gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

Hello,

for some days now I have been unable to read my imap mail through
gnus. When I start gnus, it hangs when opening the tls connection to my
server.

The error message that I see when I press C-g is:

nnimap-get-groups: End of file during parsing

And then gnus is not started.

I have commented the imap secondary select method, and the strange thing
is that it still tries to open a connection to my imap server, but using
an old hostname which is not used anymore. At that point gnus will start
correctly when I C-g, but obviously all my imap groups are closed and
unreadable.

Using 'gnutls-cli --insecure -p imaps my.server.name' works fine, I get
an imap prompt.

I'm using emacs-snapshot on debian sid. gnutls has been updated some
days ago, so that could be the culprit. I get the same behaviour with
git gnus and the emacs-snapshot bundled gnus.

Thanks,
-- 
Rémi

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Olivier Sirven]

On 2011-04-08 22:25:06, hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) wrote:
> nnimap-get-groups: End of file during parsing

Hi,

Last time I got this error it was due to a copy of a newsrc.eld from one
computer to another. Erasing the file fixed the problem. Maybe you
should try it too

-- 
Olivier

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> for some days now I have been unable to read my imap mail through
> gnus. When I start gnus, it hangs when opening the tls connection to my
> server.
>
> The error message that I see when I press C-g is:
>
> nnimap-get-groups: End of file during parsing

`(setq debug-on-quit t)', repeat the bug and post the resulting
backtrace.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:
>
>> for some days now I have been unable to read my imap mail through
>> gnus. When I start gnus, it hangs when opening the tls connection to my
>> server.
>>
>> The error message that I see when I press C-g is:
>>
>> nnimap-get-groups: End of file during parsing
>
> `(setq debug-on-quit t)', repeat the bug and post the resulting
> backtrace.

Here it comes:

This is without any nnimap method defined:

Debugger entered: ("Quit")
  byte-code("\b\203\v.\302\303!\210\202.

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:
>>
>>> for some days now I have been unable to read my imap mail through
>>> gnus. When I start gnus, it hangs when opening the tls connection to my
>>> server.
>>>
>>> The error message that I see when I press C-g is:
>>>
>>> nnimap-get-groups: End of file during parsing
>>
>> `(setq debug-on-quit t)', repeat the bug and post the resulting
>> backtrace.
>
> Here it comes:
>
> This is without any nnimap method defined:

... 

Well,hem...  how do I clean the backtrace so it passes the internet
safely ?

Thanks,
-- 
Rémi

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> Here it comes:
>
> This is without any nnimap method defined:
>
> Debugger entered: ("Quit")
>   byte-code("\b\203\v.\302\303!\210\202.

I think something may have cut your message a bit early.  :-)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:41:50 +0200 hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) wrote: 

RL> Well,hem...  how do I clean the backtrace so it passes the internet
RL> safely ?

Save to a file and attach the file.

Ted

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 320 bytes --]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:41:50 +0200 hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) wrote: 
>
> RL> Well,hem...  how do I clean the backtrace so it passes the internet
> RL> safely ?
>
> Save to a file and attach the file.

Here they are, see attached file, hope it works :-)

HTH,
-- 
Rémi


[-- Attachment #2: backtraces.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 128 bytes --]

Here it comes:

This is without any nnimap method defined:

Debugger entered: ("Quit")
  byte-code("\b\203\v.\302\303!\210\202.

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 414 bytes --]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:
>
>> On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:41:50 +0200 hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) wrote: 
>>
>> RL> Well,hem...  how do I clean the backtrace so it passes the internet
>> RL> safely ?
>>
>> Save to a file and attach the file.
>
> Here they are, see attached file, hope it works :-)

Haha, didn't work, let's try another one...

-- 
Rémi


[-- Attachment #2: backtraces.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 128 bytes --]

Here it comes:

This is without any nnimap method defined:

Debugger entered: ("Quit")
  byte-code("\b\203\v.\302\303!\210\202.

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 537 bytes --]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:
>
>> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:
>>
>>> On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:41:50 +0200 hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) wrote: 
>>>
>>> RL> Well,hem...  how do I clean the backtrace so it passes the internet
>>> RL> safely ?
>>>
>>> Save to a file and attach the file.
>>
>> Here they are, see attached file, hope it works :-)
>
> Haha, didn't work, let's try another one...

This is insane :-(

Last try before I give up...

Hope it works,
-- 
Rémi


[-- Attachment #2: backtraces.txt.gz --]
[-- Type: application/octet-stream, Size: 1055 bytes --]

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> Debugger entered: ("Quit")
>   byte-code("\b\203\v.\302\303!\210\202.\304\305\306 #\210\307\207"
> [debug-on-quit server debug "Quit" gnus-message 1 "Quit trying to open
> server %s" nil] 4)
>   gnus-open-server((nnimap "swoog"))

So it's inflooping while opening the server?  What's in the
"*nnimap server ...*" buffer after you `C-g'?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot):

>>> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

>>>> On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:41:50 +0200 hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) wrote: 

RL> Well,hem...  how do I clean the backtrace so it passes the internet
RL> safely ?

