Questions and comments regarding Newsbin 6.40B2

[Ace]

I was using Newsbin 6.20B1 and just installed 6.40B2 yesterday (on XP64). I like it. All the options are nice and in general it works very well for me.

But I have some questions about Newsbin 6.40B2:

1. I never saw these error messages with version 6.20B1; is it just coincidence that I started seeing them with version 6.40B2? They may be totally unrelated to the version. Even if it's just a coincidence that I just started seeing them after I installed 6.40B2, what's the point in making these specific critical error messages trigger a popup? Couldn't these just be in the logging tab without appearing in a critical error popup? I have no idea what I'm supposed to do about these, and everything works fine in spite of these errors. I need a few PAR repair blocks but I often need those when I don't get the critical errors too. Or is there something I should be doing about these instead of ignoring them? They are infrequent so it's not a big deal, but if there's a point to making these messages appear in popups, I'm missing the point and need help to see it.

[20:05:30] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed
[20:50:34] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed
[21:50:30] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed
[12:40:31] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed

2. The signature detection works well on 6.40B2. I was having problems with that on 6.20B1 for some reason. However, there are some instances where I want to override the signature detection and I right click the rejected file, and choose "Add to download list - bypass filters". That works fine too, except the status column (and colored icon at the left) never updates to show it was downloaded. Why is this? In an older version of Newsbin the status column and icon changed to reflect when the signature rejection was over-ridden and that the file was downloaded anyway...shouldn't it still do this or is there some reason why it doesn't? And if there's a reason other than a bug, can this be made an option to show it's been downloaded when it's been downloaded after it was rejected by the signature filter?

3. As another thread posted by someone else noted, after long download sessions, somehow I end up with stray nb2 files. In some but not all cases, they have remained because I cancelled the download of a huge file that was in progress when I realized it wasn't something I wanted and was taking a lot of time and bandwidth. (I right clicked the file and chose "remove from download list", in the download list section, but I've also ended up with stray nb2 files when I didn't do this, for unknown reasons). The stray nb2 files aren't a huge problem except for one thing: I can't delete them unless I shut down Newsbin. When I try to delete them without shutting down, an error message tells me the file is in use, even when all downloads finished 30 minutes ago and there's no activity at all.

3a. Is there any way to have Newsbin clean up and remove these orphan nb2 files automatically? When I remove a file from the download list, shouldn't that nb2 file be cleaned up automatically?
3b. Alternatively, can the nb2 files be made to appear in an alternate directory rather than the final destination directory (make this an option)? This way, if the stray nb2 files appear and don't clean up (and can't be deleted), they won't clutter the destination directory and won't require a shutdown and restart of Newsbin to clean up the directory, which is kind of annoying, especially when you have a large header list, have to reload it, and find your place again. It can be done but it's a pretty large annoyance. I realize this takes extra resources like CPU/HDD to move the file from the temp directory to the final destination directory, which is why it would need to be an option only, but I really don't have performance issues so I think I could take the performance hit to avoid the cluttered download directory and avoid the need to restart Newsbin which is an even bigger performance hit.

Having a cluttered temporary directory where the nb2 files temporarily reside wouldn't be a problem like having a cluttered destination directory is, where I'm trying to select files to move to other directories and the nb2 file clutter makes this a mess. (Or if I could make the destination directory the first X characters of the post subject line, then in some cases, I wouldn't have to move the files from the destination directory and the clutter wouldn't be so much of a problem).

Overall though I'm pretty happy with 6.40B2, which works very well aside from these issues. Good job!

[kirm]

[20:05:30] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed
[20:50:34] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed
[21:50:30] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed
[12:40:31] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news.giganews.comSendCommand - failed to Read Response From server: Socket - Read From Server Failed

I confirm the same issue but it first started with 6.40B1, randomly. There was no change with 6.40B2 at first, then it occured quite often. Now I havent seen this problem in the last few days so wonderin if it may just have been a news server issue. I use newshosting. Did not change any settings.

[Quade]

I haven't ignored this topic. Just building up an answer in my head.

[jarablue]

This is happening with me also. Does anyone know what causes it?

[Quade]

If download keeps working, it's probably just something to ignore. I don't get it when I download from giganews. Normally Dex and I think something is getting in the way of the network. Like a V scanner or some such but, there's not really enough information to judge.


#2 - is the file is still in the failed list, it's still gets a failed tag. I don't really understand the issue though.

#3 - I'll have to check out the whole NB2 thing. I suspect it's timing. I don't get them for some reason.

[jarablue]

It seems like the download is still chugging along. There is no files in the failed files pane. I just got another one of those errors so far 4 of them in a 2 hour time period. My download is still going.

