Error, unknown mail format!

Error, unknown mail format!

[imputerate]

1. ubuntu, beta-hardy crashed; i rebooted;

2. loaded emacs, then gnus:
got the expected:
Gnus auto-save file exists.  Do you want to read it? (y or
n)

3. hit 'y' and then got this:
Error, unknown mail format! (Possibly corrupted buffer ` *nnmail
incoming*'.)

nothing gnu-ish showed up on screen;

4. 'list-buffers) yielded:
CRM Buffer Size Mode
File .
*Group* 783
Fundamental
*scratch* 0 Lisp
Interaction
* *Messages* 1408
Fundamental
% *Quail Completions* 0
Fundamental
.newsrc-dribble 79673 Fundamental ~/.newsrc-
dribble

5. tried to load "Group", but got only a blank screen;

So, looks like i have no access to gnus; what can i do?

Re: Error, unknown mail format!

[Sven Joachim]

On 2008-05-16 18:36 +0200, imputerate wrote:

> 1. ubuntu, beta-hardy crashed; i rebooted;
>
> 2. loaded emacs, then gnus:
> got the expected:
> Gnus auto-save file exists.  Do you want to read it? (y or
> n)
>
> 3. hit 'y' and then got this:
> Error, unknown mail format! (Possibly corrupted buffer ` *nnmail
> incoming*'.)

Recently I had such an experience myself, it was due to a corrupted
mail-source-crash-box file.  By default that file is named
~/.emacs-mail-crash-box, try to move it out of the way before you start
Gnus.

The error message and handling could probably use some improvement.

Sven

Re: Error, unknown mail format!

[imputerate]

On May 16, 1:49 pm, Sven Joachim <svenj...@gmx.de> wrote:
> On 2008-05-16 18:36 +0200, imputerate wrote:
>
> > 1. ubuntu, beta-hardy crashed; i rebooted;
>
> > 2. loaded emacs, then gnus:
> > got the expected:
> > Gnus auto-save file exists.  Do you want to read it? (y or
> > n)
>
> > 3. hit 'y' and then got this:
> > Error, unknown mail format! (Possibly corrupted buffer ` *nnmail
> > incoming*'.)
>
> Recently I had such an experience myself, it was due to a corrupted
> mail-source-crash-box file.  By default that file is named
> ~/.emacs-mail-crash-box, try to move it out of the way before you start
> Gnus.
>
> The error message and handling could probably use some improvement.
>
> Sven


sven; tack ska du ha; i still need a hand;
1. i renamed the crash file:

  -rw-r--r--  1 hodgson hodgson   84669 2008-05-16 16:40 .emacs-mail-
crash-box
  -rw-r--r--  1 hodgson hodgson   48590 2008-05-15 22:35 .emacs-mail-
crash-box.\
20080516

only to end up with another, today's;

2. my attempt to load gnus yielded:

first:
Wrote /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/51608 [later
51611]                                \

and then:
Please answer y or n.  Mail source (pop :server
mail.comcast.net :port
pop3 :user pclhodgson :password ********) error (IO error
reading
/home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/.overview: Input/output
error).
Continue? (y or n)

and finally:
IO error reading /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/.overview: Input/output
error

here's .overview and a sibling:
-rw------- 1 hodgson hodgson   12506 2008-05-16 16:45
51611
    -rw-r--r-- 1 hodgson hodgson    2895 2008-05-15
19:13 .marks
    -rw------- 1 hodgson hodgson 2621558 2008-05-15 19:12 .overview

shall i rename, move to a remote dir, or simply delete all these
files? peter

Re: Error, unknown mail format!

[imputerate]

On May 16, 4:49 pm, imputerate <imputer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 16, 1:49 pm, Sven Joachim <svenj...@gmx.de> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On 2008-05-16 18:36 +0200, imputerate wrote:
>
> > > 1. ubuntu, beta-hardy crashed; i rebooted;
>
> > > 2. loaded emacs, then gnus:
> > > got the expected:
> > > Gnus auto-save file exists.  Do you want to read it? (y or
> > > n)
>
> > > 3. hit 'y' and then got this:
> > > Error, unknown mail format! (Possibly corrupted buffer ` *nnmail
> > > incoming*'.)
>
> > Recently I had such an experience myself, it was due to a corrupted
> > mail-source-crash-box file.  By default that file is named
> > ~/.emacs-mail-crash-box, try to move it out of the way before you start
> > Gnus.
>
> > The error message and handling could probably use some improvement.
>
> > Sven
>
> sven; tack ska du ha; i still need a hand;
> 1. i renamed the crash file:
>
>   -rw-r--r--  1 hodgson hodgson   84669 2008-05-16 16:40 .emacs-mail-
> crash-box
>   -rw-r--r--  1 hodgson hodgson   48590 2008-05-15 22:35 .emacs-mail-
> crash-box.\
> 20080516
>
> only to end up with another, today's;
>
> 2. my attempt to load gnus yielded:
>
> first:
> Wrote /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/51608 [later
> 51611]                                \
>
> and then:
> Please answer y or n.  Mail source (pop :server
> mail.comcast.net :port
> pop3 :user pclhodgson :password ********) error (IO error
> reading
> /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/.overview: Input/output
> error).
> Continue? (y or n)
>
> and finally:
> IO error reading /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/.overview: Input/output
> error
>
> here's .overview and a sibling:
> -rw------- 1 hodgson hodgson   12506 2008-05-16 16:45
> 51611
>     -rw-r--r-- 1 hodgson hodgson    2895 2008-05-15
> 19:13 .marks
>     -rw------- 1 hodgson hodgson 2621558 2008-05-15 19:12 .overview
>
> shall i rename, move to a remote dir, or simply delete all these
> files? peter

sat. may 17: i've poked around and it looks like gnus is downloading
the mail from the server, and stashing it in
~/Mail/mail/misc/;
BUT i can't age access to the mail because of:
IO error reading /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/.overview: Input/output
error  IO error reading /home/hodgson/Mail/mail/misc/.overview: Input/
output error

SO, i renamed .overview, and .marks;

now i can get in gnus:

[ Gnus --
49159 ]
      33: nnml
+privat:mail.posted
   49068: nnml
+privat:mail.misc
  [ misc --
58 ]
        58: nndraft:drafts

BUT, as you can see, there are 49068 messages in my inbox;

NOW, as it happens i had over 200 messages in my inbox, waiting to be
archived;

is there any way i can get those and the messages which have arrived,
and been stashed in /Mail/mail/misc/ without my being able to read
them?