* lisp/startup.el (command-line): If simple.el is missing,

test and warn about for some possible causes.

2 files changed, 18 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index 538206ae9d0..0be77ed6737 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2013-02-06  Glenn Morris  <rgm@gnu.org>
+
+        * startup.el (command-line): If simple.el is missing,
+        test and warn about for some possible causes.
+
 2013-02-05  Jan Djärv  <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>
 
         * cus-start.el (all): Add ns-use-native-fullscreen.
diff --git a/lisp/startup.el b/lisp/startup.el
index 5406c0f6513..741c5aa9b46 100644
--- a/lisp/startup.el
+++ b/lisp/startup.el
@@ -770,11 +770,20 @@ Amongst another things, it parses the command-line arguments."
          (locate-file "simple" load-path (get-load-suffixes)))
         lisp-dir)
     ;; Don't abort if simple.el cannot be found, but print a warning.
+    ;; Although in most usage we are going to cryptically abort a moment
+    ;; later anyway, due to missing required bidi data files (eg bug#13430).
     (if (null simple-file-name)
-        (progn
-          (princ "Warning: Could not find simple.el nor simple.elc"
-                 'external-debugging-output)
-          (terpri 'external-debugging-output))
+        (let ((standard-output 'external-debugging-output)
+              (lispdir (expand-file-name "../lisp" data-directory)))
+          (princ "Warning: Could not find simple.el or simple.elc")
+          (terpri)
+          (when (getenv "EMACSLOADPATH")
+            (princ "The EMACSLOADPATH environment variable is set, \
+please check its value")
+            (terpri))
+          (unless (file-readable-p lispdir)
+            (princ (format "Lisp directory %s not readable?" lispdir))
+            (terpri)))
       (setq lisp-dir (file-truename (file-name-directory simple-file-name)))
       (setq load-history
             (mapcar (lambda (elt)