Re: nnir-run-gmane search broken

[Matt Lundin <mdl@imapmail.org>]

Andrew Cohen <cohen@andy.bu.edu> writes:

> Ugh. Previously I just checked whether the server name had gmane in
> it. But this isn't great since someone might have the string "gmane"
> in their own server that isn't really news.gmane.org (why? I have no
> idea, but people are funny that way). So I thought it would be safer
> to test the 'nntp-address. But you don't have the address set, which
> is the cause of the failure.
>
> Several options here:
>
> 1. Require the presence of 'nntp-address in the server definition (and
>    nnir-run-gmane could warn if this variable is not present and suggest
>    adding it). This is probably the "right" solution, but requires
>    work on the part of the user. 

And I think the manual (not to mention many .gnus files) would need to
be updated, since it offers examples of the short method:

(setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))

(info "(gnus) Finding the News")
>
> 3. A compromise: go back to the crappy test of gmane in the server
>    name. Most of the time this will DTRT except when a user has the
>    string "gmane" in some server that isn't really news.gmane.org (or
>    snews.gmane.org). This has the defects of 2, but only in rare
>    cases.

Could we simply check whether the nntp-address is defined? If so, then
the nntp-address must match "gmane.org$"; if not, then the server name
should match "gmane.org$". These are effectively the same test, since in
the shorter method of defining the server the name *is* the address. In
other words, if one uses a "nickname" (supergmane, gmaneman, etc.) for
some other nntp server, then one must define an nntp-address;
conversely, if one does not define an nntp-address, then the name of the
server has to be the full address. In either case, you are testing
against the address instead of some arbitrary name and thus can enforce
the stricter match ("gmane.org$").

Another issue here: I believe one can currently access the complete
gmane hierarchy via news.gwene.org.

Best,
Matt