Re: Broken threading [was: Unbelievable.]

[Thomas Yan <tyan@twcny.rr.com>]

Tom Hardy <rhardy@mailandnews.com> writes:
> 
> Thomas Yan <tyan@twcny.rr.com> writes:
> 
> > Christopher K Davis <ckd-post@ckdhr.com> writes:
> > 
> > > Tom Hardy <rhardy@mailandnews.com> writes:
> > > 
> > > [Gnus hates]
> > > >> <n4ooiuov4co <1ffgkur.fqzexq13c0u9gN%marykay@kare.ws>
> > > 
> > > > It's a known problem with with Gnus, fixed with development
> > > > versions beyond the 5.8.* series.  I know because I reported it
> > > > myself (but I don't keep up Gnus development).
> > >
> > > Backported patch against 5.8.8 follows.  
> 
> Heh, I just noticed that it's not fixed as of 5.9.0.  I guess I'll be
> patching too.  One other thing--I started a followup to Mary Kay's
> post (Message-ID quoted above), and get 23 references.  Wouldn't it be
> a good idea to trim the references down to size at that point?  I can
> do it by hand, but that sort of thing can be done improperly, and
> mostly doesn't get done.

That would probably be good to have as an option.  I forget the recipe
I've seen in the past.  Something like: Keep the first (oldest)
reference and the last (newest) 3 references.

> > > (Note that recompiling the Gnus elc files can be tricky.  What
> > > worked for me: patch, load gnus-util.el, touch gnus-sum.el,
> > > byte-recompile-directory)
> 
> Stupid question time--how do you apply a patch?

Here's how to apply this one.

0. Find the gnus elisp files, maybe somehwere like
   /usr/local/share/emacs/lisp/gnus.

1. Copy the patch into a file, the "patchfile".
   At the command line, use the "patch" command to apply the changes
   specified in the patchfile to gnus-util.el.
OR
   Open gnus-util.el in emacs and apply the changes by hand.
   (See below.) This is not too onerous: there are only a few changes.
      
2. In emacs, use M-x load-file to load gnus-util.el.

3. At the command line, use the "touch" command to change the
   modification date of gnus-sum.el.  (Or open the file in emacs
   and make and save a cosmetic change, e.g. add an extra line at
   the end.)

4. In emacs, use M-x byte-recompile-directory to recompile the
   elisp files in the gnus elisp directory.  (If you run this
   command in a buffer with one of the gnus elisp files, 
   e.g. gnus-util.el, then emacs will prompt you with the correct
   directory as the default choice.)

-snip-

> > The next annoyance I want to deal with is to have Gnus look at both
> > References: and In-Reply-To: lines so that it does a better job of
> > threading mailing lists.
> 
> Are you submitting your changes back to the developers list?

Not so far.  I'm using the fink port of Emacs 20.7.1 to Mac OS X,
running something that calls itself Gnus 5.7, which is confusing since
the manual at www.gnus.org seemed to say it was not publically
released.

Anyway, my changes have been to try to duplicate some of the features
listed in that manual or have been quick and dirty minor kludges, so I
don't think they warrant submitting.

I guess I should try and see sometime "soon" if upgrading to 5.8.8 or
a later version poses any problems, or at least look at the code to
see if my In-Reply-To problem has already been solved.  If not, and I
solve it, *that* may be worth submitting.

That, plus temporary scorefile entries with an expiration date instead
of temporary entries that expire if they haven't been used "recently".

> Here's the patch in question once again:

Here's an explanation of how to apply
 
> --- gnus-util.el.orig	Wed May 15 19:03:45 2002
> +++ gnus-util.el	Thu Jul 18 22:54:21 2002

These name a file containing the old version and
[the new modified file] / [your file to be modified].

> @@ -379,7 +379,7 @@
>    "Return a list of Message-IDs in REFERENCES."
>    (let ((beg 0)
>  	ids)

These provide the context of a modification: line numbers, and some
surrounding, unchanged text that occurs just before the change.

> -    (while (string-match "<[^>]+>" references beg)

The original text to be changed, with "-" stuff in front of each line.

> +    (while (string-match "<[^<]+[^< \t]" references beg)

The replacement text, with "+" stuffed in front of each line.  If your
are applying the changes manually, remember to delete the +'s!

>        (push (substring references (match-beginning 0) (setq beg (match-end 0)))
>  	    ids))
>      (nreverse ids)))

More context: unchanged text that occurs just after the change.