Installing python server for emacs-jedi

Question

I am trying to install Jedi for emacs using marmalade package manager by following instructions here -- http://tkf.github.io/emacs-jedi/latest/. The package manger installs Jedi along with its dependencies. But I cannot install python server using:

M-x jedi:install-server

because that command is not available even after restarting emacs after jedi installation. The only available commands are:

Possible completions are:
jedi:ac-setup   jedi:complete
jedi:dot-complete   jedi:get-in-function-call
jedi:goto-definition    jedi:goto-definition-next
jedi:goto-definition-pop-marker     jedi:setup
jedi:show-doc   jedi:show-jedi-version
jedi:start-dedicated-server     jedi:stop-server
jedi:toggle-debug-server

My .emacs has the following:

(autoload 'jedi:setup "jedi" nil t)
(add-hook 'python-mode-hook 'jedi:setup)
(setq jedi:complete-on-dot t)

I am using emacs on Mac OS X.

At this current state when I open any python file (I use python 2.7), I see the following appear automatically in the minibuffer:

deferred error : (error Server may raise an error : Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/t_nithyanandan/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-0.1.2/jediepcserver.py", line 302, in <module>
    main()
  File "/Users/t_nithyanandan/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-0.1.2/jediepcserver.py", line 298, in main
    jedi_epc_server(**vars(ns))
  File "/Users/t_nithyanandan/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-0.1.2/jediepcserver.py", line 210, in jedi_epc_server
    import_jedi()
  File "/Users/t_nithyanandan/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-0.1.2/jediepcserver.py", line 249, in import_jedi
    import jedi
ImportError: No module named jedi
)

I tried installing jedi using other methods such as el-get and also manually but those seem to not even go this far. I see that the jedi commands available are even lesser than listed above.

Could someone help point out what I am missing?

Thanks.

Edit: The primary purpose I would like to use Jedi is to use auto-completion features for python programming although I believe Jedi has many powerful features. For such a purpose, is the python server essential or could one work around it? Eventually, of course, I'd like to take advantage of many more features in Jedi.

I have posted my answer below that helped me solve this problem including other minor problems I faced along the way. @Chris, I couldn't upvote your answer because I don't have enough reputation points yet but thanks for pointing me in the right direction of fetching the right emacs-jedi version. — Nithya

Nithya Nithya · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-23T23:33:18

I managed to fix the problem thanks to help from Chris and syohex from emacs-jedi github. Credit goes to them in tracing this to Jedi version.

I am just linking the discussion on emacs-jedi issue #177 and pasting the workaround I found including other problems I encountered along the way.

I was using the Marmalade version which installs a much older version. So I uninstalled jedi and associated dependencies. I set my repository to MELPA and installed a much more recent version of jedi. This made the command

M-x jedi:install-server

available which wasn't the case earlier.

However, issuing that command gave an error

python-environment--make-with-runner: Program named "virtualenv" does not exist.

I made sure I added the location of virtualenv to PATH in my .bashrc. So I looked up emacs-jedi issue #158 which suggests installing exec-path-from-shell. I installed it from MELPA and added the lines

(when (memq window-system '(mac ns))
  (exec-path-from-shell-initialize))

following instructions.

Restarting Emacs with the above lines gave an error:

Symbol's function definition is void: exec-path-from-shell-initialize

So I looked up Autoload issue #3 under exec-path-from-shell development (the link to this can be found in the link for emacs-jedi issue #177). Following one of the solutions, I restarted my computer, uninstalled and reinstalled exec-path-from-shell which magically did solve the problem that existed before the reboot.

Now I checked in emacs if virtualenv could be found using

M-! which virtualenv

It gave the right location.

Then I ran:

M-x jedi:install-server

which now seemed to run without trouble. The first time, there were messages about setting up a default virtual environment under

/Users/XXX/.emacs.d/.python-environments

besides

Running: pip install --upgrade /Users/XXX/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-20140321.1323/...Done

but in subsequent trials only the pip upgrade message was displayed.

Having seen that the server installed without trouble, I closed and restarted Emacs and opened a python script file. When I started editing, I got these messages in the minibuffers:

Error (jedi): Failed to start Jedi EPC server.
*** You may need to run "M-x jedi:install-server". ***
This could solve the problem especially if you haven't run the command yet
since Jedi.el installation or update and if the server complains about
Python module imports.

and

auto-complete error: (error Server may raise an error. Use "M-x epc:pop-to-last-server-process-buffer RET" to see full traceback:
/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python: can't open file '/Users/XXX/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-0.1.2/jediepcserver.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory`
)

Thus, I realized that I have to issue the command:

M-x jedi:install-server

every time I start Emacs before opening any python file. Then I was finally able to see the auto-completion features being available during editing.

Though I can run the above command every time manually, I wanted to automate it from my .emacs whenever Emacs is launched. It turned out that I had the following line in my .emacs

(setq jedi:server-command (list "python" "/Users/XXX/.emacs.d/elpa/jedi-0.1.2/jediepcserver.py"))

Upon removing this line in my .emacs, the problem went away and jedi is functional now.

Installing python server for emacs-jedi

2 Answers

package.el (Marmalade or MELPA)