[Babase] Questions about fixing ranker
Karl O. Pinc
kop at meme.com
Mon Aug 13 17:09:31 EDT 2007
Hi Jun,
This is mostly for you but there's other
stuff of interest to everybody and something for
Lacey to do.
I strongly suspect that Lacey will find that fixing
RNKTYPES will solve the immediate problem
and we will not be pressed for answers to
any of the questions brought up in this
email. In that event please do not feel
rushed to answer. I do think that the issue
won't go away, in that sooner or later
some problem with ranker will come up that
will want fixing.
We think we've found a, probably very minor,
bug in the ranker program. It won't work
when trying to reach the babase_copy database.
It works fine when connected to either the
babase_test or babase (production) db.
I notice that there is no data in the RNKTYPES
table in the babase_copy database. This is
probably the problem and something that can
be fixed by Lacey with a backup and restore
of that table to move the data between databases.
However, that would still leave a problem with the
ranker in it's error detection/reporting. It just
shuts down, there's no useful error message.
FYI, The errors that show up in the db logs
look like:
Aug 13 12:03:15 papio postgres[15607]: [1-1] LOG: could not receive
data from client: Connection reset by peer
Aug 13 12:03:15 papio postgres[15607]: [2-1] LOG: unexpected EOF on
client connection
Which brings me to the main questions, the questions
which surround the issue of whether or not I should
be involved in working with the ranker code.
Although I've extensive experience writing code
in various paradigms, the Java code I've written can be counted
in mere thousands of lines and I have no experience with
Eclipse and practically none packaging
jar files and the like. I've no problem picking up more
Java but the question is whether I should
devote any time at all to it to fix problems
such as the above. The related issue is
whether or not I should use the Eclipse IDE
to keep the ranker in a state where it's
maintainable by you and suitable for future
work by you and your students. My feeling
is that using Eclipse is probably a good idea
if I'm going to maintain the code at all,
(even though I'm an emacs kinda guy)
but I also have no idea how long I'd expect
to have to spend installing it and learning
enough to do anything with Eclipse.
I prefer to use the packages provided by
my Linux distributor, Debian stable of late, because
I don't want to play systems integrator,
especially when it comes time to upgrade
the OS. Seeing has how Debian supplies
a kazillion software packages I figure I'm sure
to find it supplies Java and Eclipse as
well. I don't upgrade but every 2 years
or so but you know how it is, there's only
so much messing with the computer you want
to do before you need it to work for you.
Packages supplied and supported by the
Linux distros are just so _handy_.
My inclination was to leave the ranker
program entirely in your hands, but
it might be very simple for me to jump
in and fix things. You seem the
person best equipped to know the answers.
What are your recommendations?
Regards,
Karl <kop at meme.com>
Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
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