referencer fails to fetch metadata from online sources

[opt]

 - Starting referencer with given reflist.
 - Left-click item -> Get Metadata
 - Fails

same result for both referencer 1.2.1-1+b1 in debian unstable and referencer-1.2.1.tar.gz

Console dump:

bool PluginManager::resolveMetadata(Document&):
        PluginManager::resolveMetadata: trying module 'dblp' with priority '20'
DBLP:url: 'http://www.dblp.org/search/api/?q=Convolutive+blind+separation+of+non+stationary+sources&h=1000&c=0&f=0&format=xml'
filename: http://www.dblp.org/search/api/?q=Convolutive+blind+separation+of+non+stationary+sources&h=1000&c=0&f=0&format=xml
void Transfer::fetcherThread(const Glib::ustring&, Glib::RefPtr<Gio::Cancellable>):
        Got an exception from load_contents
PyObject* referencer_download(PyObject*, PyObject*):
        got 0 characters
void referencer_document_dealloc(PyObject*):
        >> referencer_document_dealloc
bool PluginManager::resolveMetadata(Document&):
        PluginManager::resolveMetadata: trying module 'isi-plugin' with priority '10'
isi query url: http://estipub.isiknowledge.com/esti/cgi?action=search&viewType=xml&mode=GeneralSearch&product=WOS&ServiceName=GeneralSearch&filter=&Start=&End=10&DestApp=WOS&topic=Convolutive+blind+separation+of+non-stationary+sources&author=Parra+L+and+Spence+C&year=2000
filename: http://estipub.isiknowledge.com/esti/cgi?action=search&viewType=xml&mode=GeneralSearch&product=WOS&ServiceName=GeneralSearch&filter=&Start=&End=10&DestApp=WOS&topic=Convolutive+blind+separation+of+non-stationary+sources&author=Parra+L+and+Spence+C&year=2000
void Transfer::fetcherThread(const Glib::ustring&, Glib::RefPtr<Gio::Cancellable>):
        Got an exception from load_contents
PyObject* referencer_download(PyObject*, PyObject*):
        got 0 characters

void referencer_document_dealloc(PyObject*):
        >> referencer_document_dealloc

[Mads Chr. Olesen (shiyee)]

What happens if you access the URLs yourself, e.g.
http://www.dblp.org/search/api/?q=Convolutive+blind+separation+of+non+stationary+sources&h=1000&c=0&f=0&format=xml
?

Are you behind some kind of network proxy?

[opt (opt-3)]

sorry,

should have mentioned that rightaway: accessing the url in the browser works just fine.

the exception is thrown by load_contents from Gio::File, so it might be some glib issue, unfortunately glib/gio is a bit opaque to me.

[Mads Chr. Olesen (shiyee)]

Can you re-compile and try wit the attached patch? It should explicitly say which Exception is thrown.
That specific part of the code is indeed just a call to glib(mm), so not really sure this is a bug in Referencer.

Do you know what your network setup is like?

[opt (opt-3)]

ok, changed that to, otherwise i wouldn't see the ex.what() output.

 } catch (const Glib::Error ex) {
      DEBUG ("Got an exception from load_contents");
      DEBUG (ex.what());
...

the answer is:

void Transfer::fetcherThread(const Glib::ustring&, Glib::RefPtr<Gio::Cancellable>):
        Got an exception from load_contents
        Operation not supported

[Mads Chr. Olesen (shiyee)]

Does running:
$ gvfs-cat "http://www.dblp.org/search/api/?q=Convolutive+blind+separation+of+non+stationary+sources&h=1000&c=0&f=0&format=xml"
in a terminal work give the document output?

Do you have the "gvfs-backends" package installed?

[opt (opt-3)]

mads, this is getting into the right direction :)

gvfs-backends are installed, gvfs-cat returns the same "Operation not supported" as the call from within transfer.C

found this:
http://superuser.com/questions/228261/how-to-properly-start-gvfs-without-gnome

so it looks like i am missing some session infrastructure running. cheers so far ..

[opt (opt-3)]

restarted X session with dbus-launch now it seems to be working, so the bug is actually in glib/gio which should detect when it is missing critical infrastructure for its operation.

[Mads Chr. Olesen (shiyee)]

Cool, I'm closing this bug then.