"John F. Morse" <xanadu.bbs@sample.invalid> wrote
> On Wed, 2008-06-18 at 13:26 +0100, Magnate wrote:
>
> > Does anyone else use Evolution to read Usenet? I'm having terrible
> > difficulty with it:
> >
> > 1. It doesn't seem to have a full list of newsgroups. For instance, when
> > I
> > click to expand the list of groups under alt, there's just a line that
> > says
> > "Loading ..." (and if I click on that it crashes Evolution,
> > consistently).
> > Clicking "Refresh" does nothing. Does anyone know a way to force
> > Evolution
> > to re-fetch the list of newsgroups from the server?
>
> This message was read and replied to using Evolution 2.6.1 under Ubuntu
> 6.06 LTS. I have several news servers configured, but only for
> occasional testing. I normally only use Evolution for the PIM calender.
>
> Under the "Folder" menu at the top, select, "Subscriptions."
>
> Use the "Server" pop-down menu to select the correct news server.
>
> At the bottom of this "Folder Subscriptions" window, click the "Refresh"
> button. I suspect you have made it this far before.
>
> The time to refresh depends on the speed of your ISP connection, and the
> speed of the news server and its connection. You may have to wait a few
> minutes if you are using dialup.
>
> I am on high-speed cable and it took about six seconds for just the
> alt.* hierarchy to display. Perhaps Evolution is not programmed for
> speed doing this task? Like others stated, it is not the best news
> reader available, but the added NNTP feature does put it above Microsoft
> Outlook which it replaces.
>
> In time you should receive the list all active groups on that particular
> NNTP server.

Well, thanks for the thorough reply, but I waited an hour and it still said
"Loading ..." (on two lines) when I clicked on any of the big-8 hierarchies.

> > 2. Some newsgroups are not updating - they just get "stuck" at a certain
> > date, and Evolution sees/fetches no more articles. I know there are more
> > articles in the groups on the server, because I can see them with OE.
> > Again,
> > is there a solution to this? I've tried deleting and re-creating the
> > Usenet
> > account, but it seems to remember all the groups and articles, including
> > the
> > sticking points. Does anyone know a way to completely re-set this?
>
> This question goes beyond your trouble description in question #1 above.
> IOW, how did you get here if you previously failed? ;-)

Well, most of the non-big-8 groups are available to me.
To be fair, I have this second problem with Thunderbird/Seamonkey as well -
I think it's a Leafnode-related issue. Irritating that OE works better with
Leafnode than any of my open source clients!

Thanks again,

Chris

Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Magnate typed:

> Well, most of the non-big-8 groups are available to me.
> To be fair, I have this second problem with Thunderbird/Seamonkey as well -
> I think it's a Leafnode-related issue. Irritating that OE works better with
> Leafnode than any of my open source clients!

Lemme see your Leafnode config, please. Oh, and file set permissions
(owner:group) of /etc/news and /var/spool/news, plus your users'
'groups' output.

Thanks,
--
sk8r-365
Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
-- Matthew 11:26

sk8r-365 wrote:
> Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Magnate typed:
>
>> Well, most of the non-big-8 groups are available to me.
>> To be fair, I have this second problem with Thunderbird/Seamonkey as well
>> - I think it's a Leafnode-related issue. Irritating that OE works better
>> with Leafnode than any of my open source clients!
>
> Lemme see your Leafnode config, please. Oh, and file set permissions
> (owner:group) of /etc/news and /var/spool/news, plus your users'
> 'groups' output.

Ok. Leafnode config is as follows (comment lines not shown):

expire = 90
server = news.virginmedia.com
allowSTRANGERS = 42
maxcrosspost = 5
minlines = 3
maxbytes = 90000
timeout_long = 30
filterfile = /etc/news/leafnode/filters
hostname = news.terminalarrogance.com
newsadmin = postmaster@terminalarrogance.com

chrisc@baba:~$ ls -al /etc/news
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-03-09 10:38 ./
drwxrwxr-x 74 root root 4096 2008-06-30 07:20 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-04-14 14:41 leafnode/

