Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Tassilo Horn]

Hi all,

I use several nntp servers in gnus, for example Gmane and the news
server of my university.  But out of sudden, I have problems with
posting to groups of my university's server.  When I hit `C-c C-c' to
send away the posting, I get the message

  Sending...
  Sending news via Uni using nntp...

and then emacs/gnus hangs forever.  I have to hit `C-g' several times to
make it responsive again.  The posting is sent away anyway and appears
in the newsgroup.

It seems to me that gnus is waiting for some success message coming from
the server, which is not sent by that...

The *nntp-log* buffer has these contents:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
20100706T134611.673 news.uni-koblenz.de POST
20100706T134619.956 news.uni-koblenz.de QUIT
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Well, not to helpful.

Telnetting to the server shows these information:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
% telnet news.uni-koblenz.de 119
Trying 141.26.64.5...
Connected to news.uni-koblenz.de.
Escape character is '^]'.
200 cache.uni-koblenz.de InterNetNews NNRP server INN 2.4.2 ready
(posting ok).
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I use the gnus version that is included in the bzr trunk of emacs:

GNU Emacs 24.0.50.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.20.1) of
2010-07-05 on thinkpad

What might be the culprit?  How can I debug that any further?

Bye,
Tassilo

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Tue, 6 Jul 2010 13:54:49 +0200, Tassilo wrote:

> What might be the culprit?  How can I debug that any further?

I find that a nice way to debug such conversations is ngrep - something
like:

 $ sudo ngrep -Wbyline port nntp

and then trying to post; makes it easy to see what is going on over the
wire.


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "My internal clock is on Tokyo time."                        Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Tassilo Horn]

On Tuesday 06 July 2010 14:05:11 Adam Sjøgren wrote:

Hi Adam,

> > What might be the culprit?  How can I debug that any further?
> 
> I find that a nice way to debug such conversations is ngrep -
> something like:
> 
>  $ sudo ngrep -Wbyline port nntp
> 
> and then trying to post; makes it easy to see what is going on over
> the wire.

Hey, what a cool tool!

