Update attempts freezing in clerk

[Barry Wiseman]

[top-posted for John]

Yes, when I saw freechain instances I thought, aha, that explains 
everything.  And I can well believe the horribly-written code causes 
mondo freechain problems.  But now when they're locked I always look for 
freechains with ps, and usually don't see them.

John Esak wrote:
> Is there any chance the freechain program is running without any
> notification to the screen?
> 
> The reason why I ask, is freechain locks every updating user just exactly as
> you describe when it runs.   It says something like press % to run freechain
> but it never does anything. I think it is something like the file is locked
> and the freechain can not do anything either.... I am probably wrong about
> this... all I know is the press % to run freechain has *never* worked and
> you always have to do the kill -9 thing you describe to get to a point where
> you *can* run the freechain.
> 
> Now, the only thing positive about this problem is when I do get it after
> scouring the code involved... I always find a programming issue.... there
> hasn't been an unexplainable freechain thing yet., at least not for me.
> Others say they do have unexplainable free chain problems.
> 
> John
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: filepro-list-bounces+john=valar.com at lists.celestial.com
>> [mailto:filepro-list-bounces+john=valar.com at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf
>> Of Barry Wiseman
>> Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 1:53 PM
>> To: Filepro_List
>> Subject: Update attempts freezing in clerk
>>
>> filePro 5.0.14
>> openSUSE 10.3
>>
>> This busy (typically 50+ users) site is experiencing some intermittent
>> event whereby attempts at write access to their main file cause the
>> session to freeze.  It is happening several times a week.  They
>> typically experience this when selecting an "Add Records" choice (-xa)
>> from their main menu.  The screen clears, the -h text draws, and there
>> she sits.
>>
>> At those moments, I find the following: I enter the problem file like
>> this:
>>
>> 	dclerk 3disp -s1 -y - -z -
>>
>> I can navigate through records without a problem.  But when I press "U"
>> at any record, the session freezes, does not respond to BREAK or QUIT.
>> I must do a kill -9 from a different session to regain control.
>>
>> I have them contacting me immediately each time this event occurs.
>> Sometimes the condition is quickly self-clearing (by the time I log in
>> to their box the event is over); most often it persists long enough for
>> me to study.
>>
>> By the time I'm looking at it there are usually several or more Add
>> Records sessions running against this file, all apparently frozen.  I
>> usually do a "kill -9" against these sessions one by one; during this
>> procedure the condition usually clears, but I'm unconvinced that my
>> kill's are the reason, since it also sometimes goes away when I've done
>> nothing.
>>
>> During these events showlock does not report any unexpected locks (I
>> check key, data, indexes, map and lockfile).  I have sometimes found
>> several zombie freechain processes, but I think that's a red herring.
>>
>> Ideas?
>>
>>
>> --
>> Barry Wiseman
>> Aljex Software
>> (732) 357-8700 ext 210
>> www.aljex.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Filepro-list mailing list
>> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
>> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list
> 
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