I've been getting the same problem with version .36-.38. I comment out lines 213 & 214 out of auto-save.el ( ;; (make-directory dir) ;; (set-file-modes dir #o700) ) and then xemacs compiles fine, however, autosave does not work. The value of `auto-save-directory-fallback' is "\\\\.autosave\\" at runtime. Loading c:\SRC2\XEMACS\XEMACS-21.0-B38\lisp\auto-save.elc...*** Error in XEmacs initialization (file-error "Creating directory" "No such file or directory" "\\\\.autosave") *** Backtrace really-early-error-handler((file-error "Creating directory" "No such file or d irectory" "\\\\.autosave")) make-directory-internal("\\\\.autosave") # bind (handler parents dir) make-directory("\\\\.autosave") # bind (dir var) auto-save-check-directory(auto-save-directory-fallback) mapc(auto-save-check-directory (auto-save-directory auto-save-directory-fallba ck)) byte-code("..." [mapc auto-save-check-directory (auto-save-directory auto-save -directory-fallback) auto-save-hash-p auto-save-hash-directory] 3) # bind (current-load-list) # (unwind-protect ...) # bind (load-file-name) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) load("c:\\SRC2\\XEMACS\\XEMACS-21.0-B38\\lisp\\auto-save.elc") (prog1 (load full-path) (garbage-collect)) ) (if full-path (prog1 (load full-path) (garbage-collect)) (external-debugging-o utput (format "\nLoad file %s: not found\n" file)) nil) ) # bind (full-path) (let ((full-path ...)) (if full-path (prog1 ... ...) (external-debugging-outpu t ...) nil)) ) # bind (file) pureload("auto-save") (or (pureload file) (progn (external-debugging-output "Fatal error during load , aborting") (kill-emacs 1))) ) (while (setq file (car files)) (or (pureload file) (progn ... ...)) (setq file s (cdr files))) ) # bind (file files) (let ((files preloaded-file-list) file) (while (setq file ...) (or ... ...) (s etq files ...)) (if (not ...) (progn ... ...)) (fmakunbound (quote pureload))) ) (lambda nil (setq load-path (decode-path-internal ...)) (external-debugging-ou tput (format "\nUsing load-path %s" load-path)) (buffer-disable-undo (get-buffer "*scratch*")) (let (...) (setq source-directory temp-path) (setq load-path ...) ) (setq load-warn-when-source-newer t load-warn-when-source-only t) (defun purel oad (file) (let ... ...)) (load (concat default-directory "../lisp/dumped-lisp.e l")) (let (... file) (while ... ... ...) (if ... ...) (fmakunbound ...)) (packag es-load-package-dumped-lisps late-package-load-path))() # (unwind-protect ...) call-with-condition-handler(really-early-error-handler (lambda nil (setq load- path (decode-path-internal ...)) (external-debugging-output (format "\nUsing loa d-path %s" load-path)) (buffer-disable-undo (get-buffer "*scratch*")) (let (...) (setq source-directory temp-path) (setq load-path ...)) (setq load-warn-when-so urce-newer t load-warn-when-source-only t) (defun pureload (file) (let ... ...)) (load (concat default-directory "../lisp/dumped-lisp.el")) (let (... file) (whi le ... ... ...) (if ... ...) (fmakunbound ...)) (packages-load-package-dumped-li sps late-package-load-path))) # bind (current-load-list) # (unwind-protect ...) # bind (load-file-name) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) load("..\\src\\..\\lisp\\loadup.el") # (condition-case ... . error) # (catch top-level ...) *** Killing XEmacs cd ..\nt