Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Eric Abrahamsen]

I just moved two accounts from talking directly to an Imap server, to
talking to a local Dovecot server that's synced with the remote server.
Knowing this could cause weirdness, I completely deleted the previous
two servers from Gnus, and created two new ones with different names.

I now have three such local-Dovecot servers. Three of them connect just
fine, one doesn't. All four have identical settings, so I don't know
what's going on. The error on the problematic one looks like this:

Warning: Opening nnimap server on NEA...failed: ; Unable to open server
nnimap+NEA due to: make client process failed: Connection refused,
:name, *nnimap*, :buffer, *nnimap localhost nil *nntpd**, :host,
localhost, :service, 993, :nowait, nil, :tls-parameters, nil

The only thing that looks weird there is ":service, 993" -- Dovecot is
not set up for ssl, and none of the accounts use it. All four accounts
look like this:

(nnimap "servername"
  (nnimap-address "localhost")
  (nnnimap-stream network)
  (nnimap-authenticator login)
  (nnimap-user "login@domain.com"))

I've confirmed that I can connect and log in to this account from the
command line, using telnet to 143. Telnet to 993, as expected, refuses
to connect.

I tried to force Gnus to use 143 by setting (nnimap-server-port 143),
and also by setting (nnimap-stream plain), but with those settings in
place it gives me a "GNUTls error: -15".

In ~/.emacs.d/network-security.data there is this line:

(:id "sha1:386adc29ea9f8f85b96e8978bad43e925f1ab750" :fingerprint :none
:host "localhost:imap" :conditions (:unencrypted))

I can't think of what else could be causing this problem. Why just one
account out of four?

Is there any other information I can provide?

Thanks,
Eric

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:

[...]

> Warning: Opening nnimap server on NEA...failed: ; Unable to open server
> nnimap+NEA due to: make client process failed: Connection refused,
> :name, *nnimap*, :buffer, *nnimap localhost nil *nntpd**, :host,
> localhost, :service, 993, :nowait, nil, :tls-parameters, nil
>
> The only thing that looks weird there is ":service, 993" -- Dovecot is
> not set up for ssl, and none of the accounts use it. All four accounts
> look like this:

[...]

> I can't think of what else could be causing this problem. Why just one
> account out of four?

I just tried this on my work computer, with the exact same results: Only
this one account fails. I just don't get it, as Dovecot defines all the
accounts the exact same way. There's hardly any configuration there at
all...

Eric

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Dan Christensen]

On Mar  4, 2016, Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> wrote:

> I now have three such local-Dovecot servers. Three of them connect just
> fine, one doesn't. All four have identical settings, so I don't know
> what's going on. The error on the problematic one looks like this:
>
> Warning: Opening nnimap server on NEA...failed: ; Unable to open server
> nnimap+NEA due to: make client process failed: Connection refused,
> :name, *nnimap*, :buffer, *nnimap localhost nil *nntpd**, :host,
> localhost, :service, 993, :nowait, nil, :tls-parameters, nil

I have noticed something that might be the same bug.  I have a remote
IMAP server that is set up like this:

  (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
           '(nnimap "foo"
                    (nnimap-address "foo.com")
                    (nnimap-stream shell)
                    (nnimap-shell-program "ssh %s /usr/lib/dovecot/imap")
                    ))

However, when I start Gnus and try to open a group nnimap+foo:mygroup
that uses this server, it usually tries to connect via tls.  Then I
fiddle around for a while, kill Gnus and restart a few times, and
eventually it works.  I haven't figured out the pattern, but it seems
to not see my server definition and fall back onto a default.  Maybe
the same is happening for you.

The good news is that once it works, it stays working for that Gnus
session.  Luckily I leave Gnus running for weeks at a time...

Gnus is practically my life!

Dan

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Dan Christensen]

On Mar  4, 2016, Dan Christensen <jdc@uwo.ca> wrote:

> I have noticed something that might be the same bug.  I have a remote
> IMAP server that is set up like this:
>
>   (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
>            '(nnimap "foo"
>                     (nnimap-address "foo.com")
>                     (nnimap-stream shell)
>                     (nnimap-shell-program "ssh %s /usr/lib/dovecot/imap")
>                     ))
>
> However, when I start Gnus and try to open a group nnimap+foo:mygroup
> that uses this server, it usually tries to connect via tls.  Then I
> fiddle around for a while, kill Gnus and restart a few times, and
> eventually it works.  I haven't figured out the pattern, but it seems
> to not see my server definition and fall back onto a default.  Maybe
> the same is happening for you.
>
> The good news is that once it works, it stays working for that Gnus
> session.  Luckily I leave Gnus running for weeks at a time...

