Subject: bug#65467: 29.1.50; Gnus agent groups with spaces in their names cannot be activated while unplugged

From: James Thomas <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:40:29 +0530

James Thomas wrote:

> Eric Abrahamsen wrote:
>
>> James Thomas writes:
>>
>>> To reproduce, attempt to access, while unplugged, any group of an
>>> agentized (IMAP) server with a space in its name (such as Gmail's 'Sent
>>> Mail' or 'All Mail').
>>>
>>> Here's a patch that fixes it:
>>>
>>> diff --git a/lisp/gnus/gnus-agent.el b/lisp/gnus/gnus-agent.el
>>> index db205c5b657..5f2401c7c07 100644
>>> --- a/lisp/gnus/gnus-agent.el
>>> +++ b/lisp/gnus/gnus-agent.el
>>> @@ -1340,13 +1340,13 @@ gnus-agent-save-group-info
>>>
>>>            (goto-char (point-min))
>>>            (when (re-search-forward
>>> -                 (concat "^" (regexp-quote group) " ") nil t)
>>> +                 (concat "^\"?" (regexp-quote group) "\"? ") nil t)
>>>              (save-excursion
>>>                (setq oactive-max (read (current-buffer))	  ;; max
>>>                      oactive-min (read (current-buffer)))) ;; min
>>>              (gnus-delete-line)))
>>>  	(when active
>>> -	  (insert (format "%s %d %d y\n" group
>>> +	  (insert (format "%S %d %d y\n" group
>>>  			  (max (or oactive-max (cdr active)) (cdr active))
>>>  			  (min (or oactive-min (car active)) (car active))))
>>>  	  (goto-char (point-max))
>>> @@ -1370,7 +1370,7 @@ gnus-agent-get-group-info
>>>
>>>            (goto-char (point-min))
>>>            (when (re-search-forward
>>> -                 (concat "^" (regexp-quote group) " ") nil t)
>>> +                 (concat "^\"?" (regexp-quote group) "\"? ") nil t)
>>>              (save-excursion
>>>                (setq oactive-max (read (current-buffer))	;; max
>>>                      oactive-min (read (current-buffer))) ;; min
>>> diff --git a/lisp/gnus/nnmail.el b/lisp/gnus/nnmail.el
>>> index e8f157392d4..3a91139cb3f 100644
>>> --- a/lisp/gnus/nnmail.el
>>> +++ b/lisp/gnus/nnmail.el
>>> @@ -695,7 +697,7 @@ nnmail-generate-active
>>>    (erase-buffer)
>>>    (let (group)
>>>      (while (setq group (pop alist))
>>> -      (insert (format "%s %d %d y\n" (car group) (cdadr group)
>>> +      (insert (format "%S %d %d y\n" (car group) (cdadr group)
>>>  		      (caadr group))))
>>>      (goto-char (point-max))
>>>      (while (search-backward "\\." nil t)
>>>
>>> Note: If you're already facing this problem with a group, after applying
>>> the patch, you'll also have to do M-g over it in the Group buffer while
>>> plugged, to update the agent's active file. New servers wouldn't need
>>> this.
>>>
>>> This is similar in spirit to bug#42823.
>>
>> I'm thinking about ways in which this change might be able to break
>> users' existing set ups. It looks to me like it will be a "silent
>> upgrade" as the group names will be replaced with their quoted versions.
>>
>> But that means that users will not be able to downgrade their Gnus
>> (versions of Gnus without this change won't be able to read active files
>> written with this change in place), which I think is a contract we try
>> to stick to. Do we? I can't remember.
>
> Hmmm...
>

Perhaps we can commit only the 'reading' parts (1st change in the first
2 hunks) and hold off on the 'writing' parts for a later, minor release
(which wouldn't have drastic changes) so that people know (for one
release) that any breakage is not due to that.

>> In general it's annoying that different parts of Gnus use different
>> routines for reading/writing active files...
>
> At least for this point: I've checked that all results of a grep for '%s
> %d' or '(regexp-quote .*group.*)' in the gnus code are covered. These
> should be the ones not using 'read'.

That should read '(regexp-quote[ \n\t]+.*group.*)' (in effect, through
Dired's M-s a C-M-s).

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