Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Matt Armstrong]

I have these settings, which may be relevant to this bug:

(setq gnus-select-method '(nnml ""))
(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nntp "news.speakeasy.net")))

So, my primary select method is nnml and most e-mail is stored in nnml
groups.  I am using yesterday's CVS.

Today, for the heck of it, I decided to create a nnfolder group to
store some e-mail with good ideas in it.  So I did:

      B c

And entered "nnfolder:ideas" as the group name and Gnus says it saved
it off okay.  What follows was screwy:

  - The Mail/ideas and Mail/ideas.nov file were created correctly, as
    was an entry in the Mail/active file: "ideas 1 1 y".

  - In addition, an empty file Mail/archive/ideas was created, as was
    a Mail/archive/ideas.mrk file.  Mail/archive/active contains
    "ideas 0 1 y".

  - The following three entries are placed in gnus-newsrc-alist:
  
    ("ideas" 3 nil nil)
    ("nnfolder+archive:ideas" 3 nil nil
     (nnfolder "archive"
	       (nnfolder-directory "~/g/Mail/archive")
	       (nnfolder-active-file
		"~/g/Mail/archive/active")
	       (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
	       (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)))
    ("nnfolder:ideas" 3 nil nil "archive")


When I exit and re-load Gnus, I get:

Signaling: (file-error "Opening output file" "not a directory" "/home/matt/g/Mail/ideas/.marks")
  write-region(1 10 "/home/matt/g/Mail/ideas/.marks" nil 0)
  byte-code(<snip>)
  nnml-save-marks("ideas" "")
  nnml-open-marks("ideas" "")
  nnml-request-update-info("ideas" ("ideas" 3 nil nil) "")
  gnus-get-unread-articles(nil)
  gnus-setup-news(nil nil nil)
  byte-code(<snip>)
  gnus-1(nil nil nil)
  gnus()
  (if buffer (switch-to-buffer buffer) (gnus))
  (let ((buffer ...)) (if buffer (switch-to-buffer buffer) (gnus)))
  my-goto-gnus()
  call-interactively(my-goto-gnus)

In addition, the "ideas" folder doesn't show up with an nnfolder:
prefix in the group list.

Clearly, the fact that this is an nnfolder group and not an nnml group
got lost at some point.

Please let me know if I can help debug this any further!

-- 
matt

Re: Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Paul Jarc]

Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
> Clearly, the fact that this is an nnfolder group and not an nnml group
> got lost at some point.

What is your nnfolder server's nnfolder-directory server parameter,
and What is your nnml server's nnml-directory server parameter?  I
think they both default to "~/Mail", which seems to be a bad thing.


paul

Re: Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Matt Armstrong]

prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:

> Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
>> Clearly, the fact that this is an nnfolder group and not an nnml group
>> got lost at some point.
> 
> What is your nnfolder server's nnfolder-directory server parameter,
> and What is your nnml server's nnml-directory server parameter?  I
> think they both default to "~/Mail", which seems to be a bad thing.

I have no nnfolder server.  I have an nnfolder+archive server though.
Perhaps this is part of the problem?

Anyway, at some point I'll trace through the "group creation via B c"
code path to see where things go wrong.


-- 
matt

Re: Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Paul Jarc]

Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
> prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:
>> What is your nnfolder server's nnfolder-directory server parameter,
>> and What is your nnml server's nnml-directory server parameter?  I
>> think they both default to "~/Mail", which seems to be a bad thing.
> 
> I have no nnfolder server.  I have an nnfolder+archive server though.
> Perhaps this is part of the problem?

I meant your server belonging to the nnfolder backend, not one named
"nnfolder".


paul

Re: Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Matt Armstrong]

prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:

> Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
>> prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:
>>> What is your nnfolder server's nnfolder-directory server parameter,
>>> and What is your nnml server's nnml-directory server parameter?  I
>>> think they both default to "~/Mail", which seems to be a bad thing.
>> 
>> I have no nnfolder server.  I have an nnfolder+archive server though.
>> Perhaps this is part of the problem?
> 
> I meant your server belonging to the nnfolder backend, not one named
> "nnfolder".

I am confused by the distinction.  How can I tell?  I am mostly
confused by servers in Gnus.

I just performed another test.  I can G c a new group and it appears
correctly in gnus-newsrc-alist:

    ("nnfolder:test-2"
     (3 . 1)
     ((1 . 1))
     nil
     (nnfolder "")
     ((timestamp 15312 50110)))

And for the duration of the session I can use the group fine.

Then I exit and re-start Gnus.  This bogus group is prepended to
gnus-newsrc-alist:

    ("test-2" 3 nil nil)

The original group remains, but is not visible in the group buffer.

