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[leafnode-list] fetchnews: "invalid name (NULL component)" messages.



Some time ago I had an unrelated problem with leafnode & mentioned in passing that I have this persistent issue:

$ sudo fetchnews -vvv
fetchnews mode: get articles, get headers, get bodies, post articles
found 0 articles in in.coming.
news.eclipse.co.uk: connecting to port nntp
  trying:    address 216.196.109.145 port 119...
  connected: address 216.196.109.145 port 119.
news.eclipse.co.uk: connected (200), banner: "200 news.eclipse.net.uk"
news.eclipse.co.uk: getting newsgroups list
Warning: skipping group "alt.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.celebrities.bikini.", invalid name (NULL component). Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.", invalid name (NULL component). Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.pictures.", invalid name (NULL component).Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.sounds..mp3.zappa", invalid name (NULL component). Warning: skipping group "alt.chello.binaries.", invalid name (NULL component). Warning: skipping group "alt.movies.one.flew.over.the.cuckoos.nest.famous.lines.mr.turkle.oh.shi t.the...", invalid name (NULL component).
...

Some of Matthias' previous comments were:

On 6 Jul 2006, at 22:11, Matthias Andree wrote:
Stroller <linux.luser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
...
I've been getting the "Warning: skipping group "alt.", invalid name
(NULL component)"

It looks like a badly maintained upstream news server at any rate.  A
group name does not end in a dot, and they aren't supposed to list group
names that are prefixes of other groups names (i. e. when there are
subgroups), for instance:

BAD: alt and alt.something (alt is a prefix of alt.something)

GOOD:    alt.misc  and  alt.something

and "ERROR: FETCHNEWS MUST REFETCH THE WHOLE ACTIVE FILE NEXT RUN."
messages for some time, both on this machine & it's predecessor and I
always figured it was something to do with my ISP's server. Is this
anything to worry about?

This is not overly serious, unless you're paying per time or volume,
since refetching the active file takes several hundred kB and can thus
take a few minutes over modems or ISDN.  WRT the refetching the whole
active file, I'm not sure. If it persists with the new version AND if it
is not fixed by running "fetchnews -f"), then we'll need to debug
this. The NULL component shouldn't be causing this though.

But we should still find out if it's a configuration issue or just a
consequence of the bug above.

I have since upgraded to 20061010a (I see 20061204a is available, so will grab that later) and the problem is still persisting.

Strangely I noticed yesterday - I'm afraid that I don't use Usenet for weeks at a time, so don't know when exactly this resolution occurred - that the "invalid name (NULL component)" messages had gone away, but when I tried to subscribe to uk.media.dvd (a long- established & active group) my news client complained that it wasn't found on the server. Running `fetchnews -f -vvv` resolved this, but the error messages came back!! See the attached console output.

Can anyone suggest how to resolve this, please? Or advise me the best way to debug?
Running `fetchnews -f` again doesn't seem to make any difference.

If I telnet to the upstream server what commands should I issue to see a full list of groups? I get this with more than one upstream server, so I actually think it's unlikely that the groups are being listed incorrectly by both of them & would like to prove this.

TIA for any comments,

Stroller.

