In Chatroom instead of names there are questions marks displayed

Bug #793048 reported by grofaty
14
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Lernid
Fix Released
Low
John S. Gruber

Bug Description

In Chatroom I see users like <user1> which is OK, but some users are displayed like <??????>. Maybe this users are using some non-English letters or something like that. But it is not pretty to see questions marks, because you don't know to which one you are talking too.

Sorry I can't post print-screen because there is no session currently running.

Related branches

Revision history for this message
John S. Gruber (jsjgruber) wrote :

Please don't bother trying to get a print screen--I've seen it (and looked into it a little). At start up Lernid asks Telepathy for a list of those in the chatroom (getting a list of numbers) and then asks for the associated nicknames. Whenever someone is added to the chatroom (or, it seems, changes their nick) lernid is notified by telepathy and lernid asks for the associated nickname.

The error happens when a message comes in and the number is one lernid was never told about.

This is rare enough that I've only been able to look at a case once, but that's what I learned. I have to wonder whether it is related to IRC server computers losing and regaining their connections, but I'm way out on limb with that guess.

I don't know how to communicate better with Telepathy so, for me, it's a question of how to best deal with the issue. I'm thinking of pausing lernid (I think for only a fraction of a second) while it gets the unknown nickname from Telepathy. I don't think the pause would be noticed, but if it is a second approach is to spit out the <???> once but get the nickname asynchronously so the individual's next message is properly marked.

Revision history for this message
grofaty (grofaty) wrote :

I am not an expert, but what would happened if during fraction of second when pausing of Lernid is done and some message posted? I guess Lernid would just lost this message, isn't it?

Revision history for this message
John S. Gruber (jsjgruber) wrote :

That's a good question, and a real concern. I haven't tested it to be certain, but I had to make slide loading synchronous and when I tested that messages seemed to be delayed a little, but not lost--so I think this is a possible alternative.

If I'm right, the python and glib infrastructure is holding the signal that there is a new message until it is acted upon by Lernid.

Changed in lernid:
status: New → Triaged
importance: Undecided → Low
Revision history for this message
John S. Gruber (jsjgruber) wrote :

A fix for this is needed to fix LP: #530185.

Changed in lernid:
status: Triaged → In Progress
assignee: nobody → John S. Gruber (jsjgruber)
Changed in lernid:
status: In Progress → Fix Released
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Duplicates of this bug

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.