2007/09/04
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IRC [13:11] <Dossy_> http://doc.php.net/php/dochowto/ -- PHP Documentation Framework -- I'm thinking about using this to capture AOLserver documentation. Sound like a good idea? :-)
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IRC [13:30] * Dossy_ sighs.
IRC [13:30] <Dossy_> Is AOLserver done for? Should I just move on?
IRC [15:20] <daguz> Double Sigh. I hope you don't give up.
IRC [15:21] <daguz> I've been thinking of how I can contribute more to the project ....
IRC [15:21] <daguz> at least since I heard so many complaints.
IRC [15:22] <daguz> So far I have just been a user. I'd like to put some effort into the code... but that might be wishful thinking.
IRC [15:23] <daguz> got a baby on the way... so I have to make a living...
IRC [15:23] <daguz> I'm just saying that because I understand that there are a lot that feel the same way.
IRC [16:22] <jhavard> daguz: work on some documentation.
IRC [16:28] <Dossy_> We all have to make a living.
IRC [16:29] <Dossy_> Maybe we don't need documentation. If people do things "to scratch an itch," then clearly nobody's had an itch strong enough to warrant writing their own documentation.
IRC [16:30] <Dossy_> What I'm trying to wrestle with now is, maybe we don't need AOLserver. Everyone seems to get along just fine with Apache and PHP and so on. Why should any of us care what happens to AOLserver?
IRC [16:30] <Dossy_> People are using it just fine. Nobody is scratching any itches to contribute to it, therefore it must be complete--enough for people to use as-is.
IRC [16:31] <Dossy_> Perhaps the best thing to do is to shut down the project, leave the source out there for download somewhere, and move on.
IRC [16:50] <jhavard> dossy: we need aolserver because apache+php isn't a good match for real web applications and java is a big pita for development
IRC [16:51] <Dossy_> Even if it isn't a good match, folks are making due with Apache and PHP ...
IRC [16:53] <jhavard> There are enough folks out there using openacs to warrant continued development of aolserver.
IRC [16:53] <jhavard> and LAMP being "good enough" is like <insert least favorite popular OS> being "good enough"
IRC [16:53] <jhavard> i.e. "good enough" never is.
IRC [16:56] <jhavard> don't let the whiners get you down.
IRC [17:44] <partymola> personally, for the development i am doing (that is, an online shop), aolserver has no big defects...
IRC [17:45] <partymola> i find documentation via google
IRC [17:45] <partymola> and for tcl, there is enough documentation too
IRC [17:45] <partymola> and wiki.tcl.tk simply rocks
IRC [18:39] <Dossy_> Indeed, the Tcler's Wiki is quite a good resource and has an active participating community.
IRC [18:40] <partymola> and actually, even if aolserver doc is sometimes a little outdated, it's ok for me
IRC [18:40] <partymola> in fact, the only problem i have with aolserver
IRC [18:40] <partymola> is that sometimes it crashes
IRC [18:40] <partymola> unexpectedly, it dies
IRC [18:40] <partymola> signal 11: segmentation fault
IRC [18:40] <partymola> no more messages, it just dies
IRC [18:41] <partymola> what i'd like to be worked at would be that kind of things
IRC [18:41] <partymola> working correctly on 64 bits, and preventing crashes (or having better logging)
IRC [18:42] <Dossy_> *nod* Definitely. Do you have corefiles enabled (ulimit -c unlimited)?
IRC [18:42] <Dossy_> If you can get a usable corefile, I'd be happy to help debug it with you.
IRC [18:42] <partymola> ok, no. In fact corefiles are deactivated... but now it's on real production, i am going to enable them
IRC [18:43] <partymola> it uses to crash each 10-18 hours, so we'll have a core dump in less than one day :)
IRC [18:43] <partymola> i thought it was some code that worked with GdTclFt to generate some graphics
IRC [18:43] <partymola> but i isolated the code, put it into a standalone tcl, and called with exec
IRC [18:43] <partymola> and it still crashes
IRC [18:43] <partymola> so it must be some kind of strange problem
IRC [18:43] <partymola> we'll see from the corefile :)
IRC [18:47] <Dossy_> If you can get a corefile, let me know.
IRC [18:47] <partymola> ah, no, it's not signal 11
IRC [18:47] <partymola> it's signal 6
IRC [18:47] <partymola> 6 SIGABRT create core image abort program (formerly SIGIOT)
IRC [18:47] <Dossy_> SIGIOT ... curious.