    ("nnfolder:test-2"
     (3 . 1)
     ((1 . 1))
     nil
     (nnfolder "")
     ((timestamp 15312 50110)))

And maybe this can help answer your original question?

    (insert (pp gnus-opened-servers)) -->

    (((nnfolder "")
      ok)
     ((nndraft "")
      ok)
     ((nnfolder "archive"
		(nnfolder-directory "~/g/Mail/archive")
		(nnfolder-active-file "~/g/Mail/archive/active")
		(nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
		(nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
      ok)
     ((nntp "news.speakeasy.net")
      ok)
     ((nnml "")
      ok))
  

-- 
matt

Re: Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Paul Jarc]

Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
> prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:
>> Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
>>> I have no nnfolder server.  I have an nnfolder+archive server though.
>>> Perhaps this is part of the problem?
>> 
>> I meant your server belonging to the nnfolder backend, not one named
>> "nnfolder".
> 
> I am confused by the distinction.  How can I tell?  I am mostly
> confused by servers in Gnus.

Your nnfolder+archive server belongs to the nnfolder backend.

There is a "select method"; this looks like (nnfolder "archive" ...).
This should appear in your .emacs, .gnus, or .newsrc.eld whenever you
are *defining* a server - i.e., just once per server, in
gnus-select-method, gnus-secondary-select-methods, or
gnus-server-alist.

If this were your primary select method, then its "server name" would
be "native".  Otherwise, if it's in gnus-server-alist (i.e., it's a
foreign server), then its key there is the "server name".  Otherwise
it's a secondary select method, and it doesn't have a "server name".
This (or the address designation below) should appear in your .emacs,
.gnus, or .newsrc.eld whenever you are *referring* to a server.

Every select method has an address designation, in this case
"nnfolder+archive", which is the backend, ":" (or "+" in the context
of fully qualified group names), and the address (i.e., the second
element of the select method).  Sometimes people call this the
server's "name", but the above "name" is what the manual thinks of as
a "name".  The difference matters just often enough to cause trouble,
but not often enough to make you notice until you're in trouble.

Yes, this is confusing.

> I just performed another test.  I can G c a new group and it appears
> correctly in gnus-newsrc-alist:
> 
>     ("nnfolder:test-2"
>      (3 . 1)
>      ((1 . 1))
>      nil
>      (nnfolder "")
>      ((timestamp 15312 50110)))

The "nnfolder" part of the full group name is the address designation
of the server containing this group.  (The address is an empty string,
so the "+" is elided.)  That (nnfolder "") is a select method, which
defines a new server.  It ought to be a server name or address
designation instead - the group info is supposed to refer to the
server the group belongs to, not create the server.  (Don't worry,
it's not your fault.)  You created this server along with the group,
it seems.  I don't think Gnus should let you do that, but it does.

> And for the duration of the session I can use the group fine.
> 
> Then I exit and re-start Gnus.  This bogus group is prepended to
> gnus-newsrc-alist:
> 
>     ("test-2" 3 nil nil)
> 
> The original group remains, but is not visible in the group buffer.

This problem doesn't seem to be related to the same-directory problem.

>     (((nnfolder "")
>       ok)
>      ((nndraft "")
>       ok)
>      ((nnfolder "archive"
> 		(nnfolder-directory "~/g/Mail/archive")
> 		(nnfolder-active-file "~/g/Mail/archive/active")
> 		(nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
> 		(nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
>       ok)
>      ((nntp "news.speakeasy.net")
>       ok)
>      ((nnml "")
>       ok))

Ok, so both nnfolder servers and the nnml server are using the global
values.  You can check the nnml-directory and nnfolder-directory
variables - the default for both is "~/Mail", which will cause
trouble.


paul

Re: Bug report: B c nnfolder:foo doesn't work

[Matt Armstrong]

prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:

> Matt Armstrong <matt@lickey.com> wrote:
>> Clearly, the fact that this is an nnfolder group and not an nnml group
>> got lost at some point.
> 
> What is your nnfolder server's nnfolder-directory server parameter,
> and What is your nnml server's nnml-directory server parameter?  I
> think they both default to "~/Mail", which seems to be a bad thing.

Further updates...

>From the group buffer I can do G c and specify a new nnfolder group
test-1.

Initially it shows up as nnfolder:test-1 in the group buffer.  I can
"B c" messages into it and read them fine.

Then I exit and re-load Gnus.  nnfolder:test-1 has turned into just
test-1 and Gnus seems to think it is an nnml group again.

Again I suspect this is because I have:

      (setq gnus-select-method '(nnml ""))

If nobody has any insights, I'll continue to track down the problem.

-- 
matt