Ok, that's the output when sending a posting:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
####
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
...........L3Czn..!..t.....G..*..G'..R.......@.g.3.E.k.9.....@.2.D.j.8.....f.........<./.A.=.5...
...............<................news.uni-koblenz.de......#.......
..........
##
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [A]
....J...F..L3CzS.....v......J.....Mj.ff.... ...zg.....6Tt.M..u.....\n..v ..].3.....R...N..K..f0..b0..J........=d.0...*.H........0..1.0...U....DE1907..U.
.0Regionales Hochschulrechenzentrum Kaiserslautern1.0...U....RHRK-CA - G021 0...*.H........ca@rhrk.uni-kl.de0...071023122007Z..121021122007Z0..1.0...U....DE1.0...U....Rheinland-Pfalz1.0...U....Koblenz1$0"..U.
..Universitaet Koblenz-Landau1301..U...*Gemeinsames Hochschulrechenzentrum Koblenz1.0...U....news.uni-koblenz.de0.."0...*.H.............0..
...........V.......\..Y.v~\.........C-......`O.Q..h...e(.9........3..G.1...T...../.M..........V{P5...MB.....n:.[........]..8W.......h($..N..`g.53..~.5..Pc.&8F......ZI...{.*...dr..:.~......"B.;L..!...#.......J......s..C.\.*R..2;....}...N{\*....J.. 6.F...
....K.o.........0...0...U....0.0...U........0...U.%..0
..+.......0...U........N...&....`...!A.-.0...U.#..0.../...c\..o.....'.o...0...U....0...admin@uni-koblenz.de0}..U...v0t08.6.4.2http://cdp1.pca.dfn.de/rhrk-ca/pub/crl/g_cacrl.crl08.6.4.2http://cdp2.pca.dfn.de/rhrk-ca/pub/crl/g_cacrl.crl0....+..........0..0B..+.....0..6http://cdp1.pca.dfn.de/rhrk-ca/pub/cacert/g_cacert.crt0B..+.....0..6http://cdp2.pca.dfn.de/rhrk-ca/pub/cacert/g_cacert.crt0...*.H.............rE&sk'xmP..Lm..rJ....1.....\AJ..Qu....[.V....A.....s..@>p'...@}........y.Z...S.7..h=.j...D.N.W..d^Y......W..,Z.2..
.[....Z./...O..........{....A..1....[..S=.b`..O.8c....$..0....f..'..-..N..4...Z+..5.f6.%........I.g'.`I. ..%.F.O.
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [A]
.-n....G~.@.Rk.F.S.J...b,......0...0..........
.C50...*.H........0Z1.0...U....DE1.0...U.
.
DFN-Verein1.0...U....DFN-PKI1$0"..U....DFN-Verein PCA Global - G010...070314095134Z..190313000000Z0..1.0...U....DE1907..U.
.0Regionales Hochschulrechenzentrum Kaiserslautern1.0...U....RHRK-CA - G021 0...*.H........ca@rhrk.uni-kl.de0.."0...*.H.............0..
......@C.........t........$#...)Q....Ke.k...Fn..,v\iw........n..Q.g.....eR..s..=.Ev......VCw.ap..A:..iSat^a3>.f6ku{W8...o$.....>SI..6.8.M#.I....r..{.....DCUI....U.......kS....H.K....\.W........Y/....~...nu:{...6."s..O,..!^......o"]$..J{..R...?..5..,Ax4.KIB...E..........0...0...U.......0....0...U........0...U....../...c\..o.....'.o...0...U.#..0...I....=...D{.)..
p>.d0...U....0...ca@rhrk.uni-kl.de0....U.....0~0=.;.9.7http://cdp1.pca.dfn.de/global-root-ca/pub/crl/cacrl.crl0=.;.9.7http://cdp2.pca.dfn.de/global-root-ca/pub/crl/cacrl.crl0....+..........0..0G..+.....0..;http://cdp1.pca.dfn.de/global-root-ca/pub/cacert/cacert.crt0G..+.....0..;http://cdp2.pca.dfn.de/global-root-ca/pub/cacert/cacert.crt0...*.H...............j..\.\J1....NF.)Y.4....L..f+uW..f...:vx."...N."....D{.V!...e.wZ.......qO.h..5.FQ...I.r]..`!..W.\@.N2XU$E/.,..j.....&_...
=....Ab..|j..B.Y...[.oAd.9V.B.I.]H....._.....3..W....J.....8\\kW.......i...h...V.T.1...l..9.-SrZ.....L......K....$.U.@].9z..KF\P.x..O..%0..!0............0...*.H........0q1.0...U....DE1.0...U.
..Deutsche Telekom AG1.0...U....T-TeleSec Trust Center1#0!..U
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
....Deutsche Telekom Root CA 20...061219102900Z..190630235900Z0Z1.0...U....DE1.0...U.
.
DFN-Verein1.0...U....DFN-PKI1$0"..U....DFN-Verein PCA Global - G010.."0...*.H.............0..
........g......T..P5=b.nL....[."t. .4....1........R.(#..t..^[..x.x...(59{-.E....z|.J......\+1.{...$C..8.jh....Ox.....v...&....t.....k.....0O.....b....'0..e`M...#*.5X'.v.q......5.}o3..........]Ak....L..Q...........VVC....=..'0.IT...4.qu.l.....!.'.>.99Hj.................0..0p..U...i0g0e.c.a._http://pki.telesec.de/cgi-bin/service/af_DownloadARL.crl?-crl_format=X_509&-issuer=DT_ROOT_CA_20...U......I....=...D{.)..
p>.d0...U.#..0...1.y...S....z-.l
.+.30...U...........0...U.......0.......0...*.H.............;.Zw.H.......Z...(...Y..p.(.....,..].1..+t......g.9.y;....kx.3~;_&'uSe.3c..s...#I!Pu#......=?3.w ......)@.?s2X..k...l.?..fdV$N..?25.[....rYO....t.V...\...G.S.p..M.i.(.....^..X......Z.h.(>...X...,7W.g.#h.c...k\.KV..@.4...l...
..3r.o..T,.Q...0.Cr.2...Ic........0...0..........&0...*.H........0q1.0...U....DE1.0...U.
..Deutsche Telekom AG1.0...U....T-TeleSec Trust Center1#0!..U....Deutsche Telekom Root CA 20...990709121100Z..190709235900Z0q1.0...U....DE1.0...U.
..Deutsche Telekom AG1.0...U....T-TeleSec Trust Cen
####
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