IRC [18:48] <Dossy_> oh, that's SIGABRT. OK, it'll be interesting to look at the server log then
IRC [18:48] <Dossy_> look at the last 10 or so entries in the server log--whatever got written as it crashed.
IRC [18:49] <partymola> ok
IRC [18:52] <partymola> [04/sep/2007:19:31:18][50912.134698496][-conn:5-] Notice: exiting: timeout waiting for connection
IRC [18:52] <partymola> [04/sep/2007:19:31:18][50912.135100928][-sched:3-] Fatal: received fatal signal 11
IRC [18:52] <partymola> now it says signal 11 ?!
IRC [18:52] <partymola> dmesg shows signal 6
IRC [18:53] <partymola> note that's my local time, it's Sep 5th here already ;)
IRC [18:57] <partymola> so... god knows what's the real signal
IRC [18:57] <partymola> of course, after the Fatal line, process dies
IRC [19:13] <partymola> be back in 20... shower time
IRC [19:22] <Dossy_> you should check the fix that John Buckman sent to the AOLSERVER mailing list--I bet that's what you're seeing there
IRC [19:22] <Dossy_> some conn thread reaping bug
IRC [19:25] <partymola> ok, let me see
IRC [19:26] <partymola> well, i never try to stop the process
IRC [19:27] <partymola> nsd stops himself after having that SIGABRT / SIGSEGV problem
IRC [19:29] <Dossy_> I just took a very quick pass at generating docs off the AOLserver source using Doxygen -- http://aolserver.com/doxygen/
IRC [19:29] <Dossy_> naturally, since we don't have all the specialized comment strings in the source, the docs aren't very ... detailed
IRC [19:30] <partymola> let me take a look :)
IRC [19:30] <Dossy_> partymola: stopping the server causes all conn threads to exit--but if the bug involves stopping a conn thread, then that might be what you're seeing
IRC [19:31] <partymola> i do not do low-level conn handling anywhere
IRC [19:31] <partymola> so it must be aolserver bug
IRC [19:31] <Dossy_> yeah
IRC [19:31] <partymola> the only thing i have is a scheduled proc that runs every minute
IRC [19:31] <partymola> process a text file, and transforms into sql, and inserts into a DataBase
IRC [19:31] <partymola> and that server also serves normal requests
IRC [19:31] <partymola> that involve accessing a database, and giving formatted output
IRC [19:31] <partymola> nothing strange
IRC [19:32] <partymola> as i told you, i took out the graphics generation thing
IRC [19:32] <partymola> and runned by using exec
IRC [19:32] <partymola> but it still crashes
IRC [19:32] <partymola> is there any easy way to increment debug level or something?
IRC [19:34] <Dossy_> ns/parameters, ns_param debug on
IRC [19:34] <Dossy_> er, ns_section ns/parameters, ns_param debug on...
IRC [19:35] <Dossy_> but, that probably won't help you here
IRC [19:35] <partymola> yes, i am afraid that won't help
IRC [19:35] <partymola> i am waiting for it to crash xD
IRC [19:36] <Dossy_> heh
IRC [19:36] <partymola> i want a core dump :D
IRC [19:44] <partymola> by the way, Dossy_ , doxygen doc looks nice to me
IRC [19:44] <partymola> but it's bad that, as you said, source code is not very commented
IRC [19:45] <Dossy_> yeah
IRC [19:46] <Dossy_> the source has PLENTY of comments
IRC [19:46] <Dossy_> but they're not marked up so that Doxygen will recognize them
IRC [19:46] <Dossy_> :-(
IRC [19:46] <Dossy_> let me take a pass at fixing that
IRC [19:46] <partymola> yep
IRC [20:01] <Dossy_> OK, check the docs again
IRC [20:01] <Dossy_> i.e., http://panoptic.com/aolserver/doxygen/driver_8c.html
IRC [20:01] <Dossy_> it's not "pretty" but it at least includes some of the comments that's already in the source
IRC [20:03] <Dossy_> oops
IRC [20:03] <Dossy_> http://aolserver.com/doxygen/driver_8c.html
IRC [20:09] <partymola> well, at least u can see roughly what does each function
IRC [20:09] <partymola> and for more info you can read source code directly
IRC [20:11] <Dossy_> right
IRC [20:20] <partymola> well, i am going to bed
IRC [20:20] <partymola> i like the doxygen initiative... it's easy, requires minimal maintenance, and adds value to the project
IRC [20:20] <partymola> when i have a core dump of aolserver, i'll give you a shout, dossy
IRC [20:21] <partymola> good night :)
IRC [20:26] <Dossy_> ok, g'night
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