From xemacs-m  Thu Feb 13 13:39:26 1997
Received: from black-ice.cc.vt.edu (root@black-ice.cc.vt.edu [128.173.14.71])
	by xemacs.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA02276
	for <xemacs-beta@xemacs.org>; Thu, 13 Feb 1997 13:39:24 -0600 (CST)
Received: from black-ice.cc.vt.edu (valdis@LOCALHOST [127.0.0.1])
	by black-ice.cc.vt.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA16648
	for <xemacs-beta@xemacs.org>; Thu, 13 Feb 1997 13:51:20 -0500
Message-Id: <199702131851.NAA16648@black-ice.cc.vt.edu>
X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0gamma 1/27/96
To: xemacs-beta@xemacs.org
Subject: Blech. Bitten on the ass by gnus.
From: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu
X-Url: http://black-ice.cc.vt.edu/~valdis/
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="==_Exmh_-660590548P";
	micalg=pgp-md5; protocol="application/pgp-signature"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 13:51:19 -0500

--==_Exmh_-660590548P
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Well.. I found out the hard way  that sometimes a software package may
be so slick that you expect it to be smarter than it was...

I came in,  found xemacs had crashed, took  the debugging info that  I
just posted,  and restarted it.   Came up fine, so  I ctl-x 5 2  a new
window,  size  it right, and  M-x  gnus.  Our  news   server is  a bit
piggish, so gnus  startup takes  a  while.  Wander off to  another CDE
desktop window, and the fun begins.

I use exmh  to  read mail,  and it's hooked   to use gnuclient to  use
xemacs as the  message  editor.  I go to  reply  to some mail, and  it
opens up nicely, with draft number 4 ready for me to  hack on.  Then I
notice a message on the bottom line:

Auto-save file exists.  Do you want to read it?

I  look at that,  and convince  myself that  (a)  the stuff about  M-x
recover-session from the crash  was a crock,  (b)  it was offering  to
auto-recover the buffer (since I had been editing a *different* 'draft
4'  when I left the  office), and therefor (c)  I did *NOT* want it to
revert the buffer since it was  *really* a new file  by the same name.
So I type 'n'.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that:

1) This *really*  referred to the  Gnus 'dribble' file. Talk about  an
unclear message, especially  if it shows  up in an unexpected context.
(Can you guess where this is heading yet? ;)

2) about 3,000 pieces of read news  magically marked themselves unread
(as gnus  and xemacs  had been  running  for a  LONG  time - when  did
-final3 come out? ;)

3) gnus/gnus.el, down in gnus-dribble-read-file, had done a
gnus-y-or-n-p that had gone into whatever buffer/frame the focus was
in, *NOT* the buffer/frame the message actually referred to.

This *definitely* violated the Principle of Least Surprise.  I'd offer
a patch, but I admit not having a clue what the One  True Right Way to
fix it is. ;)

-- 
				Valdis Kletnieks
				Computer Systems Engineer
				Virginia Tech



--==_Exmh_-660590548P
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBMwNipdQBOOoptg9JAQGeUQP/QBw/qGsx710gTmoe6jBaqPSCXzWboWlD
9kDwcg8XSiHHnIiRdc7XYRRW3cZO8AvW73O6P9kA1AVUqAqU5M5fRoHY8tuBOpTU
Ive1KhFhqZbswQxrDldDX6kkMU0z7kHwhfjNqwjT/I9cKgxFI3N2Zco3I1J2kj8B
+mDYpb62HQw=
=qJNQ
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

--==_Exmh_-660590548P--