ter1#0!..U....Deutsche Telekom Root CA 20.."0...*.H.............0..
........5..).....<..9o5]J...a..I.od..`f..@".....x..h...M\:....B@.....Yj.......+%'.i#G...,z.....~4|..<.Y.....2<+.P..........2..HV[j...XX.I_rA<....]..........j-R4.:.\uQ...1..q.2.T.D...U.........I.S...L..Xy..j.B.....h....a.va..|.>...P...
......:}....4..[..j....nJ.......B0@0...U......1.y...S....z-.l
.+.30...U....0.......0...U...........0...*.H..............dY.9d.)...Z...W..$.tw.`.g........|n..=...n.)..z.;T.9.G~.....1Y1.....,.b6U."..U..H.d...6.DxZZ#:W..z0O..jLK+....>....{....r<....Y..E..;..9..2..!a..1!.4../5J.....7!.Yc....1S.T..py...w'u/........6....e..cZ.F...7.A..#....h.Dc.Z..5Y..p...#W..
m.9c(..........VdW..............XNI.. .....6k3l8.E..|...|[-....#.C..[....U..]8.4.|.WC...l.3!,.*.<..)@...|..
r.......)z........
P..F..=f.]A..|..K".&...^.U./x........,1.k.n..e.o!.$.S.I...<.S....o0.rJ@..v[.j..Ke..//.2....%k..8ZAf2.+.ob..rK...0f......ri.[.".!.....9J...(l8S.~..>~.s.HY.Y.).2.+........S@C.1u.|...%(.x
.F.........i...z.........n...1. .lF
...;..q.
?;.y.....c..J=.}..=...>.....$
x#.o...Rx...._.^..<....)..
}.....v.;..j.._yj3.....%./j.(.1]...(..Vs...l.g....D..}#6.........o...||..R....wN...?.q....9......g..j...'N.uV.+.D.F].ggM.........#eI...........
##
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
.........................LIP6...^......~-..t......*...B..../...b.....v.........yU.).......+=.dQP..=..>.U.u...R.t....r..c...Z@V(q..X6.}...*.
##
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
......
##
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
....P...n;..AztZ.u}.*.Z....-Wh#DH}.(......T.$.............b....%w.&...]^\.6....T.)..h
##
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
..........0..P..QX .u.E...k...@.7gw`d.~2<..........n9.n..b.
##
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
....p......O...>.5#..&..F..I.z...c....K...q..Or......W.K[.>/.F..8...RV..#......Y.U....C^F&....g.b.R.a.1.C...m....R..N
##
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
....0...9...1.TdM,........wW........h...dv.}..9.W...n
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
....p...pT.Mk..I.R.g.g
O...........+ .V.e.b..`F........\.d.......E*...{6..5GH......7...3N..m.GNMV..'b.....:....;A.K*.
#
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
....0........6..WE.'.
.4........... K.0....).@.....Y.
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
....0...._.L.....%..".....n%F....7....:..Mp........!e
#
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
......G.|..o.V..^.-/...F']..j...z3f.p.e0..e0......{.3...je.n...W...pi......a.....I.v...&..._.sE.......D_.[...Z:.Vk\;.o..b...<.aB...g!.95f.WD?..N.........w...IY.....~e|(..;@.H..b.l..F.+...|...[)..=.....z
e?M....k...xt....b.sd........K9..../...^8..e..M=!%k..`.........~.2.J~...."
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
.... S.*`......DG....../%i..8.}M....Y
#
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
.......j....wdhB.........w.G..............Ba....q.....M 6!...-..._....J..,M..01H.....$....CN....D.'<.+...n.?@i9..*..*......ghcC..s.. .?..R....aw..bk&
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
....`.h~.....b..1...4....q$.$..>F......a.u..f....E..t.^.......m.........7*..Q..zC.G...n..7`...l.8.h..
#
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
....P.Gn...U=0...N..'x....F......z...?...).^Yd+.=/._+..5.....FV..+.<.yc.n.Srf={...:.............[]6..Iav.a.."x.>?Z\S+p....&........%.w*I.....TP...M.'0.p'...TO.../.. ......].oc...%...q..I..s.[u..[......4=...................=......j..6.CK..`G.sB....s...9..R......>d.....r.H%.j....-...Z......E.7...."\"....$*'......y..~A.....Q.M.P.....&V'T.....Gn.......m..4M.........t......vPm...o..|iAZ...[...c.+..I...\T.....@sw..D....'...^r......l.~C\..uu.*7....Y%........W............o...&..{..u..\.....N.L..\..|.t..&....Iq.m*........~.<.t...s3lB.....Z_8.\Ngm&. yA..=l]Db.'#.X&.},P..D.W.?...D..Y...H..d....S...;....3]........3B.....$......$....U..F[..{.......O.%.H....D.E%[..N.*c.c.Ft.E2}.d.D.....H.d.u....,..y"P...>2~..Q......P...E........^..g...,..rO.s..;.....=mP.m.........C2.5|..9.O....t.......)..R[...?*.2B.'..E...Z....GM,3..sZ..q....5...z ).f.x.....f.}!...%u.%.u*
# ***HERE IT HANGS, THE FOLLOWING IS AFTER A C-g.***
T 141.26.67.142:50445 -> 141.26.64.5:563 [AP]
....`S.Q.<4 ...k1V.UJb.Vo.yB1....]~.K..,R.....q...'_.....}.XD]....AU.....D[...X...VIL..r`.......}Z..C
##
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AP]
....POZT....x&.[+k.C..^.U..d..Zi....}....
.....7..u.#.....a.../ '...E.>."Vp..,.......
#
T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AFP]
.... .X/I.........r...p............M..... .),?....`G...b..p...._..x. ..!W~
###
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

As you can see, you can see nothing, because I use a TLS stream.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
             '(nntp "Uni"
                    (nntp-address "news.uni-koblenz.de")
                    (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
                    (nntp-port-number 563)))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Have a look at the line

# ***HERE IT HANGS, THE FOLLOWING IS AFTER A C-g.***

in the output above.  Then you can see what happens before and after I
hit C-g.

When I don't use TLS, the sending works flawlessly without a hang, and I
get this output:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
#
T 141.26.67.142:53478 -> 141.26.64.5:119 [AP]
POST.

#
T 141.26.64.5:119 -> 141.26.67.142:53478 [AP]
340 Ok, recommended ID <i0vfhd$i3p$1@cache.uni-koblenz.de>.

##
T 141.26.67.142:53478 -> 141.26.64.5:119 [AP]
From: Tassilo Horn <horn@uni-koblenz.de>.
Newsgroups: infko.test.
Subject: Und wieder ein Test.
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:45:00 +0200.
Message-ID: <87hbkc3c0j.fsf@thinkpad.tsdh.de>.
User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.0.50 (gnu/linux).
Cancel-Lock: sha1:WSCCWT+aSTjDhnvZKGfZiCa6ikQ=.
MIME-Version: 1.0.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8.
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit.
.
foo bar.
-- .
Dipl.-Inform. Tassilo Horn                   | Room:  B015.
University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz | Phone: +49 (261) 287-2745.
Institute for Software Technology            | Mail: horn@uni-koblenz.de.
Universit..tsstr. 1, 56070 Koblenz, Germany   |.
..

#
T 141.26.64.5:119 -> 141.26.67.142:53478 [AP]
240 Article posted <87hbkc3c0j.fsf@thinkpad.tsdh.de>.

#
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

In that case, the select method definition is:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
             '(nntp "Uni"
                    (nntp-address "news.uni-koblenz.de")))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

So it seems to be a TLS issue.  Do you see what's wrong?  I have to
admit that except knowing that this only happens with a TLS stream, I
cannot see what's wrong.