chrisc@baba:~$ ls -al /var/spool/news
total 68
drwsr-xr-x 13 news news 4096 2008-06-07 12:08 ./
drwxrwxr-x 8 root root 4096 2008-03-09 10:38 ../
-rw-rw-r-- 1 news news 0 2008-06-07 12:08 active.read
drwxrwxr-x 5 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:11 alt/
drwxrwxr-x 4 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:10 comp/
drwxrwsr-x 2 news news 4096 2007-08-11 00:20 failed.postings/
drwxrwsr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-05-22 12:08 interesting.groups/
drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-06-30 19:08 leaf.node/
drwxrwxr-x 3 news news 4096 2008-04-11 11:12 linux/
drwxr-xr-x 1002 news news 20480 2008-03-09 10:38 message.id/
drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-06-30 14:08 out.going/
drwxrwxr-x 3 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:11 rec/
drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-04-09 13:02 temp.files/
drwxrwxr-x 7 news news 4096 2008-04-08 17:08 virginmedia/

For which user do you want to see the groups output? Connections to leafnode
do not use a username.

Current situation is that this second problem (groups getting "stuck" and
not seeing new articles) occurs with Evolution, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey,
both Windows and Linux versions of all three. It does *not* happen with OE
(Windows) or Knode (Linux).

Thanks in advance for your help.

CC

Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Peter Smegma typed:
> sk8r-365 wrote:
>> Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Magnate typed:
>>
>>> Well, most of the non-big-8 groups are available to me.
>>> To be fair, I have this second problem with Thunderbird/Seamonkey as well
>>> - I think it's a Leafnode-related issue. Irritating that OE works better
>>> with Leafnode than any of my open source clients!
>>
>> Lemme see your Leafnode config, please. Oh, and file set permissions
>> (owner:group) of /etc/news and /var/spool/news, plus your users'
>> 'groups' output.
>
> Ok. Leafnode config is as follows (comment lines not shown):
>
> expire = 90
> server = news.virginmedia.com
> allowSTRANGERS = 42
> maxcrosspost = 5
> minlines = 3
> maxbytes = 90000
> timeout_long = 30
> filterfile = /etc/news/leafnode/filters
> hostname = news.terminalarrogance.com
> newsadmin = postmaster@terminalarrogance.com

Looks good.

> chrisc@baba:~$ ls -al /etc/news
> total 12
> drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-03-09 10:38 ./
> drwxrwxr-x 74 root root 4096 2008-06-30 07:20 ../
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-04-14 14:41 leafnode/

For the above:


http://www.leafnode.org/wuerzburg/faq.html (you may wish to read this in
full)

10. fetchnews does not fetch any articles.

Here are the two most common occurences which cause this error:

1. Your groupinfo file is corrupt. Restart fetchnews with the -f
parameter.
2. /var/spool/news may have the wrong permissions. /var/spool/news
and all its subdirectories should be drwxrwsr-x and owned by user
and group news.


http://leafnode.sourceforge.net/doc_en/FAQ.html (another good read)

1. Fetchnews does not fetch any articles.

There are several reasons why this may be the case:

*
You did not read any pseudo articles with your news reader.
Subscribe to some groups, enter them and read the leafnode
placeholder article.
*
Your groupinfo file may be corrupt. Run fetchnews -f.
*
/var/spool/news may have wrong permissions. /var/spool/news and
all its subdirectories should be owned by user and group news and
have permissions drwxrwsr-x (02755).

> chrisc@baba:~$ ls -al /var/spool/news
> total 68
> drwsr-xr-x 13 news news 4096 2008-06-07 12:08 ./
> drwxrwxr-x 8 root root 4096 2008-03-09 10:38 ../
> -rw-rw-r-- 1 news news 0 2008-06-07 12:08 active.read
> drwxrwxr-x 5 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:11 alt/
> drwxrwxr-x 4 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:10 comp/
> drwxrwsr-x 2 news news 4096 2007-08-11 00:20 failed.postings/
> drwxrwsr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-05-22 12:08 interesting.groups/
> drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-06-30 19:08 leaf.node/
> drwxrwxr-x 3 news news 4096 2008-04-11 11:12 linux/
> drwxr-xr-x 1002 news news 20480 2008-03-09 10:38 message.id/
> drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-06-30 14:08 out.going/
> drwxrwxr-x 3 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:11 rec/
> drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-04-09 13:02 temp.files/
> drwxrwxr-x 7 news news 4096 2008-04-08 17:08 virginmedia/


> For which user do you want to see the groups output? Connections to leafnode
> do not use a username.

