Failure of my Gnus

Failure of my Gnus

[Joseph Fineman via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

In May I described this problem, first on gnu.emacs.help and then
(following advice there) on this mailing list.  I have seen no
response.  Since then I have been unable to use Gnus.  

I use Emacs 26.1 (build 1) and Gnus 5.13 under Cygwin 2.0.2 under
Windows 10.0.  Since 29 April Gnus has behaved badly.

First, it refused to display incoming mail, giving error messages of
the form

  Mail source [...] streamssl error (Memory exhausted -- use C-xs then
  exit and restart Emacs)

The advice was useless.  I tried pruning some bloated backup
directories in ~/News & ~/Mail, but that did not help.  Then, several
days later, it also refused to send mail ("too many bad auth
attempts").

Using the Task Manager, I checked memory usage with & without Emacs
running.  There was no change.

Gnus still accesses newsgroups, but with very long delays both in
bringing up a newsgroup and in bringing up entries.  Nevertheless, I
posted a query on gnu.emacs.help, and received one reply, suggesting
this mailing list.

Signing in to Gnus has a bad effect, afterward, on Emacs as a whole.
Its response to keystrokes was sporadically slowed, and commands that
required access to many files (such as dired on a directory with many
files) became extremely slow.  When I restarted Emacs, it behaved
normally.

I have managed to send & receive email by dealing directly with my
supplier (AOL), but that is a nuisance.  I will be grateful for any
advice on restoring Gnus to its proper working, or on finding someone
who can be paid to help.

Yours faithfully,
-- 
    Joseph C. Fineman     
    495 Pleasant St., Apt 1      Answering machine:  (781) 324-6899
    Malden, MA 02148-3505        I will pick up if I am in.
    E-mail:  joe_f@verizon.net   Call ahead for fax.

Re: Failure of my Gnus

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

Joseph Fineman via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor wrote:

> In May I described this problem, first on
> gnu.emacs.help and then (following advice there) on
> this mailing list.  I have seen no response.  Since
> then I have been unable to use Gnus.

This day and age, and even more so since you are
already a Gnus user, this day and age it is strongly
recommended to use gmane.emacs.help from
news.gmane.io instead of Usenet.

Unless you have your own reasons, of course.

> Gnus still accesses newsgroups, but with very long
> delays both in bringing up a newsgroup and in
> bringing up entries.  Nevertheless, I posted
> a query on gnu.emacs.help, and received one reply,
> suggesting this mailing list.

Not so long ago, but quite some time I guess, there
was a gateway program somewhere operated by someone
that almost always made certain traffic was synced
between the mailing list (help-gnu-emacs) and the
Usenet gnu.emacs.help. Then that stopped working for
some reason and I didn't hear any news from the issue
since that.

But, if it is the Usenet organization and interface
you seek, while still having access to the mailing
lists were the most and the best traffic is, then
Gnus + Gmane is your one-two one-two.

E.g., I have the following listbots/Gmane groups:

6    gmane.comp.audio.audacity.general            21782              
6    gmane.comp.shells.zsh.devel           419    48148              
6    gmane.comp.shells.zsh.user            114    20136              
6    gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.user          757    79723              
6    gmane.discuss                         148    17862              
6    gmane.emacs.bugs                     1395   182826              
6    gmane.emacs.devel                    3937   251936              
3    gmane.emacs.gnus.general                     85510              
3    gmane.emacs.gnus.user                        19301              
3    gmane.emacs.help                        1   123523              
6    gmane.emacs.w3m                        24    10410              
6    gmane.linux.debian.user              1532   568029              
6    gmane.test                             15     8555              

And these Usenet groups, thru nntp.aioe.org - which
is maybe what you use as well?

6    alt.test                            17791    57331  nntp.aioe.org
6    alt.tv.survivor                        18     1285  nntp.aioe.org
6    alt.usage.english                   34088    34088  nntp.aioe.org
6    rec.sport.boxing                        1       31  nntp.aioe.org

I also have mail with nnml.

All the same interface, and a good one at that.
That's the killer.

