Re: html-widget choice and use of html2text

[Jack <ostroffjh users sourceforge net>]

Hi Albrecht,

Thanks for the info and suggestion.

On 2018.11.23 16:20, Albrecht Dreß wrote:
> Am 23.11.18 21:24 schrieb(en) Jack via balsa-list:
> > I took a new tack tracking down my problem with balsa becoming  
> > unresponsive when downloading some new messages, and discovered  
> > (just using top) that when balsa seems frozen, one CPU was pegged  
> > running html2text.  As that seems only necessary when using  
> > gtk-webkt2 on html-only messages, I tried recompiling with  
> > gtkthtml.   As that didn't work, I vaguely recall the discussion  
> > deciding to drop it.
> Yes, gtkhtml is deprecated & probably full of security issues…
Understood - I had just forgotten about that discussion.

> >  However, it's mention has not yet been removed from README.
> Oooops…

> > I have not yet delved into the code - but I'm wondering if my  
> > problem is because of how Balsa calls html2text - possibly in some  
> > way which prevents any interruptions.  Also, I'd like to confirm  
> > that html2text is only called on html-only messages.  Related  
> > question - why is html2text called at all when fetching messages  
> > (POP3) from the server.
> Good question.  It is used in html.c, function html2text(), which in  
> turn is called from libbalsa_html_to_string(), which in turn is  
> /only/ called from mime.c, process_mime_part().
>
> > I would expect it is only needed when forwarding or replying.  Am I  
> > missing something.  Separately - I'll have to check the relative  
> > performance of the other viable html2text solutions.
> html2text is rather old and the “last resort” option.  Could you try  
> to install python3's html2 markdown (on Debian package  
> python3-html2text), and try if this works better?  And you could try  
> to just kill the apparently hanging html2text process and see if  
> Balsa stops hanging.
Yes, after installing the python3 version, I have had NO hangs or  
freezes at all.  I haven't looked at the code (in html2text) at all,  
and will probably not bother, but I suppose it simply is not written to  
allow interruptions.  Oddly, I THINK I've been using it for a while, so  
either it has changed (unlikely, last release was 2005) or some other  
change (in Balsa or elsewhere) has exposed some problem.  Oddly, the  
htmltext web page for known bugs includes "html2text segfaults on  
adm64, but I haven't noticed any of that.  However, if I'm the only one  
who has had problems with it, then hoepfully that should be the end of  
this thread.

> Cheers,
> Albrecht.
Jack