Re: Spurious "no such group" question following `B c'

[Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@iskon.hr>]

Simon Josefsson <jas@pdc.kth.se> writes:

> Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@iskon.hr> writes:
> 
> > I have two nnml groups where I archive "interesting" messages
> > encountered in email and Usenet.  The groups are located on a special
> > `save' nnml server, customized to save the files to a directory out of
> > the normal mail hierarchy.
> > 
> > The saving method is simple: I simply press `B c nnml+save:news-stuff
> > RET' (or :mail-stuff if it's a mail message).  Until recently, this
> > works flawlessly.  However, after upgrade to 5.8.6 or thereabouts,
> > this results in the following question:
> > 
> >     No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? (y or n)
> > 
> > Daunted by the question, I press C-g
> 
> Could you enable debug-on-error and mail the backtrace?

I assume you mean `debug-on-quit' here.  Sure, I can do that, but the
result is not very useful:

Signaling: (quit)
  signal(quit nil)
  y-or-n-p-minibuf("No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? ")
  y-or-n-p("No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? ")
  gnus-y-or-n-p("No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? ")
  gnus-read-move-group-name("Copy" nil (21610) "nnml:")
  gnus-summary-move-article(nil nil nil copy)
  gnus-summary-copy-article(nil)
  call-interactively(gnus-summary-copy-article)

It gets a bit less lame if I load the `gnus-sum' source uncompiled:

Signaling: (quit)
  signal(quit nil)
  y-or-n-p-minibuf("No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? ")
  y-or-n-p("No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? ")
  gnus-y-or-n-p("No such group: nnml+save:news-stuff.  Create it? ")
  (if (gnus-y-or-n-p (format "No such group: %s.  Create it? " to-newsgroup)) (or (and ... ... ...) (error "Couldn't create group %s" to-newsgroup)))
  (or (gnus-active to-newsgroup) (gnus-activate-group to-newsgroup nil nil to-method) (if (gnus-y-or-n-p ...) (or ... ...)) (error "No such group: %s" to-newsgroup))
  (progn (if (or ... ...) (setq to-newsgroup default)) (unless to-newsgroup (error "No group name entered")) (or (gnus-active to-newsgroup) (gnus-activate-group to-newsgroup nil nil to-method) (if ... ...) (error "No such group: %s" to-newsgroup)))
  (if to-newsgroup (progn (if ... ...) (unless to-newsgroup ...) (or ... ... ... ...)))
  (when to-newsgroup (if (or ... ...) (setq to-newsgroup default)) (unless to-newsgroup (error "No group name entered")) (or (gnus-active to-newsgroup) (gnus-activate-group to-newsgroup nil nil to-method) (if ... ...) (error "No such group: %s" to-newsgroup)))
  (let* ((split-name ...) (minibuffer-confirm-incomplete nil) (prom ...) (to-newsgroup ...) (to-method ...)) (when to-newsgroup (if ... ...) (unless to-newsgroup ...) (or ... ... ... ...)) to-newsgroup)
  gnus-read-move-group-name("Copy" nil (21610) "nnml:")
  (setq to-newsgroup (gnus-read-move-group-name (cadr ...) (symbol-value ...) articles prefix))
  (progn (setq to-newsgroup (gnus-read-move-group-name ... ... articles prefix)) (set (intern ...) to-newsgroup))
  (if (and (not to-newsgroup) (not select-method)) (progn (setq to-newsgroup ...) (set ... to-newsgroup)))
  (when (and (not to-newsgroup) (not select-method)) (setq to-newsgroup (gnus-read-move-group-name ... ... articles prefix)) (set (intern ...) to-newsgroup))
  (let ((articles ...) (prefix ...) (names ...) (copy-buf ...) art-group to-method new-xref article to-groups) (unless (assq action names) (error "Unknown action %s" action)) (when (and ... ...) (setq to-newsgroup ...) (set ... to-newsgroup)) (setq to-method (or select-method ...)) (unless (gnus-check-backend-function ... ...) (error "%s does not support article copying" ...)) (unless (gnus-check-server to-method) (error "Can't open server %s" ...)) (gnus-message 6 "%s to %s: %s..." (caddr ...) (or ... to-newsgroup) articles) (while articles (setq article ...) (setq art-group ...) (cond ... ... ...) (gnus-summary-remove-process-mark article)) (while to-groups (save-excursion ... ... ...)) (gnus-kill-buffer copy-buf) (gnus-summary-position-point) (gnus-set-mode-line (quote summary)))
  gnus-summary-move-article(nil nil nil copy)
  gnus-summary-copy-article(nil)
  call-interactively(gnus-summary-copy-article)

The really interesting part would be knowing why Gnus data structures
consider the foreign group non-existent until you try to reach it.
This used to not be the case.

> Hm.  I think I know what causes it, but the theory would only be
> correct if your nnml+save:news-stuff group is a foreign group.  Is
> it?

I think it is.  What's the definition of a "foreign" group?  The
`save' thing is obviously not my `gnus-select-method'.