>>>> Save to a file and attach the file.
[snip!]
> This is insane :-(

Possibly an EOF marker in that file...?

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:
>
>> Debugger entered: ("Quit")
>>   byte-code("\203.\302\303!\210\202.\304\305\306 #\210\307\207"
>> [debug-on-quit server debug "Quit" gnus-message 1 "Quit trying to open
>> server %s" nil] 4)
>>   gnus-open-server((nnimap "swoog"))
>
> So it's inflooping while opening the server?  What's in the
> "*nnimap server ...*" buffer after you `C-g'?

lots of lines with "LIST oneofmyimapfolders", and it stops right in the
middle of one of the lines.

I tried many times, and it's always at the same line, even the same
letter. That imap folder is not different from the others, no special
character, not longer than the others, nothing that I can see.

If you have an idea I'll test, otherwise I'll rename that folder and see
what happens.

Hth,
-- 
Rémi

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot):

>> So it's inflooping while opening the server?  What's in the
>> "*nnimap server ...*" buffer after you `C-g'?

> lots of lines with "LIST oneofmyimapfolders", and it stops right in
> the middle of one of the lines.

I'm just guessing here: could it be something that it takes as a control
character, eg. EOF, and then aborts the stream?

Have you tried sniffing the same connection with wireshark, or a
different package sniffing tool, to see what actually goes on the wire?

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no> writes:

>>>>>> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot):
>
>>> So it's inflooping while opening the server?  What's in the
>>> "*nnimap server ...*" buffer after you `C-g'?
>
>> lots of lines with "LIST oneofmyimapfolders", and it stops right in
>> the middle of one of the lines.
>
> I'm just guessing here: could it be something that it takes as a control
> character, eg. EOF, and then aborts the stream?

The folder name where it stops is .../fournisseurs/avocat, and it stops
right in the middle of avocat, so I don't think it could be a control
character right there (but I'm not a network guru, so I could be
wrong). But see below.

> Have you tried sniffing the same connection with wireshark, or a
> different package sniffing tool, to see what actually goes on the wire?

The connection is TLS encrypted, so I don't think it's possible to sniff
it. And turning off the encryption to see if it works better is not
something that I am willing to do.

I think that it's possible to tunnel the actual network connection
inside ssh, and execute imapd on the server like any shell process. I'll
read the docs and see if I can try this. But reading docs means some
time needs to be found :-)

Note that I'm not even subscribed to that group in gnus, so there is
nothing that I could do to bypass that problem (except renaming the imap
folder with icedove, which I'll try if gnus+ssh doesn't work and/or there
is no other idea to try)

Thanks,
-- 
Rémi

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no> writes:
>> Have you tried sniffing the same connection with wireshark, or a
>> different package sniffing tool, to see what actually goes on the wire?
>
> The connection is TLS encrypted, so I don't think it's possible to sniff
> it. And turning off the encryption to see if it works better is not
> something that I am willing to do.
>
> I think that it's possible to tunnel the actual network connection
> inside ssh, and execute imapd on the server like any shell process. I'll
> read the docs and see if I can try this. But reading docs means some
> time needs to be found :-)

ok, sorry for the delay, I'm not familiar with this stuff. I just made
an ssh tunnel to forward localhost:143 to server:143, and through this
gnus starts and works fine.

gnus tries all tls/ssl methods, which don't work, and then opens an
unencrypted connection, which works fine. It starts fine, lists my
subscribed nnimap groups, and I have no trouble to enter and read them. 

So I guess the problem is tls/ssl specific, but I have no idea how to
help debug that. Any idea ?

Thanks,
-- 
Rémi

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> So I guess the problem is tls/ssl specific, but I have no idea how to
> help debug that. Any idea ?

Hm...  try putting `nnimap-streaming' into the server definition (or
just set it before you load Gnus) and see whether that makes any
difference. 

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:
>
>> So I guess the problem is tls/ssl specific, but I have no idea how to
>> help debug that. Any idea ?
>
> Hm...  try putting `nnimap-streaming' into the server definition (or
> just set it before you load Gnus) and see whether that makes any
> difference. 

I normally set it to nil because otherwise gnus has problems with my
server. I tried to set it to t, but that didn't change anything. I also
updated to latest git, which didn't change anything either.

Thanks,
-- 
Rémi

Re: gnus hangs at startup when trying to read imap groups

[Rémi Letot]

hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:

> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> hobbes@poukram.net (Rémi Letot) writes:
>>
>>> So I guess the problem is tls/ssl specific, but I have no idea how to
>>> help debug that. Any idea ?
>>
>> Hm...  try putting `nnimap-streaming' into the server definition (or
>> just set it before you load Gnus) and see whether that makes any
>> difference. 

For the record, this was a bug that gnus somehow triggered in
gnutls. Don't know what changed, but I upgraded to 2.12.3 and now
everything works fine.

Sorry for the noise,
-- 
Rémi