Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Hello Emacs

Thankfully I overcame authentication problems with the smtp server under
Windows.  (I think it was a misconfiguration of MSYS2, Gnus couldn't
find my ~/.authinfo) But during this I observed that when using a draft
as a test for sending (with D s and sending was not possible) then the
draft was always duplicated!  When restarting there were also messages
like "Do you want to save the draft" but I always refused.  Even though
during testing I accumulated over a dozen drafts of the same content.

Why is Gnus doing this?

Thank you

      Dieter

GNU Emacs 28.0.60 (build 2, x86_64-w64-mingw32) of 2021-10-19
Gnus v5.13

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

"H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:

> Even though during testing I accumulated over a dozen drafts of the
> same content.
>
> Why is Gnus doing this?

Hard to say.  Do you have a step-by-step recipe to reproduce the problem?

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

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> "H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:
>
>> Even though during testing I accumulated over a dozen drafts of the
>> same content.
>>
>> Why is Gnus doing this?
>
> Hard to say.  Do you have a step-by-step recipe to reproduce the problem?

Yes:

In ~/.authinfo commenting out the smtp server part.  Then

emacs -Q

GNU Emacs 28.0.60 (build 2, x86_64-w64-mingw32) of 2021-10-19

(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
      smtpmail-smtp-service  587 ; 2018-03-05 465 for ssl;  587 for starttls; 1&1: 587 and 465
      smtpmail-smtp-user "dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de"
      smtpmail-smtp-server "smtp.1und1.de")

(setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.gmane.io")
      gnus-secondary-select-methods
      '(
	(nnimap "1und1"
		(nnimap-address "imap.1und1.de")
					;(nnimap-server-port "143") ;starttls
		)	      
	(nnmbox "")
	))

M-x gnus (I'm able to read the news).

Starting a message buffer (with m) and saving it with C-x C-s.

Went to the nndraft:drafts summary and typed Ds over the draft:

------------------------------
Sending message 1 of 1...
Sending via mail...
smtpmail-send-it: Sending failed: 550-Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable
550 Authentication required
------------------------------

At this stage I'm closing Emacs with C-x C-c.

Emacs is asking me if I want to save the draft (which was saved before,
has it changed?), I refuse with typing n.

Emacs is shutting down.

After reopening Emacs I've got my additional clone of the draft.

Hope that helps and thanks for your interest

     Dieter

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

"H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:

> At this stage I'm closing Emacs with C-x C-c.
>
> Emacs is asking me if I want to save the draft (which was saved before,
> has it changed?), I refuse with typing n.
>
> Emacs is shutting down.
>
> After reopening Emacs I've got my additional clone of the draft.

I think typing `n' is the issue -- then there'll be one officially saved
copy of the draft, and one auto-saved, and I think Gnus will offer both
up to be on the safe side?

If you answer `y', do you get the doubling?

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

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> "H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:
>
>> At this stage I'm closing Emacs with C-x C-c.
>>
>> Emacs is asking me if I want to save the draft (which was saved before,
>> has it changed?), I refuse with typing n.
>>
>> Emacs is shutting down.
>>
>> After reopening Emacs I've got my additional clone of the draft.
>
> I think typing `n' is the issue -- then there'll be one officially saved
> copy of the draft, and one auto-saved, and I think Gnus will offer both
> up to be on the safe side?
>
> If you answer `y', do you get the doubling?

Just tested it and it's the same whether I type `n' or `y'! I'm getting
more and more of the same draft.

Just in case, forgot to mention that when starting Gnus and it's asking
me about "auto-save file exists" I always type yes. (I tend to forget
closing down Gnus before shutting down Emacs.)

Thank you

      Dieter

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Eric S Fraga]

Do you by any chance have numbered backup files?  Check the value of the
=version-control= variable.

Maybe have a look at the contents of the ~/News/drafts/drafts directory?
(or elsewhere if you change the default location)

-- 
Eric S Fraga via Emacs 28.0.60 & org 9.5 on Debian 11.1

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> Do you by any chance have numbered backup files?  Check the value of
> the =version-control= variable.

Well - I see the same.  After a failed sending attempt there seems to be
a modified message buffer, and when exiting Gnus that buffer seems to be
saved as a new draft each time.  Toggling `version-control' doesn't make
a difference.

Has anybody actually tried to reproduce???  I just used an address like
"test" and tried to send.

> Maybe have a look at the contents of the ~/News/drafts/drafts
> directory?  (or elsewhere if you change the default location)

Doesn't look like numbered backups.  Looks like normal files
corresponding to the draft copies one sees in Gnus.

Michael.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

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"H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:

> Just tested it and it's the same whether I type `n' or `y'! I'm getting
> more and more of the same draft.
>
> Just in case, forgot to mention that when starting Gnus and it's asking
> me about "auto-save file exists" I always type yes. (I tend to forget
> closing down Gnus before shutting down Emacs.)

I tried the recipe, and the drafts group just contains a single article
for me:


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So I'm not able to reproduce the behaviour in Emacs 28.

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

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>
>> Do you by any chance have numbered backup files?  Check the value of
>> the =version-control= variable.

Actually I've always opened a particular file with numbered backups.

> Well - I see the same.  After a failed sending attempt there seems to be
> a modified message buffer, and when exiting Gnus that buffer seems to be
> saved as a new draft each time.  Toggling `version-control' doesn't make
> a difference.
>
> Has anybody actually tried to reproduce???  I just used an address like
> "test" and tried to send.
>
>> Maybe have a look at the contents of the ~/News/drafts/drafts
>> directory?  (or elsewhere if you change the default location)
>
> Doesn't look like numbered backups.  Looks like normal files
> corresponding to the draft copies one sees in Gnus.