Just for you, I exited Gnus (gasp) to test this a bit more.  If I start
Gnus and try to activate a group on that server with `M-g', it tries to
use tls and fails.  But if I instead do `3 g' to activate all groups at
level 3, it works.  (The only groups I have from that server are on
level 3, and I start Gnus with `(gnus 2 t)', which is like
gnus-no-server, only activating groups up to level 2.)

Dan

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Dan Christensen <jdc@uwo.ca> writes:

> On Mar  4, 2016, Dan Christensen <jdc@uwo.ca> wrote:
>
>> I have noticed something that might be the same bug.  I have a remote
>> IMAP server that is set up like this:
>>
>>   (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
>>            '(nnimap "foo"
>>                     (nnimap-address "foo.com")
>>                     (nnimap-stream shell)
>>                     (nnimap-shell-program "ssh %s /usr/lib/dovecot/imap")
>>                     ))
>>
>> However, when I start Gnus and try to open a group nnimap+foo:mygroup
>> that uses this server, it usually tries to connect via tls.  Then I
>> fiddle around for a while, kill Gnus and restart a few times, and
>> eventually it works.  I haven't figured out the pattern, but it seems
>> to not see my server definition and fall back onto a default.  Maybe
>> the same is happening for you.
>>
>> The good news is that once it works, it stays working for that Gnus
>> session.  Luckily I leave Gnus running for weeks at a time...
>
> Just for you, I exited Gnus (gasp) to test this a bit more.

Your sacrifice is appreciated :)

> If I start Gnus and try to activate a group on that server with `M-g',
> it tries to use tls and fails. But if I instead do `3 g' to activate
> all groups at level 3, it works. (The only groups I have from that
> server are on level 3, and I start Gnus with `(gnus 2 t)', which is
> like gnus-no-server, only activating groups up to level 2.)

I haven't been able to trick Gnus into connecting, no matter how I go
about it. I can go into the *Server* buffer and hit "O" on the server,
and it says it's open, but then trying to access it gives me
"nnimap-send-command: Output file descriptor of *nnimap* is closed".
Using the equivalent of your "3 g" just gives me the same errors.

So pretty clearly it's not going to connect. I have to assume a
misconfiguration somewhere, as it's only this one account out of four,
and I have the identical problem on two separate computers. But I don't
know where else to look!

Thanks,
Eric

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Dan Christensen]

On Mar  5, 2016, Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> wrote:

> I haven't been able to trick Gnus into connecting, no matter how I go
> about it. I can go into the *Server* buffer and hit "O" on the server,
> and it says it's open, but then trying to access it gives me
> "nnimap-send-command: Output file descriptor of *nnimap* is closed".
> Using the equivalent of your "3 g" just gives me the same errors.

Ok, that sounds like a different problem.  My server doesn't even show
up in the *Server* buffer until I get Gnus to connect to it properly.

Dan

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Andreas Schwab]

Dan Christensen <jdc@uwo.ca> writes:

> Just for you, I exited Gnus (gasp) to test this a bit more.  If I start
> Gnus and try to activate a group on that server with `M-g', it tries to
> use tls and fails.

This is a known bug, see
<http://article.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/85837>.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Dan Christensen]

On Mar  5, 2016, Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org> wrote:

> Dan Christensen <jdc@uwo.ca> writes:
>
>> Just for you, I exited Gnus (gasp) to test this a bit more.  If I start
>> Gnus and try to activate a group on that server with `M-g', it tries to
>> use tls and fails.
>
> This is a known bug, see
> <http://article.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/85837>.

Thanks!  Let's call it the St. Patrick's Day bug.  The next
St. Patrick's Day is only 12 days away...  Any takers?

Dan

Re: Can't access local imap account: GNUTls error

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:

[...]

> (nnimap "servername"
>   (nnimap-address "localhost")
>   (nnnimap-stream network)
>   (nnimap-authenticator login)
>   (nnimap-user "login@domain.com"))

nnnimap-stream
^^^

Hopefully the stupidest thing I'll do this March.