Re: [Pan-users] Segfault setting 0 connections Was: Anyone using a news server that speaks xzver?

[Duncan]

walt posted on Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:54:08 -0800 as excerpted:

> On 12/26/2012 10:01 PM, Duncan wrote:
> 
>> Of course, you can also edit the servers.xml file directly (with pan
>> closed of course), setting zero connections.  That should work, or I'd
>> be having problems with my zero-connect server.  But of course that
>> doesn't fix the segfault issue when trying it from within pan.
> 
> <sigh> I'm thinking now that the segfaulting is more complicated than
> just changing the servers.xml file.  I'm also seeing segfaults while
> doing other random sorts of things like just clicking on a (binary)
> article header:
> 
> (pan:8949): Gtk-WARNING **: gtktextbtree.c:4019: byte index off the end
> of the line
> 
> (pan:8949): Gtk-ERROR **: Byte index 44 is off the end of the line
> Trace/breakpoint trap

As I said, I've seen nothing at all like that here.

I wonder... what gtk?  You're not building pan against gtk3 are you?  If 
so, that might explain.  I've always built against gtk2 here, but I noted 
the last time I synced my live-ebuild against the one in the gentoo tree 
that the gentoo/gtk folks had hard-coded gtk2, while it'd normally be a 
USE flag here on gentoo, passing on to users the same choice the upstream 
autoconf/config has.  My assumption, therefore, is that they decided gtk3 
wasn't sufficiently stable or tested to build against.

(My personal reasoning is simpler.  I have several things built against 
gtk2 including claws-mail, for mail and feeds, pan, for news, and firefox, 
for web.  Last I knew at least firefox was still quite early in its gtk3 
testing cycle and was still only publicly buildable against gtk2, and I'd 
prefer not to have to build and maintain upgrades for both gtk2 and gtk3 
on my system, so I use gtk2 for everything and don't have gtk3 
installed.  Obviously, however, the calculus would be different for 
anyone running gnome3 or the like, which would normally include the 
gentoo/gtk devs, so I was actually quite surprised to see that they had 
hard-coded pan to build against gtk2.)

As for gtk2, an upgrade just came thru a few days ago here.  I'm now 
running... gtk+-2.24.14, pango-1.32.5, atk-2.6.0.  The only weirdness 
I've seen is the infamous pan header column issue (the last column in the 
header pane expands to take the whole pane, the other columns disappear) 
that seems to be triggered by every gtk upgrade.  After I dink around and 
get that set again, everything's fine.  And it was fine with whatever I 
was running earlier, too.

At least against gmane.

(FWIW, I've been working enough to now have money to buy a $50 1 Terabyte 
block from astranews, but less time to use it... <shrug>  But it's in the 
budget now so one of these days I'll probably do it.  Then I'll have 
something to test against besides gmane.)

> I'm way too tired (and coming down with a cold) to debug this any
> further ATM,
> so I'll just crawl off to bed and turn the electric blanket up to 9 :)

Electric blankets...  I used 'em back in Oregon, but haven't, here in 
Phoenix.  Too hot already most of the year.  For about three months this 
time of year I could try it some of the time, but a portable heater on 
its low 750 watt setting keeps the air in the bedroom warm enough too 
(tho there's often about three hours overnite when I either need to turn 
it up, or put on an extra layer, either blanket or clothing), thus making 
it easier to actually get up when I have to, and I don't heat/cool 
anything else at all.

Last spring, before it got /too/ hot, I decided to put that shiny bubble-
insulation in the window without the AC, and covered both it and around 
the AC in the other window with cardboard, cheap and efficient 
insulation. =:^)  Before that, I'd have a few days both winter and summer 
where my AC/heater couldn't really keep up.  Those are gone and my 
electric bill has dropped by about 25% (tho part of that is the more 
efficient computer I got in July, too).  Actually, for December's bill 
it's less than half, but the average temp as reported by the electric 
company on the bill was also higher, so I should have had a somewhat 
lower bill in any case.

