"(wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))" when opening group

"(wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))" when opening group

[Steinar Bang]

Platform: Intel Pentium M,
	  Ubuntu Dapper,
	  emacs21 21.4a-3ubuntu2
	  No Gnus v0.6 (CVS update from today)

When trying to enter groups on the primary nntp server I get the
message 
  (wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))
in the minibuffer, and Gnus fails to enter the group.

I see from ethereal that the group returns quite a few "423 Bad
article number" (cancelled spam?).  Is that the problem?

Stack trace on the error below.  If someone tell me which file to load
the .el version of, I'll get more detail.


- Steinar

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))
  nnheader-insert-nov([26771 "Re: GJ" "\"Per Svein Moland\" <fornavn.mellomnavn.etternavn@adsl.no>" "Tue, 26 Dec 2006 20:59:18 +0100" "<45917f09$1@proxy.mimer.no>" "<458e0c5d@news.broadpark.no> <_uWdnfKqUq8D2RPYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <_6OdnfymleNUiBLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <ja2dneTGT6WvMhLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com>" -1 27 "news.prioris.net no.alt.motorsykler:26771" ((Id nil nil) (Ip nil) (Queue))])
  mapc(nnheader-insert-nov ([26771 "Re: GJ" "\"Per Svein Moland\" <fornavn.mellomnavn.etternavn@adsl.no>" "Tue, 26 Dec 2006 20:59:18 +0100" "<45917f09$1@proxy.mimer.no>" "<458e0c5d@news.broadpark.no> <_uWdnfKqUq8D2RPYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <_6OdnfymleNUiBLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <ja2dneTGT6WvMhLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com>" -1 27 "news.prioris.net no.alt.motorsykler:26771" (... ... ...)] [26773 "Re: Hydraulisk bremsebryter" "\"Roger Aspegren\" <rh-aspeg@fris.spamd\x8f8\ den.urf.no.invalid>" "Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:18:37 +0100" "<QqCdnXQTMoI0DAzYRVnzvQ@telenor.com>" "<Xns98A2678F24F55erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <cp-dnafhDYp8ZhHYRVnzvA@telenor.com> <Xns98A2718F1A83Ferlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <KdCdndyap5GamBDYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <Xns98A368CD52DC6erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <tqOdnb5vfNo0iBLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <Xns98A4DF82A86D5erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <Xns98A594B09E666erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146>" -1 14 "news.prioris.net no.alt.motorsykler:26773" (... ... ...)] [26774 "Re: GJ" "\"Roger Aspegren\" <rh-aspeg@fris.spamd\x8f8\ den.urf.no.invalid>" "Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:20:41 +0100" "<CpSdnV5Qye-5DwzYRVnzvA@telenor.com>" "<458e0c5d@news.broadpark.no> <_uWdnfKqUq8D2RPYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <_6OdnfymleNUiBLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <ja2dneTGT6WvMhLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <45917f09$1@proxy.mimer.no>" -1 21 "news.prioris.net no.alt.motorsykler:26774" (... ... ...)] [26775 "Re: Hydraulisk bremsebryter" "\"Roger Aspegren\" <rh-aspeg@fris.spamd\x8f8\ den.urf.no.invalid>" "Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:21:20 +0100" "<UZSdnY09ZrjWDwzYRVnzvA@telenor.com>" "<Xns98A2678F24F55erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <cp-dnafhDYp8ZhHYRVnzvA@telenor.com> <Xns98A2718F1A83Ferlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <KdCdndyap5GamBDYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <Xns98A368CD52DC6erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <tqOdnb5vfNo0iBLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <Xns98A4DF82A86D5erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <Xns98A594B09E666erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <QqCdnXQTMoI0DAzYRVnzvQ@telenor.com>" -1 17 "news.prioris.net no.alt.motorsykler:26775" (... ... ...)] [26778 "Re: Hydraulisk bremsebryter" "Erlend Meyer <\"mitt\".\"navn\"@gmail.com>" "Tue, 26 Dec 2006 20:52:15 -0600" "<Xns98A628097BEF3erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146>" "<Xns98A2678F24F55erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <cp-dnafhDYp8ZhHYRVnzvA@telenor.com> <Xns98A2718F1A83Ferlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <KdCdndyap5GamBDYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <Xns98A368CD52DC6erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <tqOdnb5vfNo0iBLYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <Xns98A4DF82A86D5erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <Xns98A594B09E666erlendmeyer@216.196.109.146> <QqCdnXQTMoI0DAzYRVnzvQ@telenor.com> <UZSdnY09ZrjWDwzYRVnzvA@telenor.com>" -1 16 "news.prioris.net no.alt.motorsykler:26778" (... ... ...)]))
  nnvirtual-convert-headers()
  gnus-agent-retrieve-headers((26768 26769 26770 26771 26772 26773 26774 26775 26776 26777 26778 26779 26780 26781 26782 26783 26784 26785) "no.alt.motorsykler" nil)
  gnus-retrieve-headers((26768 26769 26770 26771 26772 26773 26774 26775 26776 26777 26778 26779 26780 26781 26782 26783 26784 26785) "no.alt.motorsykler" nil)
  gnus-cache-retrieve-headers((26768 26769 26770 26771 26772 26773 26774 26775 26776 26777 26778 26779 26780 26781 26782 26783 26784 26785) "no.alt.motorsykler" nil)
  gnus-retrieve-headers((26768 26769 26770 26771 26772 26773 26774 26775 26776 26777 26778 26779 26780 26781 26782 26783 26784 26785) "no.alt.motorsykler" nil)
  gnus-fetch-headers((26768 26769 26770 26771 26772 26773 26774 26775 26776 26777 26778 26779 26780 26781 26782 26783 26784 26785))
  gnus-select-newsgroup("no.alt.motorsykler" 18 nil)
  gnus-summary-read-group-1("no.alt.motorsykler" 18 t nil nil nil)
  gnus-summary-read-group("no.alt.motorsykler" 18 t nil nil nil nil)
  gnus-group-read-group(18 t)
  gnus-group-select-group(18)
  gnus-topic-select-group(18)
* call-interactively(gnus-topic-select-group)

