Newbie Questions on Gnus (nnimap and nntp)

[Paulo Jorge Matos]

Hi all,

I have installed Gnus 5.10.6 on my Gentoo Linux box and spent many
hours yesterday configuring it. A very, very nice piece of software.
Following the manual and some code snapshots on my.gnus.org I've
created a .gnus.el file.
Now, my Gnus has some problems. I have created a .nnimap-authinfo as
follows:
machine mega.ist.utl.pt login pocm password pinxesa010402 force yes

I've added the line to my .gnus:
(setq nnimap-authinfo-file "~/.nnimap-authinfo")

Still, Gnus keeps asking me for a file name and password when starting
it.

After starting gnus, it does a lot of things, many messages go through
the minibuffer but then it just stops with the following:
"Opening nntp server on Netvisao... done"

Does nothing else, the emacs process is blocked. The only thing I can
do after 20 minutes waiting for it go solve things by itself is C-g.

Then Gnus starts without any message in my nnimap inbox (which I'm
sure I have them, so they were not updated) and with no new messages
in nntp, which shows they were not checked too.
Pressing 'g' I get:
"Reading active file from Netvisao via nntp..."

But doesn't seem so since no packets come in or go out from my
computer.
The strange thing is that with nnimap-debug on I don't get any
*nnimap-debug* buffer.

My *Messages* buffer after this is:
Waiting for response from mega.ist.utl.pt...done
imap: Authenticating to `mega.ist.utl.pt' using `login'...
imap: Plaintext authentication...
IMAP password for pocm@mega.ist.utl.pt (using authenticator `login'): 
IMAP password for pocm@mega.ist.utl.pt (using authenticator `login'):
.
IMAP password for pocm@mega.ist.utl.pt (using authenticator `login'):
..
IMAP password for pocm@mega.ist.utl.pt (using authenticator `login'):
.............
imap: Authenticating to `mega.ist.utl.pt' using `login'...done
Loading bbdb-gnus...done
Reading /home/pmatos/.newsrc.eld...
Ignoring disappeared server `nnimap:mega.ist.utl.pt'
Reading active file from Mega via nnimap...
nnimap: Checking mailboxes...
Loading utf7...done
nnimap: Mailbox news.announce.newusers modified
nnimap: Mailbox news.groups.questions modified
nnimap: Mailbox INBOX modified
nnimap: Checking mailboxes...done
Reading active file via nnml...
Opening nnml server...done
nnml: Reading incoming mail from file...
nnml: Reading incoming mail (no new mail)...done
Reading active file via nnml...done
Reading active file from Netvisao via nntp...
Opening nntp server on Netvisao...done
Quit reading the active file
nnimap: Listing subscribed mailboxes on Mega...done
Opening nntp server on Netvisao...done
No new newsgroups
Checking new news...
Opening nndoc server on gnus-help...done
Checking new news...done
Loading gnus-topic...done
No gnus is bad news
No more unread newsgroups
Reading active file from Mega via nnimap...
nnimap: Checking mailboxes...done
Reading active file via nnml...
nnml: Reading incoming mail from file...
nnml: Reading incoming mail (no new mail)...done
Reading active file via nnml...done
Reading active file from Netvisao via nntp...
Quit reading the active file
Checking new news...
Opening nndoc server on gnus-help...done
Checking new news...done
No gnus is bad news
Making completion list...
Loading view...done
Loading eieio-opt...done


Can someone help me in solving this issue?

Cheers,

Paulo Matos

My .gnus.el is as follows:
;; My GNUS file
;; Last updated 28 May 2004

;;Requires
(require 'gnus)
(require 'nnrss)
(require 'nnimap)
(require 'browse-url)
(require 'bbdb)

;; We're going to use the Insidious Big Brother Database
(bbdb-initialize 'gnus 'message)

;; My information
(setq user-mail-address "pocm@mega.ist.utl.pt")
(setq user-full-name "Paulo Jorge O. C. Matos")

;; Initial select method. 
;; gnus-nntp-server overrides gnus-select-method so we don't want it.
(setq gnus-nntp-server nil)

(setq gnus-select-method '
      (nnimap "Mega"
              (nnimap-address "mega.ist.utl.pt")
              (nnimap-server-port 993)
              (nnimap-stream ssl)
              (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX"))))

;; Information on nnimap authinfo file
(setq nnimap-authinfo-file "~/.nnimap-authinfo")

;; Use this for ssl.
(setq imap-ssl-program "/usr/bin/openssl s_client -ssl3 -connect
%s:%p")