As I recall - it has been *awhile* - your user, and any others accessing
the spool, must be a member of group "news". I no longer use leafnode,
but here are the groups my user belongs (so you can see the code):

cmo@sk8r:~$ groups
cmo adm dialout cdrom audio video plugdev netdev powerdev

> Current situation is that this second problem (groups getting "stuck" and
> not seeing new articles) occurs with Evolution, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey,
> both Windows and Linux versions of all three. It does *not* happen with OE
> (Windows) or Knode (Linux).

From your ealier post:

> 2. Some newsgroups are not updating - they just get "stuck" at a certain
> date, and Evolution sees/fetches no more articles. I know there are more
> articles in the groups on the server, because I can see them with OE. Again,
> is there a solution to this? I've tried deleting and re-creating the Usenet
> account, but it seems to remember all the groups and articles, including the
> sticking points. Does anyone know a way to completely re-set this?


May not be related to the above, but do check:

http://leafnode.sourceforge.net/doc_en/FAQ.htm

2. Fetchnews has problems retrieving new newsgroups.


Maybe your upstream server supports neither the XGTITLE news.group.name
nor the LIST NEWSGROUPS news.group.name command.

In this case, add nodesc = 1 to the server entry in
/etc/leafnode/config, as described in the leafnode(8) manual page and
the /etc/leafnode/config.example file.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't use Evolution, but there's entries for it in .gconf/apps which hold
settings. Also, re: Evolution being "stuck" - it should be pointed at the
local news spool, and therefore be nearly "instantaneous".

Don't forget to set the $NNTPSERVER variable in ~/.bashrc as follows:
Code: export NNTPSERVER=localhost

Wish I had more time to answer, but I've to return to work. Write again
and ask more that I can help sort this out with you.

--
sk8r-365
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in
prison, and ye came unto me. -- Matthew 25:36

"sk8r-365" <sk8r-365@sk8r.debian.etch.invalid.org> wrote
> Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Peter Smegma typed:
>> sk8r-365 wrote:
>>> Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Magnate typed:
>>>
>>>> Well, most of the non-big-8 groups are available to me.
>>>> To be fair, I have this second problem with Thunderbird/Seamonkey as
>>>> well
>>>> - I think it's a Leafnode-related issue. Irritating that OE works
>>>> better
>>>> with Leafnode than any of my open source clients!
>>>
>>> Lemme see your Leafnode config, please. Oh, and file set permissions
>>> (owner:group) of /etc/news and /var/spool/news, plus your users'
>>> 'groups' output.
>>
>> Ok. Leafnode config is as follows (comment lines not shown):
[snip]
> Looks good.
[snip]
> 10. fetchnews does not fetch any articles.

But this is not my problem. Fetchnews is doing fine - I can see and read all
the new articles with OE or KNode.

The problem is between some clients (Evolution and Mozilla-based) and
Leafnode, not between Leafnode and upstream.

> /var/spool/news may have wrong permissions. /var/spool/news and
> all its subdirectories should be owned by user and group news and
> have permissions drwxrwsr-x (02755).

Surely they don't all need 02755? The output below is what Leafnode itself
set up, so I'm confident it's correct:

>> chrisc@baba:~$ ls -al /var/spool/news
>> total 68
>> drwsr-xr-x 13 news news 4096 2008-06-07 12:08 ./
>> drwxrwxr-x 8 root root 4096 2008-03-09 10:38 ../
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 news news 0 2008-06-07 12:08 active.read
>> drwxrwxr-x 5 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:11 alt/
>> drwxrwxr-x 4 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:10 comp/
>> drwxrwsr-x 2 news news 4096 2007-08-11 00:20 failed.postings/
>> drwxrwsr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-05-22 12:08 interesting.groups/
>> drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-06-30 19:08 leaf.node/
>> drwxrwxr-x 3 news news 4096 2008-04-11 11:12 linux/
>> drwxr-xr-x 1002 news news 20480 2008-03-09 10:38 message.id/
>> drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-06-30 14:08 out.going/
>> drwxrwxr-x 3 news news 4096 2008-03-12 11:11 rec/
>> drwxr-xr-x 2 news news 4096 2008-04-09 13:02 temp.files/
>> drwxrwxr-x 7 news news 4096 2008-04-08 17:08 virginmedia/
>
>> For which user do you want to see the groups output? Connections to
>> leafnode
>> do not use a username.
>
> As I recall - it has been *awhile* - your user, and any others accessing
> the spool, must be a member of group "news". I no longer use leafnode,
> but here are the groups my user belongs (so you can see the code):

But connections to leafnode do not use a username. Leafnode runs as user
news and group news, and all connections use that. You don't "log in" to
leafnode - you simply connect to the server on port 119 and read news. No
username required. (Security is done by means of hosts.allow and hosts.deny
....)

