Odd Global .lockfile problem

[Laura Brody]

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:32:41 -0700, Silas Martinez <silasm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all...
>
> After about a year away, I'm back with a company that uses filepro (the same one I was with before, actually). Anyhow, we have a new division that is having odd problems with their filepro server.
>
> Specifically, every few minutes, lockfiles are showing up on every file in the system. It does not seem to matter whether or not the specific file is called anywhere in processing - lockfiles are simply appearing when the filepro system is in use.

	Lockfiles are simply files that filePro uses to "know" that
someone else is updating/using a specific filePro in a way that
would be "very bad" if another user say changed a file definition
or a screen. It is the CONTENTS of the file that matters, NOT
the fact that they exist! If the lockfile gets corrupted and tells
you "you can't do that someone else is using the file - come back
later" and you KNOW FOR A FACT that that file is 100% NOT open/in use
in any way, then and only then should you delete the lockfile to
allow filePro to create a new one which will then have the correct
contents.


> The system is Debian 3.0, kernel 2.4.27. FilePro version 5.0.14D4. The system is not under a significant load - perhaps 2-4 users at a given time (at the moment). Other than these lockfile issues, FilePro seems to be running fine. I would /suspect/ that it isn't a problem with the processing itself, as we have other divisions with the same filepro application that are running fine under much heavier loads. However, this is the only system we have running under Debian - many divisions are running under archaic versions of redhat (which I am phasing out) or newer versions of SuSE.
>
> Any clue what could be causing this? As a temporary hack, I have a cron job running every few minutes that clears the lockfiles, but I'm fully aware that this is not any sort of real solution.

	Your lockfile issues appear to be self-inflicted.

	What you are doing is TOTALLY not recommended. Turn off
this cron job, get everyone out of the system, delete all of
the lockfiles (I will happily bet some serious money that more
than half of them are corrupted right now) and then let
everyone get back to work. Now, leave the lockfiles alone
unless they appear to be corrupted! (see above for the
proper clearing method). Also, instruct your users that
they should never use Ctrl-\ to exit out of filePro and/or
set the env var PFQUIT=OFF to disable the Ctrl-/ (only
for filePro, not for the system).

	Have a great day, and "stop doing that"! <G>
-- 
Laura Brody, Publisher of the filePro Developer's Journal
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