Sorry, I don't get "normal files corresponding to the draft copies".  Do
you mean that when closing Emacs then there are "normal" files to be
saved and this has implications to the drafts?

Thank you

      Dieter
-- 
Best wishes
H. Dieter Wilhelm
Zwingenberg, Germany

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

"H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:

> Sorry, I don't get "normal files corresponding to the draft copies".  Do
> you mean that when closing Emacs then there are "normal" files to be
> saved and this has implications to the drafts?

Did you have a look in the "drafts" directory as had been suggested?

I see files there named "2", "4", "6".  These names don't suggest to me
that these are numbered backups of a draft.  _All_ files in this
directory are named using this same scheme.  That's what I tried to say.

Michael.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> I tried the recipe, and the drafts group just contains a single article
> for me:

And sending failed for you?

I tried to reproduce the issue with gnus-mock, but there the recipe is
not reproducible because sending doesn't fail, it succeeds, and the
draft is removed.

Anyway, in my "drafts" folder I see files named "2", "4", "6" and so
on, in particular I don't see that one file would correspond to the
original draft and the others would be backups (based on these names).

But I failed to find the code location were these files got saved.

Michael.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> I tried the recipe, and the drafts group just contains a single article
>> for me:
>
> And sending failed for you?
>
> I tried to reproduce the issue with gnus-mock, but there the recipe is
> not reproducible because sending doesn't fail, it succeeds, and the
> draft is removed.

I tried this by setting (setq gnus-mock-cleanup-p nil), running
`gnus-mock-start', editing the fakesendmail.py python file in the /tmp
directory to raise an exception, went through Dieter's recipe, then shut
down emacs, then `gnus-mock-resume' to re-start emacs using the old
installation, then restarting Gnus.

I also got the prompt about restoring save files, but didn't end up with
multiple drafts.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:

> I also got the prompt about restoring save files, but didn't end up with
> multiple drafts.

With my setup, I can reproduce the issue without exiting Emacs.  It's
enough to exit Gnus.  I don't get questions related to save files, I
just get the duplicated draft articles (automatically) after restarting
Gnus.

Michael.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> With my setup, I can reproduce the issue without exiting Emacs.  It's
> enough to exit Gnus.  I don't get questions related to save files, I
> just get the duplicated draft articles (automatically) after restarting
> Gnus.

Are there duplicated drafts on disk in the drafts directory?

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

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Are there duplicated drafts on disk in the drafts directory?

Yes. Today they are numbered 1, 3, 5, ...

They are not absolutely identical for me.  1, the only one I saved
explicitly without trying to send before, has no Message-ID and Date and
these fields.

The files 3, 5, ... have these fields, and these fields differ.

I also found that each duplicate seems to start as an auto-save-file,
e.g. #3#.  But it gets picked up by Gnus, it gets listed as draft, and
after each failed send attempt, #3# has become 3, and I have another
#5#, and so on.  Didn't investigate what causes the auto-save files to
become a file which isn't named #*#.

Michael.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> Didn't investigate what causes the auto-save files to become a file
> which isn't named #*#.

That seems only to happen when I perform another failing send attempt.
And it doesn't even matter which of, for example, 1, 3 or 5 I choose to
send, after that has failed to send, #7# has become 7.

Michael.

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

> "H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:
>
>> Sorry, I don't get "normal files corresponding to the draft copies".  Do
>> you mean that when closing Emacs then there are "normal" files to be
>> saved and this has implications to the drafts?
>
> Did you have a look in the "drafts" directory as had been suggested?

yes indeed

  c:/Users/uidg1626/News/drafts/drafts:
  total used in directory 34 available 72.3 GiB
  drwxrwxrwx  1 uidg1626 Domain Users      0 Oct 16 00:56 ..
  drwxrwxrwx  1 uidg1626 Domain Users     4k Oct 28 08:28 .
  -rw-rw-rw-  1 uidg1626 Domain Users    233 Oct 22 08:33 1
  -rw-rw-rw-  1 uidg1626 Domain Users    267 Oct 22 08:33 3
  -rw-rw-rw-  1 uidg1626 Domain Users    267 Oct 22 08:34 5
  -rw-rw-rw-  1 uidg1626 Domain Users  27.7k Oct 26 08:05 6
  -rw-rw-rw-  1 uidg1626 Domain Users   1.5k Oct 28 08:31 #8#


> I see files there named "2", "4", "6".  These names don't suggest to me
> that these are numbered backups of a draft.  _All_ files in this
> directory are named using this same scheme.  That's what I tried to say.

In Gnus it looks like this, I see no numbering with the default Gnus format

 . [   2: -> dieter@duenenhof-web] test
 .     <   2: -> dieter@duenenhof-web> 
 .     <   2: -> dieter@duenenhof-web> 


> Michael.

By chance, do you see it under MS Windows?

Shall I create a bug report?

Thank you

      Dieter

Re: Gnus accumulating copies of a draft when sending is not possible

[Michael Heerdegen]

"H. Dieter Wilhelm" <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de> writes:

> By chance, do you see it under MS Windows?

I see it under Debian Gnu/Linux.

> Shall I create a bug report?

Yes, I think so.

Michael.