rdh@sli.com (Robert D. Houk) (02/10/90)
What exactly is the definition of the Xref field? I realize that it is a "cross-reference" 'twixt groups for the same message, but does anyone have an exact or "reference" definition? The reason I ask is because GNUS (3.12, Emacs 18.54) oftimes goes into a cpu-burning state on "q"uitting a newsgroup that has one or more messages with an Xref field. The worst example was a brand-new alt.somethingorother with 9 messages which took 75 seconds elapsed time on a Sun 3/80 - cpu running flat out, no I/O, no network, no paging (from perfmeters). Has anyone else seen this? Fixed this? For example, the following message from alt.sys.sun takes 18 seconds running flat out to "q"uit the alt.sys.sun group (with a total of 2 messages). Xref: sli alt.sys.sun:464 news.groups:15311 Path: sli!uunet!shelby!apple!usc!chaph.usc.edu!aludra.usc.edu!gcrum From: gcrum@aludra.usc.edu (Gary Crum) Newsgroups: alt.sys.sun,news.groups Subject: Re: comp.sys.sun performance Message-ID: <GCRUM.90Feb7151901@aludra.usc.edu> Date: 7 Feb 90 23:19:01 GMT References: <15966@well.UUCP> <4579@brazos.Rice.edu> Sender: news@chaph.usc.edu Followup-To: alt.sys.sun Organization: University of Southern California Lines: 32 In-reply-to: rgreene@wild.rice.EDU's message of 5 Feb 90 20:54:06 GMT [Body of message deleted] If I select only 1 message without the Xref, then "q"uitting is virtually instantaneous, as is "q"uitting (e.g.,) comp.sys.sun with 161 Xref-less messages. The above times are very consistent and reproducible. The problem is also reproducible on our Sequent system (same GNUS/emacs). It seems to make no difference whether or not the Xref'ed groups are subscribed or not. It seems to make no statistically-significant dif- ference how many groups are Xref'ed. Most aggravatingly of all, it does not always happen - some Xref'ed message/groups still "q"uit quickly. It doesn't seem to matter how many groups are in my .newsrc (I tried c-K'ing most of the unsubscribed groups out). No "obvious" difference. Related problem, er, observation: GNUS still marks individual Xref'ed messages are read even in the unsubscribed groups. Over half of my .newsrc (and of course .newsrc.el) file(s) consisted of comma-separated individual message numbers in unsubscribed groups! Any way to suppress this? It's been a few years since I almost learned Lisp, so I'm hoping someone out there has already solved my problem . . . any help greatly appreciated retroactively in advance! -RDH -- "If you build a system RDH@SLI.COM | uunet!sli!rdh that even a fool could use, Robert D. Houk then only a fool Software Leverage, Inc. would want to use your system." 485 Massachusetts Avenue -Somebody-r-Other's Law Arlington, Mass. 02174 Office (617) 648-1414