GNU bug report logs - #40923
M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah: "incomprehensible buffer"

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah: "incomprehensible buffer"
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 08:52:23 +0100

Hi list,

is ELPA working for everyone?

I was trying to record a screencast about Emacs and I decided to
create a new user with no rcfiles, and run everything from his
account. I then ran "emacs" to invoke the default Emacs here - this is
a Debian Stable, and M-x emacs-version says this:

  GNU Emacs 26.1 (build 2, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version
  3.24.5) of 2019-09-23, modified by Debian

Then I tried M-x list-packages. It did not list anything from ELPA,
and gave this error:

  error in process sentinel: Error retrieving:
  https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/archive-contents "incomprehensible
  buffer"

I installed gnu-elpa-keyring-update and tried M-x list-packages again;
same error. I started emacs again and ran M-x list-packages again:
same thing.

I would love to know how to debug the functions in package.el but I
don't. Please send sexps! =\

Btw, the file

  /home/eduardo/.emacs.d/elpa/archives/gnu/archive-contents/.signed

contains this, but in a single line:

  Good signature from 066DAFCB81E42C40 GNU ELPA Signing Agent (2019)
  <elpasign <at> elpa.gnu.org> (trust undefined) created at
  2020-04-26T22:05:02+0100 using RSA

and I've uploaded the contents of

  /home/eduardo/.emacs.d/elpa/archives/gnu/archive-contents

to:

  https://0x0.st/ieQc.txt

I also tried to run slight variants of the tests above with an emacs26
compiled from the git repo with:

  git checkout emacs-26.3
  ./autogen.sh
  ./configure
  make

and it also couldn't access ELPA if I ran it from my test user.

When I ran emacses using my default user ("edrx") and loading my
(HUUUGE) ~/.emacs file they didn't have any problems accesing ELPA and
MELPA, but I didn't perform many tests with them to discover what code
in my ~/.emacs was, huh, how do I say?, "fixing the bug".

  Thanks in advance =/,
    Eduardo Ochs
    http://angg.twu.net/emacsconf2019.html
    http://angg.twu.net/#eev

Message #8 received at 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com>
To: Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#40923: M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah:
 "incomprehensible buffer"
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 13:43:43 -0400

Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com> writes:

> I also tried to run slight variants of the tests above with an emacs26
> compiled from the git repo with:
>
>   git checkout emacs-26.3
>   ./autogen.sh
>   ./configure
>   make
>
> and it also couldn't access ELPA if I ran it from my test user.

Does 26.3 still fail if you start from a fresh .emacs.d/ directory?  I
think there were some encoding related fixes made in package.el for
26.3, but they may not help with existing mis-encoded files.

Message #11 received at 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com>
To: Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#40923: M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah:
 "incomprehensible buffer"
Date: Sat, 2 May 2020 09:51:31 +0100

Hi, sorry for the delay...

Long story short: the Emacs that comes in Debian Stable - 26.1 -
cannot access ELPA when we run `M-x list-packages', and:

  1) this MAY BE due to a quirk in
     <https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/archive-contents>,

  2) I can't find a workaround that I can recommend to beginners.

I'll write about 26.3 in another message.



Now: long story long. I rewrote my tests in a format - using eev-isms
- that lets me re-execute them again very quickly without or with
modifications. Here are the commands; note that I am running them in
Debian Stable (a.k.a. "Buster").

  su - eduardo
    <p455w0rd>
  rm -Rfv .emacs*
  rm -Rfv .gnupg
  ls -lAF
  emacs --version
  apt-cache show emacs
    # Version: 1:26.1+1-3.2+deb10u1
    # See also: https://packages.debian.org/buster/emacs

  cat > o <<'%%%'
  (list-packages)
  (setq gnutls-algorithm-priority "NORMAL:-VERS-TLS1.3")
  (list-packages)
  %%%

  emacs -nw o
    M-x list-packages


If I run `M-x list-packages' - or if I type C-e C-x C-e in the first
line - it does not list anything from ELPA and gives this error:

  error in process sentinel: Error retrieving:
  https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/archive-contents "incomprehensible
  buffer"

If I then run the (setq ...) above, as suggested here,

  https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/cdf48c/failed_to_download_gnu_archive/

nothing changes, in the sense that if I then execute the
`(list-packages)' in the third line with C-e C-x C-e I still don't get
anything from ELPA, and I get the error "incomprehensible buffer".

