Gnus bugs and some annoyances ...

Gnus bugs and some annoyances ...

[Stefan Waldherr]

Hi,

I think that there are some flaws the way gnus handles it's article
numbers. Moving articles from one group to the other does not always have the
expected results. Consider this:

   `M-x gnus RET' to start gnus
   Enter folder `swa'
   Mark all articles with `#' (say 2 0 0 #)
   `B m temp RET' to move all mails to nnml:temp
   `c' to catchup
   `j nnml:temp RET' to jump to nnml:temp
   `RET' on the `nnml:temp' line yields `Can't select group'
   This is bug #1 (nnml:temp was not created by the moving process -- it
   existed before).

   `q' to quit gnus
   `M-x gnus RET' to start gnus
   Oops, `nnml:temp' shows x new messages.
   I enter the group and hit `c' to catchup.
   I mark all articles again with `#' and move it back to `swa'.
   Now the articles numbers start with >> 1. I would have expected,
   that they start with 1, since the group is empty.
   This is bug #2.

   Weird is at this point, that I can enter `swa' and find the 
   articles there (remember I couldn't do it the other way round).

Also I grepped thru dejanews and found that other people were wondering about
this: the way gnus determines the number of articles with maxn-minn isn't
particular smart since you could have deleted some articles in between. Is
there a particular reason why the number of articles are determined that way?
It is annoying because I have one folder with four mails and -- you might have
guessed it --- with very high article numbers. Now, any time I enter this
folder, gnus asks me `How many articles...'? MH has a nice feature where you
can pack folder (pack as in renumber all articles so that there is no gap in
the sequence of numbers). Could such a thing be of use for gnus?

Another issue is gnus speed: from time to time I'm simply waiting too long for
gnus to do something. For example: slurping mail. `nnml: Reading incoming
mail...'  stays in the message buffer for quite some time. Is there some code
that can be cleaned up wrt incorporating mail? Do other people experience such
delays?

--Stefan
-- 
Stefan Waldherr                office +1 (412) 268-3837
                                  fax +1 (412) 268-5576
                               e-Mail swa@cs.cmu.edu
                                  www http://www.waldherr.org/

Re: Gnus bugs and some annoyances ...

[Aaron M. Ucko]

Stefan Waldherr <swa@cs.cmu.edu> writes:
>    Now the articles numbers start with >> 1. I would have expected,
>    that they start with 1, since the group is empty.
>    This is bug #2.

That's not a bug.  Gnus is first and foremost a news reader, so it
keeps track of messages---even expired ones---by number.  If you
*really* want the messages to be renumbered from 1, you need to delete
and recreate nnml:swa in between.

> folder, gnus asks me `How many articles...'? MH has a nice feature where you
> can pack folder (pack as in renumber all articles so that there is no gap in
> the sequence of numbers). Could such a thing be of use for gnus?

No...see above.

-- 
Aaron M. Ucko <amu@mit.edu> (finger amu@monk.mit.edu) [Stark raving sane]

Re: Gnus bugs and some annoyances ...

[Lars Balker Rasmussen]

Stefan Waldherr <swa@cs.cmu.edu> writes:
> MH has a nice feature where you
> can pack folder (pack as in renumber all articles so that there is no gap in
> the sequence of numbers). Could such a thing be of use for gnus?

Move the articles to the same group.
-- 
Lars Balker Rasmussen, Software Engineer, Mjolner Informatics ApS
lbr@mjolner.dk

Re: Gnus bugs and some annoyances ...

[Ken Raeburn]

Lars Balker Rasmussen <lbr@mjolner.dk> writes:
> Stefan Waldherr <swa@cs.cmu.edu> writes:
> > MH has a nice feature where you
> > can pack folder (pack as in renumber all articles so that there is no gap in
> > the sequence of numbers). Could such a thing be of use for gnus?
> 
> Move the articles to the same group.

But be aware that any cross references between mail groups will no
longer be valid.  I would guess that's probably not a problem for most
people, but you should be aware of it just the same.

Re: Gnus bugs and some annoyances ...

[Justin Sheehy]

Stefan Waldherr <swa@cs.cmu.edu> writes:

>    I mark all articles again with `#' and move it back to `swa'.
>    Now the articles numbers start with >> 1. I would have expected,
>    that they start with 1, since the group is empty.
>    This is bug #2.

This is not a bug.

There is no reason for them to start at 1, as Gnus is the only thing
that should care about their actual numbers.  What you have managed to
do, though, is pack them so that there are no gaps between article
numbers.

> the way gnus determines the number of articles with maxn-minn isn't
> particular smart since you could have deleted some articles in between. Is
> there a particular reason why the number of articles are determined that way?

Yep.  It is a decent approximation and is only used when a fast
approximation is (generally) better than a slow exact count.

> It is annoying because I have one folder with four mails and -- you
> might have guessed it --- with very high article numbers. Now, any
> time I enter this folder, gnus asks me `How many articles...'?

I would guess that this is not because of high article numbers, but
that it is because the articles have significant gaps between their
numbers.

> MH has a nice feature where you can pack folder (pack as in renumber
> all articles so that there is no gap in the sequence of
> numbers). Could such a thing be of use for gnus?

Certainly.  In fact, you have already done so yourself.

Moving them from swa->swa would also have done the trick, and it would
be simpler than swa->temp->swa.

-- 
Justin Sheehy

In a cloud bones of steel.