Re: "(wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))" when opening group

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no>:

> Platform: Intel Pentium M,
> 	  Ubuntu Dapper,
> 	  emacs21 21.4a-3ubuntu2
> 	  No Gnus v0.6 (CVS update from today)

> When trying to enter groups on the primary nntp server I get the
> message 
>   (wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))
> in the minibuffer, and Gnus fails to enter the group.

The extra user account I created for testing
	<news:87wt49ir0v.fsf@bang.priv.no>
does not display this problem.

So either it's once more something in my setup,... or my .newsrc.eld
has been corrupted (dread!).

Has anyone created a .newsrc.eld diagnostic and cleansing utility?

Re: "(wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))" when opening group

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no>:

> So either it's once more something in my setup,... or my
> .newsrc.eld has been corrupted (dread!).

>>>>> Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no>:

> This problem predates the CVS update, however.  It was actually the
> reason I did the update.

> So I suspect a corrupted .newsrc.eld... or perhaps it is something in
> the agent data...?

Corrupted agent data may be something to investigate.  I just started
a gnus slave, opened the server buffer, and took the primary server
off agent.  Then I was able to open the groups without problems.

Putting it back on agent and the problem reappeared... hm.

Renaming both the .agentview and the .overview for one of the
offending groups, and then starting a slave, visiting the group and
saving and exiting the slave, fixed this problem in all groups on the
primary server (I first tried just renaming the .agentview but that
wasn't enough).

I still don't know exactly what the problem was though.

If it's a corrupted .overview, it would be nice to be able to give a
better error message than
 "(wrong-type-argument char-or-string-p (nil nil))"
...