Here's a screenshot:

  https://dataswamp.org/~incal/figures/gnus/gnus-gmane.png

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: Failure of my Gnus

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Joseph Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net> writes:

>   Mail source [...] streamssl error (Memory exhausted -- use C-xs then
>   exit and restart Emacs)

I don't know what streamssl is -- that string doesn't seem to exist in
the Emacs sources.

I'd recommend using a version of Emacs with GnuTLS support.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

Re: Failure of my Gnus

[Dmitry Alexandrov]

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Joseph Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote:
> I use Emacs 26.1 (build 1) and Gnus 5.13 under Cygwin 2.0.2 under Windows 10.0.

Do you have any particular reason to stick with that Emacs version?  [1] suggests that the current release Cygwin ships is not even 26.3 but 27.0.91.

Or do other software you use is outdated by good two years as well?

[1] https://cygwin.com/git/?p=git/cygwin-packages/emacs.git;a=summary

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Re: Failure of my Gnus

[Dmitry Alexandrov]

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Dmitry Alexandrov <dag@gnui.org> wrote:
> Joseph Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote:
>> I use Emacs 26.1 (build 1) and Gnus 5.13 under Cygwin 2.0.2 under Windows 10.0.
>
> Do you have any particular reason to stick with that Emacs version?

> Or do other software you use is outdated by good two years as well?

That is, do not expect that old software can be never broken just by flow of the time.

>> Since 29 April Gnus has behaved badly.

>> streamssl error

For instance, say you the 29th of _May_, my instant guess would be that this is for sure related to the expiration of AddTrust cert.

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Re: Failure of my Gnus

[Madhu]

* Dmitry Alexandrov <a709wa5c.dag@gnui.org> :
Wrote on Thu, 09 Jul 2020 08:05:35 +0300:

> Dmitry Alexandrov <dag@gnui.org> wrote:
>> Joseph Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote:
>>> I use Emacs 26.1 (build 1) and Gnus 5.13 under Cygwin 2.0.2 under
>>> Windows 10.0.
>>
>> Do you have any particular reason to stick with that Emacs version?
>
>> Or do other software you use is outdated by good two years as well?
>
> That is, do not expect that old software can be never broken just by
> flow of the time.
>
>>> Since 29 April Gnus has behaved badly.
>
>>> streamssl error
>
> For instance, say you the 29th of _May_, my instant guess would be
> that this is for sure related to the expiration of AddTrust cert.

I don't know when this came into effect, but this could also have caused
you problems if the configuration changed

https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/email

[I sent this through usenet. of course it didn't make it to the gnu help
list. The message-ids of the posts that reach usenet from the mailing
list are hopelessly rewritten by gnu mailer that gnu.emacs.help is
essentially unusable - to look up or process or archive articles.]


* Madhu <m37dver4d6.fsf@leonis4.robolove.meer.net> :
Wrote on Wed, 08 Jul 2020 10:27:09 +0530:

> * Joseph Fineman <mailman.1144.1594176951.2574.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> :
> Wrote on Wed, 8 Jul 2020 02:55:43 +0000 (UTC):
>
>> In May I described this problem, first on gnu.emacs.help and then
>> (following advice there) on this mailing list.  I have seen no
>> response.  Since then I have been unable to use Gnus.
> ...
>> I have managed to send & receive email by dealing directly with my
>> supplier (AOL), but that is a nuisance.  I will be grateful for any
>> advice on restoring Gnus to its proper working, or on finding someone
>> who can be paid to help.
>
> I'm sorry not able to help as I have no experience with emacs on windows
> (at least not since the year 2000) so this is another useless followup
> and I apologise.
>
> I'm assuming the software versions on emacs and gnus hadn't changed. So
> something if anything changed would have been on the windows
> platform. In these days when complexity and zerodays in updates are paid
> for Big Money, unfortunately the only way to deal with seems to be by
> grabbing more complexity and throwing it at the problem.
>
> In this case I would (reluctantly) suggest trying a different
> installation of emacs with your exact same configuration-setup and see
> where that breaks. For maximum bleeding may I suggest you try an emacs
> pre-release downloaded from
>
> https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/pretest/windows/emacs-28/
>
> It may work around issues which may have been introduced in your
> environment that conflict with the cygwin platform.