Can't select group on groups with unread messages

[Eric Abrahamsen]

So I did something clever recently, switching the IMAP backends of two
of my nnimap servers, without telling Gnus I'd done it. Everything went
surprisingly well, except for one thing.

On one of my accounts (not the other), if the INBOX has unread messages,
I can't open it. If I hit return on it, it tells me "Can't select
group". If I open it with C-u or M-{digit}, it opens with the specified
number of messages. So far I'm not sure if it is showing me the newly
arrived messages or not; at any rate, when I open the group using C-u or
M-{digit}, none of the messages are marked unread, and when I quit out
of the group, the unread count remains unchanged. I still can't just
enter the group normally.

Does anyone know how I get out of this situation?

Thanks!
Eric

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Post by Eric Abrahamsen
So I did something clever recently, switching the IMAP backends of two
of my nnimap servers, without telling Gnus I'd done it. Everything went
surprisingly well, except for one thing.
On one of my accounts (not the other), if the INBOX has unread messages,
I can't open it. If I hit return on it, it tells me "Can't select
group". If I open it with C-u or M-{digit}, it opens with the specified
number of messages. So far I'm not sure if it is showing me the newly
arrived messages or not; at any rate, when I open the group using C-u or
M-{digit}, none of the messages are marked unread, and when I quit out
of the group, the unread count remains unchanged. I still can't just
enter the group normally.

Okay, I confirmed that, as new messages come in, I can't see them. If I
enter the group with C-u or M-something, it just shows me the old
messages, not including the new ones.

Post by Eric Abrahamsen
Does anyone know how I get out of this situation?
Thanks!
Eric

[Eric S Fraga]

Eric,

have you tried going to server mode (^ from Group buffer) and then
selecting the appropriate server to see what groups are available from
that server?

The other thing to do is "G c" from the group buffer on that group and
see what "active" list is (at the end of the buffer you get). Maybe
delete that entry and see what happens?

The latter is most likely to help at all as the problem is likely that
you have confused gnus by switching servers and the IDs of the messages
have changed.

I assume you are not using the gnus agent.

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Post by Eric S Fraga
Eric,
have you tried going to server mode (^ from Group buffer) and then
selecting the appropriate server to see what groups are available from
that server?
The other thing to do is "G c" from the group buffer on that group and
see what "active" list is (at the end of the buffer you get). Maybe
delete that entry and see what happens?

Brilliant, that did it! I was getting the same result in the server
buffer as I was in the groups buffer: broken groups (there turned out to
be a few) couldn't be entered.

But deleting the active parameter did the trick. (I'd also never tried
"G c" before, that was fairly impressive. I'm not really comfortable
with customize, and will probably stick to "G p", but still,
impressive.) I deleted the active list for the broken groups, restarted
Gnus, and all was well.

I'm trying to learn more of the Gnus internals, and feel like I've made
some progress, but I have to say the "active list" stuff still feels
like voodoo to me. There's no way in hell I would have touched those
entries without your prompting (and a fairly unimportant broken group to
test on). There's a fragility to the whole thing that makes me light
incense before I look at gnus-active-hashtb, or ~/.newsrc.eld. And if
Gnus knows enough to tell me it "Can't open group", doesn't it know
enough to try recreating the numbers itself?

Okay, mini-rant over, sorry. I really appreciate the help.

Post by Eric S Fraga
The latter is most likely to help at all as the problem is likely that
you have confused gnus by switching servers and the IDs of the messages
have changed.
I assume you are not using the gnus agent.

I'm not entirely sure, to be honest! I have configured nothing to do
with the agent, but I do use Gnus in unplugged state quite regularly. I
guess that counts...

[Eric S Fraga]

On Thursday, 11 Sep 2014 at 23:20, Eric Abrahamsen wrote:

[...]

Post by Eric Abrahamsen
Brilliant, that did it! I was getting the same result in the server
buffer as I was in the groups buffer: broken groups (there turned out to
be a few) couldn't be entered.
But deleting the active parameter did the trick. (I'd also never tried

Excellent.

[...]

Post by Eric Abrahamsen
I'm trying to learn more of the Gnus internals, and feel like I've made
some progress, but I have to say the "active list" stuff still feels
like voodoo to me. There's no way in hell I would have touched those
entries without your prompting (and a fairly unimportant broken group to
test on). There's a fragility to the whole thing that makes me light

I understand your reticence. However, with imap servers, you are fairly
safe.