Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!att!rutgers!ucsd!usc!snorkelwacker!apple!bbn!gateway!NMSU.EDU!jthomas
From: jthomas@NMSU.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: possible s-expr management error (? naw, but ...)
Message-ID: <8911160201.AA04995@NMSU.Edu>
Date: 16 Nov 89 02:01:02 GMT
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Reply-To: UNIX-EMACS@VM.TCS.Tulane.EDU
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Machine: Sun 3/60
OS: SunOS 3.5
Emacs: gnu emacs 18.51.28
Compiler: I'm not sure, I think gcc 1.34, but maybe just Sun cc
Gnus: gnus 3.12
Routine: gnus-reorder-newsrc-file of David Lawrence of 27 Jun 89

Situation:
I've finally tried to use the gnus-reorder-newsrc-file that David posted
last June.  But it dies with a "consp nil" error message in a call to
setcdr.  So I've looked at what's happening using the debugger.  It is
dying on the line:

              (insert "-")
----->>>>     (setcdr (nth 2 compress-group)
                      (cdr (nth (1- (length compress-group)) compress-group)))
              (setcdr (memq (nth 2 compress-group) compress-group) nil))))

, because compress-group is nil .  So I checked around to see why that
might be so.  To make a long story shorter, I wandered around and
reproducably get in:

        (if (or nosort (not reordered)) nil
          (sort-lines nil (progn (re-search-forward "! " nil t)
                                 (beginning-of-line) (point)) (point-max))
---->>>   (setq gnus-unsub-assoc (sort gnus-unsub-assoc 'gnus-assoc-lessp)))

that before this line, gnus-newsrc-assoc is what it should be, but
afterwards it has been changed.  It is approximately the right size but is
now sorted (as if somehow the last lines of the reorder function have
already been called).  This would not be noticable if Murphy were really
playing games, but gnus-unsub-assoc is missing a couple of unsubscribed
newgroups that were in the original gnus-newsrc-assoc.  They should be
there, but since they're not the setcdr dies later.

I realize this scenario is a bit hard to believe, but has anyone else seen
something like this?  I looks to me as if the pointers for the unsub and
newsrc lists have gotten too intermingled.  Or am I dreaming?

Jim Thomas