[Quade]

Yeah, that's pretty few. When Astraweb gets busy, I see it from their servers.

The way usenet works is I say to the server "give me chunk so and so". Normally the server replies with the chunk. Sometimes the server doesn't send it. When that happens, Newsbin waits until it times out, declares this message and then tries again with a fresh connection.

[Ace]

If download keeps working, it's probably just something to ignore. I don't get it when I download from giganews. Normally Dex and I think something is getting in the way of the network. Like a V scanner or some such but, there's not really enough information to judge.

The critical errors are rare. I'm ignoring them, but it would be nice if I could tweak some settings to not make the error appear in the popup. I have no problem with the errors appearing in the logging tab, but how do I stop them from triggering the popup? If there really is a critical error which deserves a popup, then I don't want to disable that, just these that should be ignored.

I took a bandwidth graph screenshot of two times I got the error, and attached one below (can attach the other on request but it's similar, bandwidth dips to zero for one second). The bandwidth dip and the error happened at the same time, more than once. But I'm not sure what the cause or relationship is...sometimes there seems to be a missing chunk of the file, I think. So if you want to replicate it (it won't be easy), maybe try downloading some older files with some incomplete chunks. It doesn't happen every time, it's sporadic, maybe on 1% of the files with missing chunks? Though I'm not even sure it always involves a missing chunk.

#2 - is the file is still in the failed list, it's still gets a failed tag. I don't really understand the issue though.

The first time the file is rejected, of course it's on the failed list, which is as it should be.

But you can actually select the file from the failed list, and choose to download it (bypass filters). Then it downloads the file, and it's no longer in the failed files list at the bottom (which is as it should be). But at the top list of headers, there's no indication it has been downloaded. It still says rejected with the icon, the status column, and the line color code.

The issue of course is, that the status is now incorrect, as seen in the following screenshot:



It says the file hasn't been downloaded, but it has been downloaded. Downloading the file didn't change the status to downloaded as it should.

#3 - I'll have to check out the whole NB2 thing. I suspect it's timing. I don't get them for some reason.

There seem to be two types of stray nb2 files:

1. Completely random. Not a huge problem if the files can be deleted which they usually can be, for this type.
2. Not random, but leftover when a download is removed from the download list. This is the bigger problem as the file still says it's in use and can't be deleted without a restart of Newsbin. You should be able to duplicate this by deleting a download in progress from the download list.

The temporary workaround of course is to not delete any files from the download list that are downloading, but it would be nice if that was possible without creating leftover undeletable nb2 files. Not a biggie.

[DThor]

There's a notification section in options to disable pop ups for various things. It doesn't work based on specific messages, to anticipate your next comment, but on classes of notifications.

DT

[Ace]

There's a notification section in options to disable pop ups for various things. It doesn't work based on specific messages, to anticipate your next comment, but on classes of notifications.

DT

I see the option in "confirmation windows" for "enable the critical error popup window".

Some of the error warning popups are helpful, and I do get some other popup warnings that I didn't mention, that look like real critical errors, so I'd still like to see those.

I'll use the car analogy. Some warnings we want, like when the engine gets too hot or when the battery stops charging, we want some lights and sounds to let us know that.

But we don't really want critical warnings to appear when a bug hits the windshield. (The bandwidth graph I posted related to this particular error message looks analogous to that). In other words, it doesn't seem to be a critical error.

[DThor]

There's also a threshold for error messages if I recall correctly, not near newsbin atm. Otherwise you're suggesting what, exactly? Wildcards to set priority levels for error messages? You don't see this as a tad overkill?

DT

[Ace]

There's also a threshold for error messages if I recall correctly, not near newsbin atm.

I haven't found that yet, maybe that would help.

[Quade]

It won't. Errors are always shown. In the advanced options though, you can change how much detail goes into the logging tab.

[Ace]

It says the file hasn't been downloaded, but it has been downloaded. Downloading the file didn't change the status to downloaded as it should.

I found something interesting about this bug.

When you choose "Add to download list - bypass filters" from the top pane (header list), the status never updates to show downloaded, after the file is downloaded.

When you choose "Add to download list - bypass filters" from the bottom pane (failed file list), the status updates correctly after the file is downloaded!

Very interesting.

[Moondawgie]

Is there a setting that can be utilized which would allow the Critical Errors windows to be minimized to the Windows taskbar in the same manner as Newsbin can be minimized to the Windows Taskbar?

If not, the provision of such a setting in a future release of Newsbin would be appreciated.

[Quade]

That seems to defeat the whole purpose of having a critical error popup. Why not just disable it and look at the logging tab instead?