mode...
Loading nroff-mode...done
tramp: Encoding region...
tramp: Encoding region using function...
Loading tramp-uu (source)...
Loading tramp-uu (source)...done
Wrong number of arguments: #[(start end) "фг

... Hexidecminal code removed ...

[base64-alphabet inputpos alphabet bits cols counter message "Encoding 
base64..." nil 0] 8 nil "r"], 3


--->

  I have compared buffer Messages when I access to "good" and "bad" host.
The difference is that there are no teh following lines in Messages when 
a good" host is accessed:
tramp: Checking remote encoding command `recode data..base64' for sanity
tramp: Checking remote encoding command `uuencode xxx' for sanity
tramp: Checking remote decoding command `uudecode -o -' for sanity

  So, I draw a conclusion that "bad" host did not pass `mimencode -b' 
sanity test. Both remote hosts run Linux. But the bad host does not 
have mimnecode and/or mmencode installed in a system directory. Since 
I do not have root access to "bad" host, I copied statically linked
executable mimencode to my home directory at "bad" host. Made a symlink
to mmencode. Did not help. Then I modified tramp-remote-path and added to 
the end the hard-coded name of my home directory. Recompiled tramp.el. Did not
help. 

 I have checked perl and mimencode on both hosts
bad> uname -a
Linux cddis1 2.4.21-9.0.1.ELsmp #1 SMP Mon Feb 9 22:26:51 EST 2004 i686 i686 
i386 GNU/Linux
bad>  perl --version

This is perl, v5.8.0 built for i386-linux-thread-multi
bad> echo "Perl check" > /tmp/p.1
bad> perl -MMIME::Base64 -0777 -ne 'print encode_base64($_)' /tmp/p.1
UGVybCBjaGVjawo=
bad> mimencode /tmp/p.1
UGVybCBjaGVjawo=
bad> mmencode /tmp/p.1
UGVybCBjaGVjawo=


good> uname -a
good> Linux pethome 2.4.23-rc4 #17 Thu Dec 18 23:15:41 EST 2003 i686 unknown
good> echo "Perl check" > /tmp/p.1

This is perl, v5.8.0 built for i686-linux
good> echo "Perl check" > /tmp/p.1
good> perl -MMIME::Base64 -0777 -ne 'print encode_base64($_)' /tmp/p.1
UGVybCBjaGVjawo=
good> mimencode /tmp/p.1
UGVybCBjaGVjawo=
good> mmencode /tmp/p.1
UGVybCBjaGVjawo=

  Now, I am exhausted. What else should I check?

Leonid