6.5.5 and earlier : "Too many read 0" error

[cpblpublic+offlineimap at gmail.com]

When I use offlineimap 6.5.5 to sync a gmail (google app mail) account to 
a local IMAP server under Ubuntu 13.04, I get numerous failures that look 
like this:

ERROR: Saving msg in folder 'myfolder', repository 
'myrepository' failed (abort). Server responded: command: APPEND => 
socket error: <type 'exceptions.IOError'> - Too many read 0

Thereafter in each case there is a quote from the file, and it seems 
always to include a ^@ at the end, ie as though that is what is 
tripping up offlineimap (or someone).

I need a rapid workaround for this. I don't think this problem is new to 
6.5.5. I seem to recall that previously I had just reverted to version 
6.3.4 which didn't have this problem, but I can no longer find the code 
for that version online (and of course it might not work anymore if 
something has changed somewhere else).

Thanks!