invalid-read-syntax ". in wrong context"

Bbdb stopped working for me today.
Not sure how to get it to work in the future.

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (invalid-read-syntax ". in wrong context")
  read(#<buffer .bbdb>)
  parse-bbdb-read()
  parse-bbdb-internal()
  bbdb-records()
  bbdb("a" nil)
* call-interactively(bbdb)
  execute-extended-command(nil)
  call-interactively(execute-extended-command)

It seems my .bbdb had been rewitten into a different charset then its
original big5. Had to restore from backup. OK, back on track with
minimal loss.

Tip: never ever allow something to happen to cause (emacs to ask
"unable to save in default charset, try xxx instead?") changing .bbdb
saving charsets.


Emacs  : GNU Emacs 21.3.1 (i386-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw3d scroll bars)
 of 2004-10-17 on raven, modified by Debian
Package: BBDB 2.35

current state:
==============
(setq
 emacs-version "21.3.1"
 bbdb-version-date "$Date: 2004/05/28 14:47:14 $"
 bbdb-file-format 6
 bbdb-no-duplicates-p nil
 bbdb-address-editing-function 'bbdb-address-edit-default
 bbdb-address-formatting-alist '((bbdb-address-is-continental .
                                  bbdb-format-address-continental)
                                 (nil . bbdb-format-address-default))
 bbdb-addresses-label-list '("Home" "Office" "Mobile" "Other")
 bbdb-after-change-hook '(bbdb/gnus-score-invalidate-alist)
 bbdb-after-read-db-hook nil
 bbdb-always-add-addresses 'ask
 bbdb-auto-revert-p nil
 bbdb-canonicalize-net-hook nil
 bbdb-canonicalize-redundant-nets-p t
 bbdb-case-fold-search t
 bbdb-change-hook 'bbdb-timestamp-hook
 bbdb-check-zip-codes-p nil
 bbdb-complete-name-allow-cycling nil
 bbdb-complete-name-hooks nil
 bbdb-completion-display-record t
 bbdb-completion-type nil
 bbdb-continental-zip-regexp "^\\s *[A-Z][A-Z]?\\s *-\\s *[0-9][0-9][0-9]"
 bbdb-create-hook 'bbdb-creation-date-hook
 bbdb-default-area-code nil
 bbdb-default-country "Emacs"
 bbdb-default-domain nil
 bbdb-default-label-list '("Home" "Office" "Mobile" "Other")
 bbdb-define-all-aliases-field 'mail-alias
 bbdb-define-all-aliases-mode 'first
 bbdb-dial-local-prefix nil
 bbdb-dial-local-prefix-alist '(((if (integerp bbdb-default-area-code)
                                  (format "(%03d)"
                                   bbdb-default-area-code)
                                  (or bbdb-default-area-code ""))
                                 "")
                                )
 bbdb-dial-long-distance-prefix nil
 bbdb-display-layout 'multi-line
 bbdb-display-layout-alist '((one-line (order phones mail-alias net
                                        notes)
                              (name-end . 24) (toggle . t))
                             (multi-line (omit creation-date
                                          timestamp)
                              (toggle . t))
                             (pop-up-multi-line) (full-multi-line))
 bbdb-dwim-net-address-allow-redundancy 'netonly
 bbdb-electric-p nil
 bbdb-expand-mail-aliases t
 bbdb-extract-address-component-handler 'message
 bbdb-extract-address-component-ignore-regexp 
"\\(\\(undisclosed\\|unlisted\\)[^,]*recipients\\)\\|no To-header on input"
 bbdb-extract-address-component-regexps
 '(("\"\\([^\"]*\\)\"\\s-*<\\([^>]+\\)>"
    (car
     (mail-extract-address-components
      (concat "\"" (match-string 1 adstring) "\""))
     )
    2) ("\\([^<>,       ][^<>,]+[^<>,   ]\\)\\s-*<\\([^>]+\\)>" 1 2)
   ("<\\([^>,]+\\)>" nil 1)
   ("\\(\\b[^<\",()]+\\b\\)\\s-*(\\([^)]+\\))" (car
                                                
