Re: BSOD on WinXP?

[Reiner Steib]

On Wed, Apr 28 2004, David Rogoff wrote:

> Reiner Steib <4.uce.03.r.s@nurfuerspam.de> writes:
>
>> On Tue, Apr 27 2004, David Rogoff wrote:
>>
>>> I'm running gnus v5.10.2 in xemacs 21.4.13 under WinXP Pro on a
>>> Gateway 9300CX laptop (PIII 650, 544MB RAM).  I've been using gnus and
>>> xemacs for years without problem.  However, for months now (since
>>> installing WinXP) gnus has been crashing my PC about once or twice a
>>> week. It always seems to be when I hit g (gnus-group-get-new-news).  I
>>> get a quick Blue Screen and then the PC reboots.
>>
>> Lisp code like Gnus should never crash (X)Emacs.  If it does, it is a
>> bug in (X)Emacs.  Please report the bug to the XEmacs folks (`M-x
>> report-xemacs-bug RET').
>>
>> In fact, Gnus is well know for disclosing (X)Emacs bugs.
>
> Well, as I wrote, it isn't crashing xemacs - it's crashing Windows.  I
> agree that Lisp isn't doing it, but some program exec-ed by something
> gnus-group-get-new-news does is.  

`g' (gnus-group-get-new-news) typically connects to the news server(s)
(via NNTP) and checks the mail backends [1].  No external programs are
started, AFAICS.  If it would be reproducible, you could edebug
`gnus-group-get-new-news', but as it happens only sometimes this is
not a good option.

Within Gnus, external programs are typically invoked by the MIME
machinery when selecting an article [2].

> I was looking for some pointers as to what executable that might be.

Maybe there's some Windows analog to "strace -f -e trace=process" on
Linux?

Bye, Reiner.

[1] You didn't tell us what select methods you are using.

[2] BTW, in Gnus 5.10.6 you can even use `mm-enable-external' to
    disable this feature:

,----[ C-h v mm-enable-external RET ]
| mm-enable-external's value is t
| 
| Documentation:
| Indicate whether external MIME handlers should be used.
| 
| If t, all defined external MIME handlers are used.  If nil, files
| are saved by `mailcap-save-binary-file'.  If it is the symbol `ask',
| you are prompted before the external MIME handler is invoked.
`----
-- 
       ,,,
      (o o)
---ooO-(_)-Ooo--- PGP key available via WWW   http://rsteib.home.pages.de/