$ sudo fetchnews -vvv
fetchnews mode: get articles, get headers, get bodies, post articles
found 0 articles in in.coming.
news.eclipse.co.uk: connecting to port nntp
  trying:    address 216.196.109.145 port 119...
  connected: address 216.196.109.145 port 119.
news.eclipse.co.uk: connected (200), banner: "200 news.eclipse.net.uk"
news.eclipse.co.uk: getting newsgroups list
Warning: skipping group "alt.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.celebrities.bikini.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.pictures.", invalid name (NULL component).Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.sounds..mp3.zappa", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.chello.binaries.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.movies.one.flew.over.the.cuckoos.nest.famous.lines.mr.turkle.oh.shit.the...", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.sex.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.test.this-is-a-test-for-news-server-software-to-see-if-it-has-any-proble...", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.there.is.only.one.newgrouper.in.this.town.and.his.name.sure.aint.jeffery...", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "req.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "ural.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "user..comp.lang.java.programmer", invalid name (NULL component).
news.eclipse.co.uk: read 104768 newsgroups
news.eclipse.co.uk: getting newsgroup descriptions
news.eclipse.co.uk: reading newsgroups descriptions failed: 501 no such list available
found 1 articles in out.going.
news.eclipse.co.uk: 1 articles posted
news.eclipse.co.uk: alt.autos.citroen: no new articles
comp.periphs.printers: considering 3 articles 370606 - 370608, using XOVER
comp.periphs.printers: XOVER: 3 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 3 to get
comp.periphs.printers: will fetch 3 articles
comp.periphs.printers: 3 articles fetched (to 3452), 0 killed
comp.text.tex: considering 4 articles 302500 - 302503, using XOVER
comp.text.tex: XOVER: 4 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 4 to get
comp.text.tex: will fetch 4 articles
comp.text.tex: 4 articles fetched (to 5316), 0 killed
news.eclipse.co.uk: rec.games.video.nintendo: no new articles
uk.comp.homebuild: considering 26 articles 17 - 42, using XOVER
uk.comp.homebuild: XOVER: 26 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 26 to get
uk.comp.homebuild: will fetch 26 articles
uk.comp.homebuild: 25 articles fetched (to 26), 0 killed
news.eclipse.co.uk: uk.comp.homebuilt: skipping articles 1-177046 inclusive (article limit)
uk.comp.homebuilt: considering 2500 articles 177047 - 179546, using XOVER
uk.comp.homebuilt: XOVER: 2453 seen, 0 I have, 24 filtered, 2429 to get
uk.comp.homebuilt: will fetch 2429 articles
uk.comp.homebuilt: 2429 articles fetched (to 8800), 0 killed
uk.games.video.nintendo: considering 15 articles 5376 - 5390, using XOVER
uk.games.video.nintendo: XOVER: 15 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 15 to get
uk.games.video.nintendo: will fetch 15 articles
uk.games.video.nintendo: 15 articles fetched (to 6953), 0 killed
uk.media.dvd: considering 1 articles 776895 - 776895, using XOVER
uk.media.dvd: XOVER: 1 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 1 to get
uk.media.dvd: will fetch 1 articles
uk.media.dvd: 1 articles fetched (to 2500), 0 killed
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: considering 5 articles 294941 - 294945, using XOVER
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: XOVER: 5 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 5 to get
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: will fetch 5 articles
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: 5 articles fetched (to 17037), 0 killed
uk.telecom.broadband: considering 4 articles 233725 - 233728, using XOVER
uk.telecom.broadband: XOVER: 4 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 4 to get
uk.telecom.broadband: will fetch 4 articles
uk.telecom.broadband: 4 articles fetched (to 13614), 0 killed
ERROR: FETCHNEWS MUST REFETCH THE WHOLE ACTIVE FILE NEXT RUN.
REASON: could not successfully talk to all servers.
free.teranews.com: connecting to port nntp
  trying:    address 66.150.105.47 port 119...
  connected: address 66.150.105.47 port 119.
free.teranews.com: connected (200), banner: "200 welcome to free.teranews.com NNRP email to  (posting ok)"
check_date: free.teranews.com: clocks of upstream and this computer are more than 10 minutes apart. Check your system clock.
free.teranews.com: getting newsgroups list
Warning: skipping group "alt.any-new-2nd-level-group.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid.k00k", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid.k00k.ugly.control.freak", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid.k00k.ugly.control.freak.nazi.and", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.meglomaniaci.own.all..binaries.ibm-pc.akoolas.own.abwi", invalid name (NULL component).
bad status character in "uk.legal.moderated 0000069404 0000067923 M", skipping
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config", invalid name (NULL component).
free.teranews.com: read 54784 newsgroups
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.erotica.eD.De.eD.De.eD.De vs. alt.binaries.erotica.ed.de.ed.de.ed.de
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.erotica.ed.de.ed.de.ed.de
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.big-folksNude vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.big-folksnude
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.big-folksnude
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.Latex vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.latex
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.latex
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.BINARIES.PICTURES.EROTICA.FISTING vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fisting
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fisting
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.Gillian-Andersons-head-on-other-womens-bodies vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.gillian-andersons-head-on-other-womens-bodies
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.gillian-andersons-head-on-other-womens-bodies
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.kibology.pgp vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.kibology.PGP
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.kibology.pgp
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female vs. Alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female
found 1 articles in out.going.
free.teranews.com: 0 articles posted
free.teranews.com: alt.autos.citroen: no new articles
comp.periphs.printers: considering 3 articles 297429 - 297431, using XOVER
comp.periphs.printers: XOVER: 3 seen, 3 I have, 0 filtered, 0 to get
comp.periphs.printers: all articles already there
comp.text.tex: considering 4 articles 276581 - 276584, using XOVER
comp.text.tex: XOVER: 4 seen, 4 I have, 0 filtered, 0 to get
comp.text.tex: all articles already there
free.teranews.com: rec.games.video.nintendo: no new articles