;; Set nnimap debug info
(setq nnimap-debug t)

;; We do not wish to read what Lars want us to read so:
(setq gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups nil)

;; This variable just tells us we want Gnus to check new groups on
start
;; up when querying server.
(setq gnus-check-new-newsgroups 'ask-server)

;; Read the active file for the subscribed groups
(setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)

;; Delete the list of killed servers...
(setq gnus-save-killed-list nil)

;; This variable tells GNus what to do when there are new groups
(setq gnus-newsgroup-method 'gnus-subscribe-zombies)

;;We don't want to use any news readers so let's 
;; ask gnus to ignore .newsrc files.
(setq gnus-save-newsrc-file nil)
(setq gnus-read-newsrc-file nil)

;; Let's ask gnus to backup startup file
(setq gnus-backup-startup-file t)

;; Telling Gnus to read mail
(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods 
      '((nnml "")                      ;; Use nnml to keep mail on
disk
        (nntp "Netvisao"
              (nntp-address "news.netvisao.pt")
              (nntp-port-number 119))))

;; SMTP information
(setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
(setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "descartes")

;; Keep the mail here
;(setq mail-source-directory "~/Mail")

;; Keep nnml files here
;(setq nnml-directory "~/Mail")

;; These are my mail sources
;; EMPTY

;; How to split my email
(setq nnmail-split-methods 'gnus-group-split)

(setq nnmail-split-fancy
      '(& (to "pocm@*.ist.utl.pt" "mail.mega")))
              
;; AH, my beloved group line format
(setq gnus-group-line-format "%M%S%5y:%B%(%G%)\n")

;; No groups are too big for me. Consider all groups small.
(setq gnus-large-newsgroup nil)

;; Always turn on minor topic mode
(add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)

;; It's unacceptable that GNus get the mail information wrong from
posts
(setq gnus-extract-address-components
'mail-extract-address-components)

;; RSS Code
;; This code is the code in the manual:
;; http://www.gnus.org/manual/gnus_193.html
(add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)

;; This adds a hook to summary mode BUT it only runs if it is an rss
feed
(add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook
          (lambda ()
            (if (string-match "^rss.?[a-zA-Z0-9]*"
gnus-newsgroup-name)
                (progn
                  (make-local-variable 'gnus-show-threads)
                  (make-local-variable 'gnus-article-sort-functions)
                  (make-local-variable 'gnus-use-adaptive-scoring)
                  (make-local-variable 'gnus-use-scoring)
                  (make-local-variable
'gnus-score-find-score-files-function)
                  (make-local-variable 'gnus-summary-line-format)
                  (setq gnus-show-threads nil)
                  (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
                  (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
                  (setq gnus-use-scoring t)
                  (setq gnus-score-find-score-files-function
'gnus-score-find-single)
                  (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s
%]%)\n")
                  ))))

(defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
  (let ((descr
         (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
    (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))

(defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
  (interactive "p")
  (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
                   (mail-header-extra
                    (gnus-data-header
                     (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
                           gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
    (if url
        (progn
          (browse-url (cdr url))
          (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
      (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))

(eval-after-load "gnus"
  #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
      (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
(add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)


;; Pane tweak to make a nice looking Gnus
;; Code from 
;; http://www.gnus.org/manual/gnus_366.html#SEC403
(gnus-add-configuration
 '(article
   (horizontal 1.0
               (vertical 25
                         (group 1.0))
               (vertical 1.0
                         (summary 0.25 point)
                         (article 1.0)))))
(gnus-add-configuration
 '(summary
   (horizontal 1.0
               (vertical 25
                         (group 1.0))
               (vertical 1.0
                         (summary 1.0 point)))))              

;; On the fly spell checking
(setq ispell-program-name "aspell") ; Using aspell instead of ispell

;; If we wanted spell when sending the message
;(add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message) 

;; We want spell checking on the fly
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1)))

;; We want gnus to ask for confirmation when 
;; replying to someone through mail from a newsgroup
(setq gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news t)

;; My X-face file
;(setq message-default-headers
;        (with-temp-buffer
;          (insert "X-Face: ")
;          (insert-file-contents "~/.xface")
;          (buffer-string)))


;; I want to use trees
(setq gnus-use-trees t)

(setq gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree)

(setq gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)

(gnus-add-configuration
 '(article
   (vertical 1.0
             (horizontal 0.25
                         (summary 0.75 point)
                         (tree 1.0))
             (article 1.0))))

;; Last thing of .gnus
(gnus-compile)