File Pro And Bus Errors

[J. Ryan Kelley]

Steve Wiltsie wrote:

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "J. Ryan Kelley" <ryan.kelley at trinitytransport.com>
>To: "fplist3" <Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 7:07 AM
>Subject: File Pro And Bus Errors
>
>
>  
>
>>Good Morning,
>>
>>I've been working with Filepro for about 8 months now after recently
>>graduating from college with a degree in Computer Science.  I've had
>>experiences working with everything from C, and C++ to Fortran, to Lisp,
>>and countless other languages, however never with FilePro until I
>>started at my current position.  When I first started working with
>>Filepro, I'll admit, I was impressed with how easy it was to step in and
>>start working.  In fact, I was doing some programming in my first few
>>hours on my first day.  The primary thing that I have found unsettling
>>from day one, however, is the presence of the dreaded Bus Error.  I'm
>>quite familiar with Bus Errors (aka Segmentation Faults) from my days
>>working in C, where attempting to access a memory location you don't
>>have permissions to access would cause this problem and dump you out.
>>It was usually caused by an improperly indexed array, or an erroneous
>>pointer.  This all made sense in C because of how low level it was,
>>giving you direct access to the memory.
>>
>>Filepro, at least relative to C, is much more high level.  There is no
>>point at which you are attempting to manipulate the system memory
>>directly so these Bus Errors should cease to exist, unless being caused
>>by a compiler/interpreter.  When I've questioned co-workers and other
>>filepro developers in the past about what causes these errors, and how
>>they can be avoided, I always get one reply, "Remove your comments."
>>When I was first told this, I disputed it, and disputed it.  After all,
>>in all (or at least i thought all) compilers/interpreters comments are
>>completely disregarded and treated as if they were simply white space.
>>Sadly, I have seen several instances in which removing some comments can
>>remedy these errors.  In my opinion, comments are a very important part
>>of the code itself, especially when working in a system with several
>>developers who need to be able to easily digest what another programmer
>>was attempting to do.  For a comment to attempt to access an
>>unauthorized memory location is illogical, and I'm assuming that there
>>is a better explanation for all of this.  As the days wear on, the bus
>>errors seem to become more and more prevalent and are creating some
>>serious issues that take me away from my daily duties.  Can anyone
>>provide some helpful insight onto this problem, do comments really cause
>>Bus Errors?  If So why and how?  Is there a patch in the works? and what
>>else in FilePro can cause these nasty errors.
>>
>>Thank you,
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Ryan,
>
>Sorry you are getting "bus errors" in filePro.  However, you have failed to
>provide anyone with enough information to help you.  For example:  what
>version of filePro are you using?  is there an update available to a later
>release of the same version you are using?  what operating system(s) are
>involved?  do the systems get bus errors running anything else?
>
>I have been working in filePro doing development for my business customers
>for over 20 years and I don't think this has been a problem I've seen for a
>long, long time.  I think you have another problem that is showing itself
>when filePro is running or you are running a very old version on a new
>operating system.
>
>That's my 2 cents worth.
>
>Steve Wiltsie
>microCONCEPTS Div. multi/user/inc.        Since 1981
>(812) 474-0127                          Fax: (812) 474-0147
>
>
>
>
>  
>
Steve,

Thanks for the quick reply.  I'm running on FP 5.0.13R4 on Solaris 9.  
We see no bus errors outside of filepro, although this server runs only 
a few other applications such as a fax server.  We see these bus errors 
at different times, sometimes, before the processing even appears to 
begin, and other times after certain fields are updated, the fields will 
be updated, but some automatic indexes may need to be rebuilt to reflect 
the change because of a bus error.

Thanks, 

-- 
J. Ryan Kelley
Trinity Transport, Inc.
(302)253-3900 ext. 3844