XEmacs hangs in gnus-score-edit-current-scores (`file-name-directory'/`make-directory' problem)

Gnus v5.8.8 XEmacs 21.4 (patch 3) "Academic Rigor" [Lucid] (i686-pc-cygwin) of Thu May 17 2001 on SHALOM configured using `configure --use-union-type --with-netinstall --with-x=no --with-site-lisp --bindir=/usr/local/bin/i686-pc-cygwin' When trying to edit the score file in my Gnus mail group "nnimap+speakeasy:INBOX", XEmacs hangs in an infinite loop trying to create the directory "/home/sharr/doc/news/nnimap+speakeasy:" - which should not and apparently cannot be created. The trouble is in gnus-score.el within the function `gnus-score-edit-current-scores': ,---- | (defun gnus-score-edit-current-scores (file) | "Edit the current score alist." | (interactive (list gnus-current-score-file)) | (if (not gnus-current-score-file) | (error "No current score file") | (let ((winconf (current-window-configuration))) | (when (buffer-name gnus-summary-buffer) | (gnus-score-save)) | (gnus-make-directory (file-name-directory file)) | (setq gnus-score-edit-buffer (find-file-noselect file)) | (gnus-configure-windows 'edit-score) | (gnus-score-mode) | (setq gnus-score-edit-exit-function 'gnus-score-edit-done) | (make-local-variable 'gnus-prev-winconf) | (setq gnus-prev-winconf winconf)) | (gnus-message | 4 (substitute-command-keys | "\\<gnus-score-mode-map>\\[gnus-score-edit-exit] to save edits")))) `---- Note the call to `gnus-make-directory.' The argument "file" is initially "/home/sharr/doc/news/nnimap+speakeasy:INBOX.SCORE". The function `file-name-directory' applied to this file returns the path "/home/sharr/doc/news/nnimap+speakeasy:" - which contains an illegal colon character. When this path is eventually passed to the function `make-directory', XEmacs hangs, consuming the full CPU and more and more memory. Looking at the `make-directory' code, one can see a loop that apparently gets stuck waiting for this impossible file name to exist. This is another artifact of the strange file name conversions used in XEmacs on Windows. The function `nnheader-translate-file-chars' is used occasionally - but not consistently - by Gnus to come up with file names that can actually exist on Windows. Strangely, '+' is considered an illegal character even though it's a valid Windows path character. More dangerously, ':' is considered legal even though it's obviously not: ,---- | (nnheader-translate-file-chars "a+b") | "a-b" | | (nnheader-translate-file-chars "a:b") | "a:b" `---- This bug is a symptom of interaction among flaws in `gnus-edit-current-scores', `nnheader-translate-file-chars', `file-name-directory', and `make-directory' - all considered in the context of Windows NT atop Cygwin. -- Steven E. Harris :: seh(a)speakeasy.org GnuPG :: 0x70248E67