How to use Emacs desktop functionality with emacs daemon + emacsclient instances?
I've enabled (desktop-save-mode 1) in my init file, and when I start the daemon I see messages like this:
Desktop: 1 frame, 2 buffers restored.
However, it does not restart any of emacsclient instances I have. When I start an emacsclient instance it's blank.
Is there a way to restore the desktop manually once I open a new emacsclient instance? Or is there a way to make this work another way?
I suspect you have unremoved desktop lockfiles, which will usually be in your config dir/folder, which is hopefully ~/.emacs.d/. Here's a procedure for testing my hypothesis from a commandline (e.g. a Bash shell running in a terminal app under Linux):
Ensure you have no emacs* processes running: i.e., there should be null response to
pgrep -l emacs
If you do get a response, like
$ pgrep -l emacs
29422 emacs
you will need to manually close your Emacsen, or brutally kill them with (e.g.)
pkill -9 emacs
Check for desktop lockfiles in your config dir with, e.g.,
find ~/.emacs.d/ -name '*lock*'
If there is null response to the 2nd commandline && my hypothesis is correct, you should be able to start Emacs and see your desktop (i.e., all those buffers will be auto-open'ed). Note the preferred way to start both a fresh daemon and client is either
# create a GUI frame
emacsclient --alternate-editor '' --create-frame &
or
# start a TUI Emacs in current terminal
emacsclient --alternate-editor '' --tty
If there is not a null response to the 2nd commandline--i.e., you get something like
$ find ~/.emacs.d/ -name '*lock*'
/home/you/.emacs.d/.emacs.desktop.lock
in your shell, then delete those lockfiles, e.g.
find ~/.emacs.d/ -name '*lock*' | xargs rm
Then rerun
find ~/.emacs.d/ -name '*lock*'
until you get a null response, then retest my hypothesis. (I.e., start a fresh Emacs--if you see your desktop buffers, I'm correct, else I'm not.)
