Two instances of ColorDelegator are in the percolator chain. This is a regression from 2.x.

The problem can be found in __init__ of EditorWindow in EditorWindow.py.

Calling "io.loadfile" eventually calls "filename_change_hook" (See IOBinding.py's "set_filename"). The "filename_change_hook" calls "ResetColorizer" which brings up an instance of ColorDelegator. Then, the self.color reference is overwritten by a new ColorDelegator instance and added to the percolator chain.

The attached patch fixes the problem.

I attached a better patch that preserves the goals of the original code while not creating two color delegators.

I traced down when the regression occurred (2007-09-06):
(a4bd8a4805a8) 1. Fail gracefully if the file fails to decode when loaded.

This patch (2008-02-16) modified parts of the last patch, as well adds "ResetColorizer" to the filename_change_hook.
(7c4c46342137) Merged revisions 60481,60485,60489-60492,60494-60496,60498-60499,60501-60503,605

There was another regression introduced by (a4bd8a4805a8). IDLE 3 no longer allows for editing of new files from the command line. 

For example:

   idle -e /tmp/newfile.py 

will momentarily flash an editor window before it is closed. This is due to "good_load" not being set. What's worse is that the IDLE process will continue running without having any visible windows open. 

The rev2 patch removes the "good_load" flag and fixes the ColorDelegator issue.

I understand the purpose of the original code is to avoid displaying a blank editor in case of a decode error. The rev2 patch reintroduces this behavior. In my opinion, that behavior is not a serious problem.

If you are saying that it is better to open a blank window than to not open a filled window, I agree.

I will split the "good_load" flag bug into its own issue.

While addressing a bug in #5492, another doubled-up ColorDelegator problem appeared, tracing back to #1586.

The dual_delagators patch removes the code which loads the extra color delegators as well as ensures that ResetColorizer loads a color delegator since ispythonsource() now always returns True in a PyShell instance.

New changeset fef7f212fe76 by Roger Serwy in branch '3.3':
#13495: Avoid loading the color delegator twice in IDLE.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/fef7f212fe76

New changeset 588fcf36c975 by Roger Serwy in branch 'default':
#13495: merge with 3.3.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/588fcf36c975

I'm closing this issue as fixed.