'g' on Topic line in group buffer gives error

'g' on Topic line in group buffer gives error

[Bob Newell]

Aloha,

Before reporting this as a bug, I'd like to ask if anyone else sees this
behavior (my gnus startup file has become, um, complex and I sometimes
make my own trouble).

I use topics in the group buffer, and I fetch mail with 'g'. If the
cursor is on a line with a group name, no trouble. If the cursor is on a
topic name or a blank line, I get one of those number-or-marker-p
errors. My guess is that gnus is trying find out if there are unread
articles but doesn't have a valid group name. Only a guess.

There are many possible workarounds and I have one in place, but still.

Anyone else see this, or is it just my weird and convoluted setup[1]?

Mahalo in advance,

-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i
* Via Gnus/BBDB/Org/Emacs/Linux *

[1] Although I suspect weird and convoluted gnus setups are more the
norm than the exception.

Re: 'g' on Topic line in group buffer gives error

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Bob Newell <bobnewell@bobnewell.net> writes:

> Aloha,
>
> Before reporting this as a bug, I'd like to ask if anyone else sees this
> behavior (my gnus startup file has become, um, complex and I sometimes
> make my own trouble).
>
> I use topics in the group buffer, and I fetch mail with 'g'. If the
> cursor is on a line with a group name, no trouble. If the cursor is on a
> topic name or a blank line, I get one of those number-or-marker-p
> errors. My guess is that gnus is trying find out if there are unread
> articles but doesn't have a valid group name. Only a guess.
>
> There are many possible workarounds and I have one in place, but still.
>
> Anyone else see this, or is it just my weird and convoluted setup[1]?

I'm not seeing this, but it certainly sounds like the kind of bug I
might have introduced recently. Are you using Emacs from git master? Can
you do toggle-debug-on-error and send a full backtrace?

Eric

Re: 'g' on Topic line in group buffer gives error

[Bob Newell]

Ah, I should have thought of the error trace, and it turns out this *is*
my convoluted setup.

I had added :after advice to 'gnus-summary-update-info. The noble
purpose of this was to mark everything as read in RSS and similar groups
to expedite expiration, and for my inbox, to count unread messages and
store the count to work in conjunction with my versions of biffer and
biff barks.

But I should know by now that advising functions can have unintended
consequences. Normally I find them and fix them but this one eluded
me--- until now.

Perhaps it's feeble but I offer the excuse that gnus is --- ahem --- a
bit complex. I've always been able to get it to do everything I want,
and at the same time a number of things that I don't want.

Thanks so much for the assistance,

-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i
* Via Gnus/BBDB/Org/Emacs/Linux *

Re: 'g' on Topic line in group buffer gives error

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Bob Newell <bobnewell@bobnewell.net> writes:

> Ah, I should have thought of the error trace, and it turns out this *is*
> my convoluted setup.
>
> I had added :after advice to 'gnus-summary-update-info. The noble
> purpose of this was to mark everything as read in RSS and similar groups
> to expedite expiration, and for my inbox, to count unread messages and
> store the count to work in conjunction with my versions of biffer and
> biff barks.

Well I don't really understand what any of that means, but I'm glad you
found the source of the problem :)

> But I should know by now that advising functions can have unintended
> consequences. Normally I find them and fix them but this one eluded
> me--- until now.
>
> Perhaps it's feeble but I offer the excuse that gnus is --- ahem --- a
> bit complex. I've always been able to get it to do everything I want,
> and at the same time a number of things that I don't want.

Is there anything in here where you think Gnus could make your life easier?