I was working on the script of a screencast that would start with
instructions for installing a package from ELPA, but I am quite
embarassed by this bug... so I interrupted everything to discuss the
bug.

Is anyone else here able to reproduce it? Are there any easy fixes?
Are there any easy fixes that you would recommend to beginners who
happen to be using Debian Stable? Compiling a more recent Emacs from
git is not an "easy fix"...

  Cheers,
    Eduardo Ochs
    http://angg.twu.net/emacsconf2019.html


On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 at 18:43, Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Does 26.3 still fail if you start from a fresh .emacs.d/ directory?  I
> think there were some encoding related fixes made in package.el for
> 26.3, but they may not help with existing mis-encoded files.

Message #14 received at 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com>
To: Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#40923: M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah:
 "incomprehensible buffer"
Date: Tue, 05 May 2020 07:44:33 -0400

Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com> writes:

> If I run `M-x list-packages' - or if I type C-e C-x C-e in the first
> line - it does not list anything from ELPA and gives this error:
>
>   error in process sentinel: Error retrieving:
>   https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/archive-contents "incomprehensible
>   buffer"

Oh, sorry, I somehow didn't realize you meant the "incomprehensible
buffer" part literally until now.  Try doing

    (setq debug-on-signal t debug-on-error t)

before calling list-packages to stop at the error in the debugger (it's
possible you could hit some different errors first, in which case press
'c' to continue until you get the "incomprehensible buffer" one again).
Then check the contents of the buffer.  You can get the buffer name to
look at, with

    e (current-buffer) RET

in the debugger.  The name will probably be " *temp*" (note the leading
space) possibly with a random number as suffix.  Then look at the
contents, hopefully that will give a clue as to what happened.

Message #17 received at 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
To: Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#40923: M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah:
 "incomprehensible buffer"
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2020 08:00:56 -0700

Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com> writes:

> Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com> writes:
>
>> If I run `M-x list-packages' - or if I type C-e C-x C-e in the first
>> line - it does not list anything from ELPA and gives this error:
>>
>>   error in process sentinel: Error retrieving:
>>   https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/archive-contents "incomprehensible
>>   buffer"
>
> Oh, sorry, I somehow didn't realize you meant the "incomprehensible
> buffer" part literally until now.  Try doing
>
>     (setq debug-on-signal t debug-on-error t)
>
> before calling list-packages to stop at the error in the debugger (it's
> possible you could hit some different errors first, in which case press
> 'c' to continue until you get the "incomprehensible buffer" one again).
> Then check the contents of the buffer.  You can get the buffer name to
> look at, with
>
>     e (current-buffer) RET
>
> in the debugger.  The name will probably be " *temp*" (note the leading
> space) possibly with a random number as suffix.  Then look at the
> contents, hopefully that will give a clue as to what happened.

(That was 17 weeks ago.)

Did you ever find out anything more about what could cause this?

Message #22 received at 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Cc: 40923 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Noam Postavsky <npostavs <at> gmail.com>,
 Eduardo Ochs <eduardoochs <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#40923: M-x list-packages -> blah elpa.gnu.org blah:
 "incomprehensible buffer"
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 16:50:46 +0100

Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se> writes:

>> in the debugger.  The name will probably be " *temp*" (note the leading
>> space) possibly with a random number as suffix.  Then look at the
>> contents, hopefully that will give a clue as to what happened.
>
> (That was 17 weeks ago.)
>
> Did you ever find out anything more about what could cause this?

More information was requested two months ago, but was not given, so
I'm closing this bug report.  If further progress can be made here,
please respond to the debbugs address and we'll reopen.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

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