nnimap problem, maybe

nnimap problem, maybe

[George McNinch]

Hi,

  I can't decide how to tell if the problem I'm having is with Gnus/nnimap or
with the local imap server.

I put the following in my .gnus:

(setq nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")

Then I start Gnus and in the group buffer I do a U and subscribe to

nnimap:{imap-g.nd.edu}Inbox.

But when I try to open the group, I am not permitted to contact
the server.

Ditto for attempts to open the nnimap server in the server buffer.
It looks like:

     {nnfolder:archive} (opened)
     {nndraft:} (opened)
     {nndoc:/home/gmcninch/nsmail/moved-mail} (opened)
     {nnimap:} (denied)
     {nnslashdot:} (opened)
     {nnfolder:} (opened)
     {nntp:news.nd.edu} (opened)

I've tried setting nnimap-stream and nnimap-authenticator to various
possible settings as described in the info pages (unfortunately, my
usual computer seems to have died the real death. I'm using various
other machines, and I'm not sure how to tell whether they can do ssl
etc).

Note that I'm never prompted for username/passwd. I'm just told "access
denied" pre-emptively...

On the other hand, netscape will let me connect to and read mail from
the imap server. (And for awhile, and on my pre-death machine, Gnus let
me connect..., though it never let me open the server buffer. I was
able to read the group nnimap:{imap-g.nd.edu}Inbox specified above. I
thought it strange that I was required to include the {imap-g.nd.edu}
in the group name, but I definitely was.)

Another piece of data is that none of {netscape, pine, Gnus} has ever
let me create new folders on the server. This of course made splitting
impossible under Gnus for the brief number of hours that it worked.

Is it possible that the server is sluggish and that Gnus isn't waiting
long enough? Because it (the server I mean) is quite slow (e.g. under
pine).

OK, I'm grasping at straws here. It has been a frustrating couple of
days. But maybe someone has a useful piece of advice for me!

Best,
George

Oh yeah:

gnus-version =>
Value: "Gnus v5.8.2"

-- 
George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu>   |      __O           
  www.nd.edu/~gmcninch              |    _-\<,_           
  Dept. Math, Univ Notre Dame       |   (_)/ (_)           
                                    |--------------

Re: nnimap problem, maybe

[Kai Großjohann]

George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu> writes:

> I put the following in my .gnus:
> (setq nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")

Maybe you need to do this?

(add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
             '(nnimap "" (nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")))

You should then be able to type `A A' and then type `u' on those
groups you want.

kai
-- 
A preposition is not a good thing to end a sentence with.

Re: nnimap problem, maybe

[George McNinch]

>>>>> "Kai" == Kai Großjohann <Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE> writes:

    Kai> George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu> writes:
    >> I put the following in my .gnus: (setq nnimap-address
    >> "imap-g.nd.edu")

    Kai> Maybe you need to do this?

    Kai> (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnimap ""
    Kai> (nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")))

Sadly, this didn't work.

The following all return "nil":

(imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu")  
=> nil

(imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu" 143 "network:" "login:")
=> nil

Is that fishy? The comments in imap.el seem to suggest I should see
more.

Best, 
George

Re: nnimap problem, maybe

[George McNinch]

(sorry if this is a second copy, something odd happened when first
sending this...)

>>>>> "Kai" == Kai Großjohann <Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE> writes:

    Kai> George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu> writes:
    >> I put the following in my .gnus: (setq nnimap-address
    >> "imap-g.nd.edu")

    Kai> Maybe you need to do this?

    Kai> (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnimap ""
    Kai> (nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")))

Sadly, this didn't work.

The following all return "nil":

(imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu")  
=> nil

(imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu" 143 "network:" "login:")
=> nil

Is that fishy? The comments in imap.el seem to suggest I should see
more.

Best, 
George

Re: nnimap problem, maybe

[Simon Josefsson]

George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu> writes:

>     Kai> (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnimap ""
>     Kai> (nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")))
> 
> Sadly, this didn't work.

What happened?

Nnimap is a Gnus backend so the proper thing is to add a virtual
server to `gnus-secondary-select-methods' (or perhaps
`gnus-select-method') if you want to use it, like Kai described, I
don't think simply setting `nnimap-address' to something would give
the desired effect.

> The following all return "nil":
> 
> (imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu")  
> => nil

Any error messages in the *Messages* buffer?

> (imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu" 143 "network:" "login:")
> => nil

That should probably be something like

(imap-open "imap-g.nd.edu" 143 'network 'login)

Re: nnimap problem, maybe

[George McNinch]

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

    Simon> George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu> writes:
    Kai> (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnimap ""
    Kai> (nnimap-address "imap-g.nd.edu")))
    >>  Sadly, this didn't work.

    Simon> What happened?

    Simon> Nnimap is a Gnus backend so the proper thing is to add a
    Simon> virtual server to `gnus-secondary-select-methods' (or
    Simon> perhaps `gnus-select-method') if you want to use it, like
    Simon> Kai described, I don't think simply setting
    Simon> `nnimap-address' to something would give the desired
    Simon> effect.

This is a repeat of what Kai said. Setting
gnus-secondary-select-methods as he specified didn't work, as I
indicated. (server buffer said "denied". Ditto for the *Message-Log*
buffer)

The point turns out to be that I must set

(setq nnimap-authenticator 'login)

since I don't have imtest installed, and without that setting, nnimap
tries to use Kerberos (I guess because the server is able to use
this), and fails.

So it now works.

The Info docs include the following description:

nnimap-authenticator'
     The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default,
     nnimap will use the most secure authenticator your server is
     capable of.

        * "kerberos4:" Kerberos authentication.

        * "cram-md5:" Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.

        * "login:" Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.

        * "anonymous:" Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress
          as password.

These values should probably be changed to 
        * kerberos4
        * login

etc. (i.e. no quotes and :s)

Ditto for for the Info docs on nnimap-stream.

Of course (describe-variable) does give the correct information. It just
didn't occur to me that this was the trouble at first.

Thanks for the help.

Best,
George
-- 
George McNinch <McNinch.1@nd.edu>   |      __O           
  www.nd.edu/~gmcninch              |    _-\<,_           
  Dept. Math, Univ Notre Dame       |   (_)/ (_)           
  CCMB 209  campus phone: 1-6505    |--------------