Bug#401528: gnus fails to start with an error: "Invalid date"

[arnaud fevrier]

Package: gnus
Version: 5.11+v0.5.dfsg-3
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable


gnus fails to start. It raises an error about an "Invalid date".
Acual message is :

Invalid date: sam, 02 déc 2006 12:16:49 +0100

This bug seems to have appeared on previous versions of gnus (seen on
gnus.org).

The bug appeared suddenly yesterday (sun 3rd). gnus worked fine before.
I probably made an update which broke gnus. I include the backtrace:

Many thanks for your work

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Invalid date: sam, 02 d\x8e9\ c 2006 
12:16:49 +0100")
  signal(error ("Invalid date: sam, 02 d\x8e9\ c 2006 12:16:49 +0100"))
  error("Invalid date: %s" "sam, 02 d\x8e9\ c 2006 12:16:49 +0100")
  date-to-time("sam, 02 d\x8e9\ c 2006 12:16:49 +0100")
  byte-code("ŠqˆÆ      !‰‰A@)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]@T ˆ\nA\fÊZ ˆ‚F\nA\f ˆËÌÍÎ\n\"ÏE*+„_,„_Ð!ˆÑÒ
Ó#-./.;[EMAIL PROTECTED]@)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]>ƒÂ1‚ÒØÙ1!!ˆÚ0/\"/Õ-‰1…ÝÙ1!‰.…êr.qˆ`)31ƒÔ
-45*+Õ67*.89-../.;ƒ
Ô.!‚
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]@)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]/
1…x
Ö1!×>ƒh
1‚x
ØÙ1!!ˆÚ0/\"/Õ-†€
Û.!‰1ƒž
:„—
+„—
ÐÙ1!!ˆÜÝޏ‚¤
ßàá9#.*„Ú
;⚄Ú
ã
 ˆŠ.qˆ3bˆäå-!!ƒÐ
3æyˆç |ˆ)‚Ú
ßàè4#.é ˆ+‡" [nntp-server-buffer date time x 
ls strings date-to-time 8 decode-time 0 65536 "^\\.
?\n" "NEWGROUPS" format-time-string "%y%m%d %H%M%S" "GMT" nntp-erase-buffer 
mapconcat identity " " get-buffer nil process-status (open run) 
nntp-kill-buffer process-buffer delq nntp-open-connection err (byte-code "ƒ*  
    Æ \n
ƒÇ\n!ˆÈ       \n.P\"ˆÉ       !Ê>„)ËÌ!ˆ*/Í=ƒ3·/ƒK0ƒKÏ 
012/%ˆÎ‡0ƒ9
       012Ð3210ŠÑ      !qˆebˆ`fÒ>ƒwÓÔ!ƒ¸É    
!Õ>ƒ¸ÓÖ!ƒŒ×   !ˆ‚®ÓØ!ƒ¡ÙÚÛÜN\"ˆÝÛÐ\"ˆ‚®ÓÞ!ƒ®`ßyˆ`|ˆà      !ˆebˆ‚jÓá!ƒÅâ 
ˆÐ‚.
É  !ã>„ÓËÌ!‚.
dbˆeÐ45ä05Î#„÷à        
!ˆdåZe]5dbˆ‚Üæç!4r6qˆ47+è2?!ˆ3„-
Š1qˆdbˆéÑ     
!!ˆ8ƒ,
Ð8êëì\"ˆ)Î3„6
í ˆ.‡Î‡" [command process string 
nntp-last-command-time nntp-last-command nntp-record-commands current-time 
nntp-record-command process-send-string process-status ... nntp-report "Server 
closed connection" ignore t nntp-async-wait nil process-buffer ... looking-at 
"48[02]" ... "480" nntp-handle-authinfo "482" nnheader-report nntp 
nntp-authinfo-rejected error-message signal "^.*\n" 1 
nntp-accept-process-output "[45]" nntp-snarf-error-message ... 
re-search-backward 1000 match-string 0 nntp-decode-text insert-buffer-substring 
nnheader-message 5 "" erase-buffer nntp-end-of-line callback wait-for buffer 
...] 6) ((nntp-authinfo-rejected ...) (error ...) (quit ...)) nnheader-report 
nntp "Couldn't open connection to %s" nntp-open-network-stream 
nntp-accept-response looking-at regexp-quote 1 point-at-bol "Couldn't open 
connection to %s." nntp-decode-text wait-for nnheader-callback-function 
nntp-inhibit-output command buffer nntp-connection-alist entry process ...] 9)
  byte-code("ÄÅÅ#ˆ     …Æ    ÅÇ#ȎÅÉʏ*Ň" [server nntp-connection-timeout 
timer nntp-with-open-group-internal nntp-possibly-change-group nil run-at-time 
(lambda nil (let ... ...)) ((byte-code "ƒÁ!ˆÁ‡" [timer 
nnheader-cancel-timer] 2)) (byte-code "ŠqˆÆ  !‰‰A@)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]@T ˆ\nA\fÊZ ˆ‚F\nA\f ˆËÌÍÎ\n\"ÏE*+„_,„_Ð!ˆÑÒ
Ó#-./.;[EMAIL PROTECTED]@)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]>ƒÂ1‚ÒØÙ1!!ˆÚ0/\"/Õ-‰1…ÝÙ1!‰.…êr.qˆ`)31ƒÔ
-45*+Õ67*.89-../.;ƒ
Ô.!‚
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]@)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]/
1…x
Ö1!×>ƒh
1‚x
ØÙ1!!ˆÚ0/\"/Õ-†€
Û.!‰1ƒž
:„—
+„—
ÐÙ1!!ˆÜÝޏ‚¤
ßàá9#.*„Ú
;⚄Ú
ã
 ˆŠ.qˆ3bˆäå-!!ƒÐ
3æyˆç |ˆ)‚Ú
ßàè4#.é ˆ+‡" [nntp-server-buffer date time x 
ls strings date-to-time 8 decode-time 0 65536 "^\\.
?\n" "NEWGROUPS" format-time-string "%y%m%d %H%M%S" "GMT" nntp-erase-buffer 
mapconcat identity " " get-buffer nil process-status ... nntp-kill-buffer 
process-buffer delq nntp-open-connection err ... ... nnheader-report nntp 
"Couldn't open connection to %s" nntp-open-network-stream nntp-accept-response 
looking-at regexp-quote 1 point-at-bol "Couldn't open connection to %s." 
nntp-decode-text wait-for nnheader-callback-function nntp-inhibit-output 
command buffer nntp-connection-alist entry process ...] 9) ((quit ...))] 4)
  nntp-request-newgroups("sam, 02 d\x8e9\ c 2006 12:16:49 +0100" "news.free.fr")
  gnus-request-newgroups("sam, 02 d\x8e9\ c 2006 12:16:49 +0100" (nntp 
"news.free.fr"))
  gnus-ask-server-for-new-groups()
  gnus-find-new-newsgroups()
  gnus-setup-news(nil nil nil)
  byte-code("„       „Æ ˆ‚QÇÈ!ˆÉ\n!\f„
ƒ!Ê ˆƒ+ËÌÍ\"ˆËÎÏ\"ˆÐÑ#ˆÇÒ!ˆÓ ˆÔ!ˆÕ ˆÖ×!ˆØ ˆÇÙ!ˆÑ‡" [dont-connect 
did-connect gnus-startup-file gnus-current-startup-file gnus-slave 
gnus-use-dribble-file gnus-group-quit gnus-run-hooks gnus-startup-hook 
gnus-make-newsrc-file gnus-dribble-read-file gnus-request-create-group "queue" 
(nndraft "") "drafts" (nndraft "") gnus-setup-news nil gnus-setup-news-hook 
gnus-start-draft-setup gnus-group-list-groups gnus-group-first-unread-group 
gnus-configure-windows group gnus-group-set-mode-line gnus-started-hook 
gnus-agent level] 4)
  gnus-1(nil nil nil)
  gnus(nil)
* call-interactively(gnus)
  execute-extended-command(nil)
* call-interactively(execute-extended-command)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.17-2-686
Locale: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages gnus depends on:
ii  emacs21                       21.4a+1-1  The GNU Emacs editor
ii  make                          3.81-2     The GNU version of the "make" util
ii  ucf                           2.0017     Update Configuration File: preserv

gnus recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information