(mail-extract-address-components (concat "\"" (match-string 2 adstring) "\""))) 
1) ("\\b\\(\\([^@       \n.]+\\.[^@     \n.]+\\)@[^@    \n]+\\)\\b" (car 
(mail-extract-address-components (concat "\"" (match-string 2 adstring) "\""))) 
1) ("\\b\\(\\([^@      \n]+\\)@[^@     \n]+\\)\\b" nil 1) ("\\b\\([^@  
\n]+\\)\\b" nil 1))
 bbdb-extract-address-components-func 'bbdb-rfc822-addresses
 bbdb-file "~/.bbdb"
 bbdb-file-remote nil
 bbdb-file-remote-save-always t
 bbdb-finger-buffer-name "*finger*"
 bbdb-finger-host-field 'finger-host
 bbdb-get-addresses-headers '((authors "From" "Resent-From"
                               "Reply-To")
                              (recipients "Resent-To" "Resent-CC" "To"
                               "CC"
                               "BCC")
                              )
 bbdb-get-only-first-address-p t
 bbdb-gui t
 bbdb-hashtable-size 1021
 bbdb-info-file nil
 bbdb-initialize-hook nil
 bbdb-lastname-prefixes '("von" "Von" "de" "De")
 bbdb-legal-zip-codes '("^$"
                        "^[     \n]*[0-9][0-9]?[0-9]?[0-9]?[0-9]?[0-9]?[        
\n]*$" "^[      \n]*\\([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]\\)[    \n]*-?[         
\n]*\\([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]?\\)[        \n]*$" "^[      \n]*\\([A-Za-z0-9]+\\)[ 
        \n]+\\([A-Za-z0-9]+\\)[         \n]*$" "^[      \n]*\\([A-Z]+\\)[       
\n]*-?[         \n]*\\([0-9]+ ?[A-Z]*\\)[       \n]*$" "^[      
\n]*\\([A-Z]+\\)[       \n]*-?[         \n]*\\([0-9]+\\)[       
\n]+\\([0-9]+\\)[       \n]*$")
 bbdb-list-hook nil
 bbdb-load-hook nil
 bbdb-mail-abbrev-expand-hook nil
 bbdb-message-caching-enabled t
 bbdb-message-marker-field 'mark-char
 bbdb-mode-hook nil
 bbdb-modem-device "/dev/modem"
 bbdb-modem-dial nil
 bbdb-multiple-buffers nil
 bbdb-new-nets-always-primary nil
 bbdb-north-american-phone-numbers-p nil
 bbdb-notes-default-separator ", "
 bbdb-notes-sort-order '((notes . 0) (www . 1) (ftp . 2) (gopher . 3)
                         (telnet . 4) (mail-alias . 5) (mail-folder
                                                        . 6)
                         (lpr . 7) (creation-date . 1000) (timestamp . 1001))
 bbdb-notice-auto-save-file nil
 bbdb-notice-hook nil
 bbdb-offer-save 1
 bbdb-phones-label-list '("Home" "Office" "Mobile" "Other")
 bbdb-pop-up-display-layout 'pop-up-multi-line
 bbdb-pop-up-target-lines 5
 bbdb-quiet-about-name-mismatches nil
 bbdb-readonly-p nil
 bbdb-refile-notes-default-merge-function 
'bbdb-refile-notes-default-merge-function
 bbdb-refile-notes-generate-alist '((creation-date .
                                     bbdb-refile-notes-string-least)
                                    (timestamp . bbdb-refile-notes-string-most))
 bbdb-save-db-timeout nil
 bbdb-send-mail-style 'compose-mail
 bbdb-silent-running nil
 bbdb-snarf-web-prop 'www
 bbdb-sound-files nil
 bbdb-sound-player nil
 bbdb-sound-volume 50
 bbdb-time-display-format "%d %b %Y"
 bbdb-update-records-mode 'annotating
 bbdb-use-alternate-names t
 bbdb-use-pop-up nil
 bbdb-user-mail-names nil
 bbdb-write-file-hooks '(bbdb-write-file-hook-fn)
 bbdb/gnus-lines-and-from-length 18
 bbdb/gnus-score-default nil
 bbdb/gnus-score-field 'gnus-score
 bbdb/gnus-split-crosspost-default nil
 bbdb/gnus-split-default-group "mail.misc"
 bbdb/gnus-split-myaddr-regexp 
"^jidanni$\\|^jidanni@\\([-a-z0-9]+\\.\\)*jidanni.org$"
 bbdb/gnus-split-nomatch-function nil
 bbdb/gnus-split-private-field 'gnus-private
 bbdb/gnus-split-public-field 'gnus-public
 bbdb/gnus-summary-in-bbdb-format-letter "b"
 bbdb/gnus-summary-known-poster-mark "+"
 bbdb/gnus-summary-mark-known-posters t
 bbdb/gnus-summary-prefer-bbdb-data t
 bbdb/gnus-summary-prefer-real-names t
 bbdb/gnus-summary-show-bbdb-names t
 bbdb/gnus-summary-user-format-letter "B"
 bbdb/gnus-update-records-mode 'annotating
 bbdb/mail-auto-create-p t
 bbdb/news-auto-create-p nil
 bbdb/vm-set-auto-folder-alist-field 'vm-folder
 bbdb/vm-set-auto-folder-alist-headers '("From:" "To:" "CC:")
 features '(newcomment gnus-msg reporter debug view flyspell nndir
            byte-opt
            bytecomp byte-compile nnml nndraft nnmh bbdb-gnus gnus-art
            mm-uu
            mml2015 pgg pgg-parse pgg-def mm-view gnus-sum gnus-group
            gnus-undo
            nnmail mail-source format-spec bbdb-snarf mail-extr
            bbdb-com nntp
            nnoo bbdb timezone gnus-toggle gnus-start gnus-spec
            gnus-int
            gnus-range message rfc822 mml mml-sec mml-smime smime dig
            mm-decode
            mm-bodies mm-encode mailcap mail-parse rfc2045 rfc2231
            rfc2047 qp
            ietf-drums mailabbrev sendmail mailheader canlock sha1
            executable
            hex-util gnus-win gnus gnus-ems nnheader gnus-util netrc
            time-date
            parse-time mail-utils mm-util mule-util mail-prsvr
            wid-edit ffap
            jka-compr uniquify paren server header advice
            advice-preload
            ibuffer jit-lock font-lock derived easymenu backup-dir
            w3-auto
            bitmap bitmap-ci poem poem-e20 poem-e20_3 pces pces-e20
            pces-20
            broken pcustom poe pym static apel-ver product mmm-auto
            mmm-vars
            mmm-compat regexp-opt cl cl-19 emacs-goodies-el
            emacs-goodies-custom emacs-goodies-loaddefs ispell
            debian-el
            debian-el-loaddefs bbdb-autoloads gnus-init tooltip image
            tool-bar
            disp-table china-util fontset ediff-hook vc-hooks
            lisp-float-type
            lisp-mode page menu-bar timer select scroll-bar mldrag
            mouse
            facemenu faces cus-face frame ucs-tables misc-lang
            vietnamese
            tibetan thai lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian
            slovak czech
            european ethiopic devanagari indian cyrillic chinese
            case-table
            help overlay md5 base64 format mule env backquote custom
            widget
            x-toolkit)
 )

 



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