> 2. Fetchnews has problems retrieving new newsgroups.

No, it doesn't have this problem either, as OE regularly says to me "there
are new newsgroups, would you like to see them now?".

> Don't forget to set the $NNTPSERVER variable in ~/.bashrc as follows:
> Code: export NNTPSERVER=localhost

Ooh, haven't tried that. Will do.

> Wish I had more time to answer, but I've to return to work. Write again
> and ask more that I can help sort this out with you.

Thanks very much for your help and your patience so far. I am content to use
KNode for the time being, but am still trying to get Evolution to work as a
matter of curiosity. I'll post again when I've had another go, trying some
of the stuff above.

Cheers,

Chris

* Magnate wrote in alt.os.linux.debian:

> Thanks very much for your help and your patience so far. I am content
> to use KNode for the time being, but am still trying to get Evolution
> to work as a matter of curiosity. I'll post again when I've had
> another go, trying some of the stuff above.

What version of leafnode are you using, have you tried the leafnode-2
branch?

--
David

SINNER wrote:

> * Magnate wrote in alt.os.linux.debian:
>
>> Thanks very much for your help and your patience so far. I am content
>> to use KNode for the time being, but am still trying to get Evolution
>> to work as a matter of curiosity. I'll post again when I've had
>> another go, trying some of the stuff above.
>
> What version of leafnode are you using, have you tried the leafnode-2
> branch?

1.11.7.rc1-8, as packaged for Debian Lenny. I think it will be a while
before leafnode-2 makes it into Debian. I do have a box running sid, so I
could try installing leafnode-2 on that just for testing it out.

Thanks for the suggestion,

CC

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:56:14 +0100, Peter Smegma wrote:

>> What version of leafnode are you using, have you tried the leafnode-2
>> branch?
> 1.11.7.rc1-8, as packaged for Debian Lenny. I think it will be a while
> before leafnode-2 makes it into Debian.

it's in experimental since quite a while, and it works flawlessly
here.

gregor
--
.''`. http://info.comodo.priv.at/ | gpg key ID: 0x00F3CFE4
: :' : debian gnu/linux user, admin & developer - http://www.debian.org/
`. `' member of https://www.vibe.at/ | how to reply: http://got.to/quote/
`- NP: Mark Knopfler: Irish Boy

"gregor herrmann" <gregor+usenet-0601@comodo.priv.at> wrote
> On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:56:14 +0100, Peter Smegma wrote:
>
>>> What version of leafnode are you using, have you tried the leafnode-2
>>> branch?

>> 1.11.7.rc1-8, as packaged for Debian Lenny. I think it will be a while
>> before leafnode-2 makes it into Debian.
>
> it's in experimental since quite a while, and it works flawlessly
> here.

Interesting. Any ideas what's keeping it from migrating to unstable?

(I still think the problem is with clients rather than with Leafnode, but I
would nonetheless be interested in trying Leafnode-2)

CC

In alt.os.linux.debian on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:59:36 +0100, Magnate
<not@receiving.here> wrote:

> "gregor herrmann" <gregor+usenet-0601@comodo.priv.at> wrote
>> On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:56:14 +0100, Peter Smegma wrote:
>>
>>>> What version of leafnode are you using, have you tried the leafnode-2
>>>> branch?
>
>>> 1.11.7.rc1-8, as packaged for Debian Lenny. I think it will be a while
>>> before leafnode-2 makes it into Debian.
>>
>> it's in experimental since quite a while, and it works flawlessly
>> here.
>
> Interesting. Any ideas what's keeping it from migrating to unstable?

Matthias Andree, the Leafnode developer, prefers version 2 not to be
packaged until it passes the alpha stage, so it won't be leaving the
Experimental repository for a while.

> (I still think the problem is with clients rather than with Leafnode, but I
> would nonetheless be interested in trying Leafnode-2)

I've been using Leafnode 2 without problems for two years. Some of the
new features, such as local newsgroups and user authentication, have
come to seem indispensable. However, it isn't guaranteed not to break
when MA finds time to add more features and improvements.

--
PJR :-)

<http://pjr.lasnobberia.net/>
<http://slrn-doc.sourceforge.net/>