org-super-agenda-keep-order breaks for auto groups

[chasecaleb]

Using (setq org-super-agenda-keep-order t), introduced recently by !167, causes a backtrace with :auto-category or :auto-parent. I didn't test other :auto-* groups, but I'm guessing it's likely to be the case for all of them.

Example agenda view:

(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      '(("nc" "Next: category" todo ""
         ((org-super-agenda-groups
           `((:auto-category t)))))))

Resulting backtrace when attempting to view it via C-c a n c (some sensitive data replaced with <redacted>):

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument buffer-or-string-p (:name "Category: work" :items ...))
  org-entries-lessp((:name "Category: work" :items ...) (:name "Category: prof..." :items ...))
  org-super-agenda--group-items((... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...))
  org-super-agenda--filter-finalize-entries(#(<redacted>))
  org-agenda-finalize-entries((... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...) todo)
  org-todo-list("")
  #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0xf90fd689e6a624d>)()
  funcall(#f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0xf90fd689e6a624d>))
  (let ((org-super-agenda-groups '((:auto-category t)))) (funcall '#f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0xf90fd689e6a624d>)))
  eval((let ((org-super-agenda-groups '((:auto-category t)))) (funcall '#f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0xf90fd689e6a624d>))))
  org-agenda(nil)
  funcall-interactively(org-agenda nil)
  command-execute(org-agenda)

I don't think that this has anything to do with my org files or other config, but let me know if you need more info and I can provide it.

---

Context:

• No problems when org-super-agenda-keep-order is not enabled
• org-super-agenda version: current master HEAD - commit fb5e2ef
• org version: current bugfix HEAD - commit http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git/commit/?id=73875939a
• Emacs version: 28.0.50, master HEAD as of about a day ago - commit emacs-mirror/emacs@9a5a35c5a6

[alphapapa]

Thanks for reporting.

@Alexander-Miller Would you be able to take a look at this?

[Alexander-Miller]

Will do.

[Alexander-Miller]

Sorry for the late response, I had the grand idea to first work through whatever came up for my own packages before coming back to this bug ...

Anyway, I have a diagnosis, so now it is time to discuss the treatment. The problem is that due to the :auto-something selector you don't have a list of agenda entries that you can simply re-sort, but a list of lists - entries grouped by their parents, category etc.

There's 2 fixes I see:

1. Check the super-agenda-groups for the presence of an :auto-* selector and if you find one re-sort every sublist individually. That's the technically correct, but more complex option. I also assume that the nesting won't go deeper than 1 level, otherwise it gets even more complex.
2. Just don't do it. Only sort if you have a list of strings and document that keeping order won't work for :auto-* selectors. That's the path of least resistance and complexity, though someone might ask for option 1 later on (not me, I'm ok with this option)

I'm fine building either fix - what do you think @alphapapa ?

[chasecaleb]

1. Check the super-agenda-groups for the presence of an :auto-* selector and if you find one re-sort every sublist individually. That's the technically correct, but more complex option. I also assume that the nesting won't go deeper than 1 level, otherwise it gets even more complex.

What about doing this recursively? That way it wouldn't be limited to just one level. I think that would be ideal if so.

[chasecaleb]

Hi @Alexander-Miller, are you still interested in fixing this or should someone else work on it?

[Alexander-Miller]

It's still on the agenda somewhere. I've just haven't been able to dedicate enough time to it since I'm struggling to fight off all the other issues that keep piling on day by day. But I do plan to have a go at this eventually.

[chasecaleb]

Understandable, thanks for the reply! If I get some spare time to prioritize it I'll try to work on this, but I'm in the same boat as you.

[AndreaOrru]

Is there any plan to fix this? Right now I'm just defining explicity groups instead of auto.

[alphapapa]

Yes, it is intended to be fixed when time permits.

@Alexander-Miller I'm guessing that recursively sorting the auto-grouped lists should work well enough, if you're still interested in implementing that.

[Alexander-Miller]

@alphapapa
I am. I'll give it another go in the coming days.

[Alexander-Miller]

PR is up, recursive sorting seems to do the trick. Let me know if anything's amiss.

[alphapapa]

It's past time to tag a stable release of v1.3, which has several changes already, so I'm targeting this for v1.4.