I can only say that some weeks ago, it just worked fine, and I didn't
change my gnus setup.

Does anyone use NNTP over a TLS stream and check if that hang can be
reproduced with other servers?

Bye,
Tassilo

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Tue, 6 Jul 2010 17:02:31 +0200, Tassilo wrote:

> T 141.26.64.5:563 -> 141.26.67.142:50445 [AFP]
> .... .X/I.........r...p............M..... .),?....`G...b..p...._..x. ..!W~
> ###

> As you can see, you can see nothing, because I use a TLS stream.

Yeah, that was quite uninteresting.

> When I don't use TLS, the sending works flawlessly without a hang

That's something, at least.

> So it seems to be a TLS issue.  Do you see what's wrong?  I have to
> admit that except knowing that this only happens with a TLS stream, I
> cannot see what's wrong.

Me neither; did you check the certificate (a long shot, but
nonetheless)?

> Does anyone use NNTP over a TLS stream and check if that hang can be
> reproduced with other servers?

TLS works for me, so I don't think it is a general problem.


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "My internal clock is on Tokyo time."                        Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Andreas Schwab]

Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org> writes:

> I can only say that some weeks ago, it just worked fine, and I didn't
> change my gnus setup.

How many weeks ago?  Could it be related to the EOF on ptys bug?

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Tassilo Horn]

On Tuesday 06 July 2010 19:51:32 Andreas Schwab wrote:

Hi Andreas,

> > I can only say that some weeks ago, it just worked fine, and I didn't
> > change my gnus setup.
> 
> How many weeks ago?

Hm, one or two maybe...

> Could it be related to the EOF on ptys bug?

Nope.  I just tried emacs-23.2, and that hangs, too.  So maybe there was
some update on the newsserver side, that causes that issue (either
gnutls or the INN newsserver?).  It would be good to analyze that to
give the computing center a hint...

Bye,
Tassilo

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Tassilo Horn]

On Tuesday 06 July 2010 18:46:55 Adam Sjøgren wrote:

Hi Adam,

> > So it seems to be a TLS issue.  Do you see what's wrong?  I have to
> > admit that except knowing that this only happens with a TLS stream,
> > I cannot see what's wrong.
> 
> Me neither; did you check the certificate (a long shot, but
> nonetheless)?

How would I do that?  And shouldn't an invalid certificate also affect
getting news, not only posting news?

> > Does anyone use NNTP over a TLS stream and check if that hang can be
> > reproduced with other servers?
> 
> TLS works for me, so I don't think it is a general problem.

Hm, seems so.  Could you try our newsserver?  I think it has some groups
you don't need credentials for, and maybe inko.test is in that list, so
that you could try posting something.

Bye,
Tassilo

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Tue, 6 Jul 2010 20:14:10 +0200, Tassilo wrote:

> How would I do that?  And shouldn't an invalid certificate also affect
> getting news, not only posting news?

Maybe, I said it was a long shot, didn't I? :-) There was some
discussion on how to check certificates lately in gmane.discuss:

 * http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.discuss/13165/focus=13196

>> TLS works for me, so I don't think it is a general problem.

> Hm, seems so.  Could you try our newsserver?  I think it has some groups
> you don't need credentials for, and maybe inko.test is in that list, so
> that you could try posting something.

I spoke too soon. It seems that Gnus ignores all the stuff I have put in
gnus-secondary-select-methods and I do not use TLS at all. Hm. I wonder
why.


  Best regards,

     Adam

-- 
 "My internal clock is on Tokyo time."                        Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: Posting to one specific nntp server hangs emacs/gnus

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Tue, 6 Jul 2010 20:14:10 +0200, Tassilo wrote:

> Could you try our newsserver? I think it has some groups you don't
> need credentials for, and maybe inko.test is in that list, so that you
> could try posting something.

I tried in infko.test, but got:

  Sending news via news.uni-koblenz.de using nntp...
  440 Posting not allowed 
  Couldn't send message via news: 440 Posting not allowed 

(using tls, verified with ngrep).


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "My internal clock is on Tokyo time."                        Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk