[Mailman-Developers] CORRUPT ARCHIVE FOR LIST: Redux

[Richard Barrett]

At 05:16 12/02/2003, Bob Tanner wrote:
>Getting the following error from mailman:
>
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157): Traceback (innermost last):
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):   File
>"/var/mailman/Mailman/Archiver/Archiver.py", line 222, in ArchiveMail
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):     h.close()
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):   File
>"/var/mailman/Mailman/Archiver/pipermail.py", line 306, in close
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):     self.write_TOC()
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):   File
>"/var/mailman/Mailman/Archiver/HyperArch.py", line 896, in write_TOC
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):     self.sortarchives()
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):   File
>"/var/mailman/Mailman/Archiver/HyperArch.py", line 834, in sortarchives
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):     self.archives.sort(sf)
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):   File
>"/var/mailman/Mailman/Archiver/HyperArch.py", line 825, in sf
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):     al=s.volNameToDate(a)
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):   File
>"/var/mailman/Mailman/Archiver/HyperArch.py", line 820, in volNameToDate
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157):     return
>time.mktime((year,month,1,0,0,0,0,1,-1))
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 qrunner(2157): OverflowError: mktime argument out of
>range
>Feb 11 21:50:35 2003 (2157) CORRUPT ARCHIVE FOR LIST: the-list

The reported error is that the time.mktime function is being called with a 
year value outside the range 1970 to 2038, that is outside the epoch known 
by the C functions for date handling on the platform.

The question of why this date has cropped up is more difficult to determine.

I would suspect that within the list's UNIX .mbox file, from which you are 
trying to rebuild the archive, is an email with a date on the From line 
preceding it which is out of range. To quote from the Python mailbox module 
documentation ",,, a classic Unix-style mailbox, where all messages are 
contained in a single file and separated by 'From '(a.k.a. 'From_') lines."

I would try grepping the mbox file 
($prefix/archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox) and checking for 
problematic dates:

     grep "^From " <listname>.mbox | less

If you find a From line with a problem date then use a text editor to 
change it.

If my guess is correct,you still have the question of how this came about 
to answer.


>mailman-2.0.13-1
>python-1.5.2-38
>Redhat-7.3 Linux
>
>Followed the thread here:
>
>http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users@python.org/msg13602.html
>
>Tried to rebuild the archives, but still get the error message.
>
>Any other ideas?
>
>
>--
>Bob Tanner <tanner at real-time.com>         | Phone : (952)943-8700
>http://www.mn-linux.org, Minnesota, Linux | Fax   : (952)943-8500
>http://www.linuxjustworks.com             | Linux Just Works!
>Key fingerprint = AB15 0BDF BCDE 4369 5B42  1973 7CF1 A709 2CC1 B288