wireless scanning freezes due to one essid

[CarlosJC]

Im using Wicd 1.7.1~b3 on Debian Sid (with xfce 4.8).

After this morning, wicd can't find any wireless networks on my system. It freezes "scanning" (i.e., scanning never ends).

This is the log info:
---------------------
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: Exception in thread Thread-1:
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: Traceback (most recent call last):
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 552, in __bootstrap_inner
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: self.run()
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 505, in run
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/share/wicd/daemon/wicd-daemon.py", line 990, in _async_scan
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: self._sync_scan()
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/share/wicd/daemon/wicd-daemon.py", line 994, in _sync_scan
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: scan = self.wifi.Scan(str(self.hidden_essid))
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wicd/networking.py", line 620, in Scan
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: aps = wiface.GetNetworks()
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wicd/wnettools.py", line 194, in newfunc
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wicd/wnettools.py", line 1224, in GetNetworks
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: entry = self._ParseAccessPoint(cell, ralink_info)
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wicd/wnettools.py", line 1250, in _ParseAccessPoint
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: ap['essid'] = misc.to_unicode(ap['essid'])
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wicd/misc.py", line 437, in to_unicode
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: x = ''.join(begin + map(lambda c: chr(int(c, 16)), chars) + end)
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wicd/misc.py", line 437, in <lambda>
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: x = ''.join(begin + map(lambda c: chr(int(c, 16)), chars) + end)
2012/02/01 11:26:53 :: ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 16: 'A0el'

The involved section in misc.py file says:
--------------------------------------------
    # FIXME: this is a workaround to correctly parse utf-8
    # encoded ESSIDs returned by iwlist -- python replaces
    # \xNN with \\xNN, thus losing the characters :/.
    # It should really be handled in a better way. Maybe
    # using index()/find()?
    if '\\' in x:
        begin = x.split('\\x')[:1]
        chars = x.split('\\x')[1:]
        end = [chars[-1][2:]]
        chars[-1] = chars[-1][:2]
        x = ''.join(begin + map(lambda c: chr(int(c, 16)), chars) + end)

And the problem seems to be a wireless network with an essid that can not be handled. This is the (summary of the) output of iwlist:

wlan0 Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: NEIGHBORSMACD
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=31/70 Signal level=-79 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"CARP,\xC2\xA0el\xC2\xA0mejor\xC2\xA0lejos..."
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=000000103172614e
                    Extra: Last beacon: 2140ms ago
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
          Cell 03 - Address: MYMACD
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=62/70 Signal level=-48 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"MY WIFI"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra: Last beacon: 1804ms ago
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

The problem seems to be that the essid "CARP,\xC2\xA0el\xC2\xA0mejor\xC2\xA0lejos..." can not be handled by wicd.

Sorry for my poor english.

[David Paleino (dpaleino)]

Oh. Another 1.7.1 blocker. :(

I perfectly understood the issue -- and I'm looking for a solution.

[David Paleino (dpaleino)]

Ok, I think I fixed it in rev. 714

  http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~wicd-devel/wicd/experimental/revision/714

Are you able to test that patch?

Thanks,
David

[CarlosJC (cervus)]

Ok, David. I downloaded the revision 714 that you suggested and it works flawlessly!.

This patch solved the issue for me. I'm very happy using wicd again (today I had to switch to network-manager-gnome).

Thank you very much.
Carlos J. C.