free.teranews.com: rec.games.video.nintendo.gamecube: no new articles
free.teranews.com: uk.comp.homebuilt: skipping articles 1-212651 inclusive (article limit)
uk.comp.homebuilt: considering 922 articles 214230 - 215151, using XOVER
uk.comp.homebuilt: XOVER: 897 seen, 860 I have, 21 filtered, 16 to get
uk.comp.homebuilt: will fetch 16 articles
uk.comp.homebuilt: 16 articles fetched (to 8816), 0 killed
uk.games.video.nintendo: considering 15 articles 3875 - 3889, using XOVER
uk.games.video.nintendo: XOVER: 15 seen, 15 I have, 0 filtered, 0 to get
uk.games.video.nintendo: all articles already there
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: considering 5 articles 329166 - 329170, using XOVER
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: XOVER: 5 seen, 5 I have, 0 filtered, 0 to get
uk.rec.cars.maintenance: all articles already there
free.teranews.com: uk.telecom.broadband: no new articles
fetchnews: 2502 articles and 0 headers fetched, 45 killed, 1 posted, in 956 seconds
$ sudo fetchnews -vvv
Password:
fetchnews mode: get articles, get headers, get bodies, post articles
found 0 articles in in.coming.
news.eclipse.co.uk: connecting to port nntp
  trying:    address 216.196.109.145 port 119...
  connected: address 216.196.109.145 port 119.
news.eclipse.co.uk: connected (200), banner: "200 news.eclipse.net.uk"
news.eclipse.co.uk: getting newsgroups list
Warning: skipping group "alt.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.celebrities.bikini.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.pictures.", invalid name (NULL component).Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.sounds..mp3.zappa", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.chello.binaries.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.movies.one.flew.over.the.cuckoos.nest.famous.lines.mr.turkle.oh.shit.the...", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.sex.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.test.this-is-a-test-for-news-server-software-to-see-if-it-has-any-proble...", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.there.is.only.one.newgrouper.in.this.town.and.his.name.sure.aint.jeffery...", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "req.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "ural.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "user..comp.lang.java.programmer", invalid name (NULL component).
news.eclipse.co.uk: read 104768 newsgroups
news.eclipse.co.uk: getting newsgroup descriptions
news.eclipse.co.uk: reading newsgroups descriptions failed: 501 no such list available
found 1 articles in out.going.
news.eclipse.co.uk: 0 articles posted
news.eclipse.co.uk: alt.autos.citroen: no new articles
news.eclipse.co.uk: comp.periphs.printers: no new articles
news.eclipse.co.uk: comp.text.tex: no new articles
news.eclipse.co.uk: rec.games.video.nintendo: no new articles
news.eclipse.co.uk: uk.comp.homebuild: no new articles
uk.comp.homebuilt: considering 1 articles 179547 - 179547, using XOVER
uk.comp.homebuilt: XOVER: 1 seen, 1 I have, 0 filtered, 0 to get
uk.comp.homebuilt: all articles already there
uk.games.video.nintendo: considering 1 articles 5391 - 5391, using XOVER
uk.games.video.nintendo: XOVER: 1 seen, 0 I have, 0 filtered, 1 to get
uk.games.video.nintendo: will fetch 1 articles
uk.games.video.nintendo: 1 articles fetched (to 6954), 0 killed
news.eclipse.co.uk: uk.media.dvd: no new articles
news.eclipse.co.uk: uk.rec.cars.maintenance: no new articles
news.eclipse.co.uk: uk.telecom.broadband: no new articles
ERROR: FETCHNEWS MUST REFETCH THE WHOLE ACTIVE FILE NEXT RUN.
REASON: could not successfully talk to all servers.
free.teranews.com: connecting to port nntp
  trying:    address 66.150.105.47 port 119...
  connected: address 66.150.105.47 port 119.
free.teranews.com: connected (200), banner: "200 welcome to free.teranews.com NNRP email to  (posting ok)"
check_date: free.teranews.com: clocks of upstream and this computer are more than 10 minutes apart. Check your system clock.
free.teranews.com: getting newsgroups list
Warning: skipping group "alt.any-new-2nd-level-group.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid.k00k", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid.k00k.ugly.control.freak", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid.k00k.ugly.control.freak.nazi.and", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.meglomaniaci.own.all..binaries.ibm-pc.akoolas.own.abwi", invalid name (NULL component).
bad status character in "uk.legal.moderated 0000069404 0000067923 M", skipping
Warning: skipping group "alt..config.tgos.long-winded.stupid", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.", invalid name (NULL component).
Warning: skipping group "alt..config", invalid name (NULL component).
free.teranews.com: read 54784 newsgroups
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.erotica.eD.De.eD.De.eD.De vs. alt.binaries.erotica.ed.de.ed.de.ed.de
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.erotica.ed.de.ed.de.ed.de
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.big-folksNude vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.big-folksnude
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.big-folksnude
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.Latex vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.latex
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.latex
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.BINARIES.PICTURES.EROTICA.FISTING vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fisting
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fisting
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.Gillian-Andersons-head-on-other-womens-bodies vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.gillian-andersons-head-on-other-womens-bodies
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.gillian-andersons-head-on-other-womens-bodies
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.kibology.pgp vs. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.kibology.PGP
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.kibology.pgp
Newsgroup name conflict: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female vs. Alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female
Newsgroup name conflict, chose alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female
found 0 articles in out.going.
free.teranews.com: 0 articles posted
free.teranews.com: alt.autos.citroen: no new articles
free.teranews.com: comp.periphs.printers: no new articles
free.teranews.com: comp.text.tex: no new articles
free.teranews.com: rec.games.video.nintendo: no new articles
free.teranews.com: rec.games.video.nintendo.gamecube: no new articles
free.teranews.com: uk.comp.homebuilt: no new articles
uk.games.video.nintendo: considering 1 articles 3890 - 3890, using XOVER
uk.games.video.nintendo: XOVER: 1 seen, 1 I have, 0 filtered, 0 to get
uk.games.video.nintendo: all articles already there
free.teranews.com: uk.rec.cars.maintenance: no new articles
free.teranews.com: uk.telecom.broadband: no new articles
fetchnews: 1 articles and 0 headers fetched, 0 killed, 0 posted, in 472 seconds
$   
-- 
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