gnus unable to login to gmail intermittently

gnus unable to login to gmail intermittently

[Vivishek Sudhir]

Hi,

I've been using gnus to fetch/reply-to emails on my gmail via gnus' in-built nniamp backend. The minimal working configuration (in my init.el) is as follows:

(use-package gnus
    :config
    (require 'nnir) ; for searching through imap

    (require 'epa-file) ; to be able to code/decode gpg files in emacs
    (epa-file-enable)
    (setq epa-pinentry-mode 'loopback
	     epa-file-cache-passphrase-for-symmetric-encryption t)

    (require 'auth-source) ; setup gpg file access
    (setq auth-sources '((:source "./authinfo.gpg"))) ; this is where to find the login details

    ; set gmail as the primary source of incoming mail
    (setq gnus-select-method
	  '(nnimap "gmail"
		   (nnimap-address "imap.gmail.com")
		   (nnimap-server-port 993)
		   (nnimap-stream ssl)
		   (nnir-search-engine imap)
		   )
	  ; ensure gnus doesnt ignore gmail folders
	  gnus-ignored-newsgroups "^to\\.\\|^[0-9. ]+\\( \\|$\\)\\|^[\”]\”[#’()]"
	  ; mark all sent messages as read
	  gnus-gcc-mark-as-read t 
	  )

    ; configure sending email via gmail smtp, with starttls encryption
    (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
	  smtpmail-starttls-credentials '(("smtp.gmail.com" 587 nil nil))
	  smtpmail-auth-credentials '(("smtp.gmail.com" 587 "myemail@gmail.com" nil))
	  smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.gmail.com"
	  smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.gmail.com"
	  smtpmail-smtp-service 587
	  starttls-use-gnutls t)

      ; cache emails
    (setq message-directory "~/gmail"
	  gnus-use-cache t
	  gnus-cache-directory "~/gmail/cache"
	  gnus-cache-enter-articles '(ticked dormant read unread)
	  gnus-cache-remove-articles nil
	  gnus-cacheable-groups "^nnimap"
	  gnus-keep-backlog 200
	  )

    ; set gnus parameters
    (setq gnus-parameters
      '((".*"
	 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
	 (expiry-wait . 2)
	 (display . all)
	 )))
    ; retrieve 100 newest messages from all groups by default
    ; (setq gnus-parameter-large-newsgroup-initial-alist ((".*" . 100)))
    (setq gnus-large-newsgroup 100)
  )

There is also some buffer formatting settings I've omitted in the above. 

Essentially, the file authinfo.gpg contains my login credentials for gmail's imap and smtp servers, which is read by gnus to log in to fetch/reply-to emails. 

The problem is that *sometimes* when I start gnus, things work perfectly; but about 3 out of 5 times, it would get stuck and show something like "IMAP user at gmail (default <myemail>):" on the minibuffer, and if I do RET, it would ask for my password. It seems that on these occasions, gnus doesn't read the authinfo.gpg file, and falls back to asking me for the login credentials.

Why is this happening, and how can this be solved?

Thanks.

Re: gnus unable to login to gmail intermittently

[Emanuel Berg]

Vivishek Sudhir wrote:

> The problem is that *sometimes* when I start
> gnus, things work perfectly; but about 3 out
> of 5 times, it would get stuck and show
> something like "IMAP user at gmail (default
> <myemail>):" on the minibuffer, and if I do
> RET, it would ask for my password. It seems
> that on these occasions, gnus doesn't read
> the authinfo.gpg file, and falls back to
> asking me for the login credentials.
>
> Why is this happening, and how can this
> be solved?

I don't know.

I use POP3 with zoho and it also works, as you
say, sometimes. But for me the ratio is rather
2 out of 10 times. So a lot of hammering on the
fetch button when I know there is a mail
waiting. Otherwise I just let it come when it
comes - or rather, when it works.

I reported this as a bug, my theory was it had
something to do with TLS/SSL, and I was advised
to upgrade Emacs since there had been lots of
bug fixes to gnutls. However then and since
then I haven't had enough data to do it, so
I have been unable to test. It'll happen
soon GW.

PS. Send your post to gmane.emacs.gnus.general
    as well! DS.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: gnus unable to login to gmail intermittently

[Vivishek Sudhir]

> I reported this as a bug, my theory was it had
> something to do with TLS/SSL, and I was advised
> to upgrade Emacs since there had been lots of
> bug fixes to gnutls. 

What version of emacs do you use? I'm on 25.3.

> PS. Send your post to gmane.emacs.gnus.general
>     as well! DS.

Useful suggestion; done!

Re: gnus unable to login to gmail intermittently

[Emanuel Berg]

Vivishek Sudhir wrote:

>> I reported this as a bug, my theory was it
>> had something to do with TLS/SSL, and I was
>> advised to upgrade Emacs since there had
>> been lots of bug fixes to gnutls.
>
> What version of emacs do you use? I'm on
> 25.3.

I'm on

    GNU Emacs 24.4.1
    (arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf, GTK+ Version
    3.14.5) of 2015-03-10 on bm-wb-01, modified
    by Debian

with Gnus v5.13 and gnutls-cli 3.8.8 .

For this kind of issue tho I would recommend
installing the very latest Emacs.
After checking out this issue, discard it if it
is the same and you don't want to keep up the
bleeding edge.

I collected everything in the thread "new (?)
version of the old nnml problem" in
gmane.emacs.gnus.general . Perhaps it can be
useful for you altho at this point it isn't
even sure we have the same problem except
for superficially.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573