As for colds, for years I was getting a quite predictable cold every 
spring and fall, two a year, when the weather noticeably changed.  But 
I've changed my habits a bit, and the last couple years I've been able to 
skip... three out of the four I'd have had.

Two things that I think have helped.  First, I discovered that if I kept 
quite strong alcohol-based mouthwash around (Listerine or similar, 20% 
alcohol minimum, I don't drink but I guess it's the old folk hot toddy 
idea, taken preventative), and gargled a few times over several hours 
when I first got that tickle in my throat or the itchy eyes, it would 
often go away.  But that by itself didn't seem to kill the colds.  I'd 
just get them a month or so later.

Second, a nurse I met mentioned that they do this with plain petrolatum 
(generic vasoline), and that it helps prevent them from catching all the 
colds and etc that they're exposed to in their work.  But I found a 
variant that works better for me.  Dollar store vaporizing chest rub 
(generic mentholatum).  First I began using it as a decongestant and to 
cure the itchy nose when I already HAD a cold.  But then I started trying 
the nurse's trick, and it WORKED.  The trick is to rub it IN the nose at 
the first sign of itchiness or that too dry air feeling.  (Yes, that does 
sort of gloss over the don't take internally bit, and there's the gross-
out factor of rubbing it actually in your nose, but it works!)

I believe it's the combination of two effects.  First, the layer of 
"grease" is a physical barrier to germs, so they physically can't get to 
the sensitive nasal membranes that would otherwise harbor and allow them 
to grow.  That physical barrier also acts the other way, preventing the 
normal membrane moisture from evaporating, keeping them moist and 
preventing cracking, allowing the germs to spread into the blood, etc.  I 
guess the barrier effect is what the nurse was seeing.

The second effect is the effect of the vapors.  These are a mild 
irritant, causing the mucusal membranes they're exposed to to "weep" a 
bit, shrinking swelling.  Of course at the first level this is the 
decongestant effect.  However, I've decided that there's more to it than 
that.  In the extra dry air of artificially heated/cooled (but not 
humidified) air or pretty much naturally here in phoenix, again, it's a 
moisture thing.  The effect is to keep the membranes both moist enough to 
prevent cracking, and to trigger enough "extra" moisture to flush the 
germs (via blowing your nose and spitting) out, preventing them from 
lodging and multiplying.

This vapor effect is critical, because it reaches further into the 
sinuses and bronchial tubes than any simple layer of "vasoline" (or the 
mouthwash trick above) could, thereby triggering flushing of germs that 
would otherwise be allowed to grow.

And further, I think part of my problem, at least, is allergies.  Again, 
it helps flush the allergens and/or provides a physical barrier at the 
top of the system, before they can trigger the nastiness.  At minimum, it 
sure helps with the itchy nose/eyes problem I otherwise get around 
certain trees, etc, part of the year.

And that dollar store tub of vapo-rub lasts a whole season!  Actually, I 
have one at work and one at home, and lost one last year, but I'm still 
going on the two, second year now.  It's a WHOLE lot cheaper than about 
anything else you can do either for a cold, or preventatively.

So it might be worth a try.  Of course, that doesn't help so much when 
you already HAVE a cold, altho depending on symtoms, it can help some, 
certainly with the itchiness and plugged up sinuses, etc.

Between the two, the mouthwash and the vapo-rub, and with the anti-
histamines I've carried around on my key chain for about a decade now, in 
case I visit a house with cats (which I'm allergic to) or something (if I 
take a half dose when I first feel it coming on I'm good, otherwise, it 
takes 2-3 doses overlapped to catch up, before reducing to a dose at a 
time for a day or two), I've been MUCH healthier the last couple years.

And actually, I think I might have prevented that norovirus that was 
going around for awhile as well.  I know several people at work got it, 
and there were headlines about the epidemic in Britain and a city or two 
here in the US, but I didn't get it.  Whether that was the vapo-rub and 
mouthwash tricks or just luck I don't know, but I'll certainly take not 
getting it, whatever the reason!

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman