[mu4e] Unexpected data from server: (:labels nil)

[Tim Cross]

Hi,

recently I'm seeing the message '[mu4e] Unexpected data from server:
(:labels nil)' in the minibuffer and messages buffer. I have no idea
why or what needs to be done to get rid of this message. This is with
most recent mu from git and emacs GNU Emacs 31.0.50 (build 2,
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.49, cairo version 1.18.2) of
2025-09-04. I use mbsync 1.5.1 to retrieve email from google.

Is anybody else seeing this and has anyone any insight as to what needs
to be done to get rid of the message? I'm not worried about it being in
the messages buffer, but having it printed to the minibuffer is an issue
because I use text-to-speech with emacs and as mu runs periodically to
update my mail in the background, I keep getting this message read out
aloud, which becomes both distravcting and annoying.

[Dirk-Jan C. Binnema]

It sounds like your mu4e is not quite up-to-date with the mu4e server,
i.e., the latter is newer than the former and sends some data the former
does not understand. It doesn't help that both have version number 1.12!

Some ways to fix that, either:
- ensure both of mu/mu4e are at the same git revision.
- use the 1.12.12 release tarball
- use the current git master for both (which is 1.12.13-dev right now)

Hope this helps,
Dirk.

--
Dirk-Jan C. Binnema Helsinki, Finland
e:dj...@djcbsoftware.nl w:www.djcbsoftware.nl
gpg: 6987 9CED 1745 9375 0F14 DA98 11DD FEA9 DCC4 A036

[Tim Cross]

I will check, but I only run from the git repo i.e. no other mu or
mu4e installed via dnf or anything else. I first noticed this a few days
back. I then did a pull, followed by a git clean -dxf to ensure clean git
repo and then re-built and installed following the instructions in the
README. Current version says 1.12.13-dev. For this latest version I used
the autogen.sh && make followed by sudo make install. Previous
builds/installs were with the meson build && ninja -C build followed by
sudo ninja -C build install.

[Tim Cross]

"Dirk-Jan C. Binnema" <dj...@djcbsoftware.nl> writes:

Sadly, no luck.

I manually removed old mu and mu4e from /usr/local tree
Did new pull followed by git clean -dxf to ensure clean repo snapshot
Ran ./autogen.sh && make followed by sudo make install
Deleted xapian database from .cache and ran mu init and mu index just to
ensure datagbase is current etc.

Still get the message in minibuffer.

Fedora 42 running hyuperland
Emacs GNU Emacs 31.0.50 (build 2, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version

3.24.49, cairo version 1.18.2) of 2025-09-04

isync mbsync 1.5.1
mu/mu4e 1.12.13-dev from git

[Luke Newman]

Just to confirm that I see the same behaviour, with emacs and mu/mu4e
both built from git sources. I am running the unstable branch of gentoo,
fully up to date.

I run emacs as a daemon and then emacsclient to create the frame in
which I run mu4e. Perhaps as a result, my *messages* buffer says

[mu4e] Found mu version 1.12.13-dev

[mu4e] Unexpected data from server: (:labels nil)

[mu4e] Contacts updated: 2087; total 1560

just once, on starting mu4e for the first time, but then not again.

As Tim did, I manually removed all the contents of the
/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/mu4e directory and allowed the mu build
to repopulate it, to no avail.

It's only a minor annoyance for me, as the message only appears once in
my setup, but I hope this helps to track down the issue.

Luke

[Luke Newman]

Sorry, my bad. I also get the message every time that mu4e updates, but
only if there is new mail (I was fooled by investigating this on a
Sunday, when traffic was low).

Luke