Help converting to a new Linux server

Thu Aug 21 07:17:07 PDT 2008

Thanks for the awesome advice.  That is exactly what I was looking to
get back.  However, I'm a newbie to Linux stuff so, at the expense of
me sounding really dumb, I have a couple more questions on the
solutions that you provided me.

I am having trouble finding how to run showlock, lock.info, and
setperms.  Does it matter that I'm running the Windows version of
filePro and not the Linux?  All of the clients that access filePro
here are running Windows.  The server where filePro is stored is
Linux.  Can I still use showlock, lock.info, and setperms on this?  If
so, is there some documentation on how to run these scripts.  Like I
said, I'm a newbie to Linux.

Thanks for your patience and advice.

Nathan Lehman

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 11:48 PM, John Esak <john at valar.com> wrote:
> If you really want to solve your record locking problem ... whose locking a
> record when it should be available... You need to look at all of your
> processing. Here is where the problem lies. All your trouble is being
> generated there.  FilePro does not cause record locking conflicts... in
> fact, it has never, not once, in the nearly 30 years I've used it, ever been
> the *cause* of a record locking issue.  It has been fully vetted over and
> over again in this regard... and without fail, the reason for a record being
> locked when it shouldn't be... is the, is the sole province of the
> programmer and the processing tables being used.
>
> Sorry to take the long view... but somebody has to... get a hold of some old
> Guru magazines, Smalltalk's , fPDJ's and so on... there are myriads of
> examples of how to build your tables so no conflicts will occur.
>
> One of the main culprits I think, is working from within @key's routines.
> This unnecessarily *locks* the record, so other reports, or clerk accesses
> get stopped dead in the water.  I have yet to find an @key routine that can
> not be transformed into an @entsel version, even including changing values
> of the real fields on the current record.  It just takes little re-writes
> here and there to open up your files to virtually complete access without
> the fear of records being locked when they shouldn't be.  If you do lock a
> record, do it for the shortest time you possibly can, and do it and lock and
> unlock it correctly so you keep indexes correct as well.
>
> As to your actual question, the sholock program Ken mentioned is the tool
> you want, but he is also correct it is 100% more effective if you use it
> within Bob Stockler's lock.info script.
>
> Secondly, his mention of checking your lookups with CHECKLOCK is the very
> best way to *quickly* find improper code.
>
> Third, you can do something to all subdirectories and files with wildcards
> much easier in Linux than in any Windows platform.  Roughly it might look
> something like this.
>
> Cd /appl/filepro   #(where your files live)
> chmod 700 * */*       #Change ownership of all filePro files and dirs
>
> But, again, Ken's suggestion to run setperm in the fp/scripts directory is
> really all you need.
>
> Cd /appl/fp/scripts   #or wherever your programs are
> ./setperms
>
> This must be done as the root user.
>
>
> Good luck,  The hard to understand part of all this is why you didn't have
> the problems under Netware....  perhaps, it does not lock files as
> thoroughly (i.e., strictly... in *alls* circumstances) as it should.  I've
> never been a fan of Netware, maybe It's okay, but I have no experience with
> it.  I only have had run-ins with all the other products that Novel has
> ruined over the years.... WordPerfect, Corel, Unix... etc.  :-)  Whatever
> the reason, now that you are on Linux, you have to deal with its full record
> locking paradigm... and if you write your code properly, it will be no
> burden.
>
> John Esak
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: filepro-list-bounces+john=valar.com at lists.celestial.com
>> [mailto:filepro-list-bounces+jo       hn=valar.com at lists.celestial.com] On
> Behalf
>> Of Kenneth Brody
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:14 PM
>> To: Nathan Lehman
>> Cc: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
>> Subject: Re: Help converting to a new Linux server
>>
>> Quoting Nathan Lehman (Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:12:41 -0400):
>>
>> > filePro 5.0.14D9
>> > Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 on Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10
>>
>> [... moved from Netware to Linux ...]
>>
>> > One of the issues we are having with this new server is dealing with
>> > file locks.  I find it really hard to find out who is locking a key
>> > file.  The way we do it now is to run ncpcon from the server.  However
>> > this just shows everyone accessing the key file, not the one(s)
>> > locking it.
>>
>> Get a copy of my showlock program, perhaps with Bob Stockler's lock.info
>> wrapper.
>>
>> > I found after the first day that we needed to set all filePro files
>> > with the -sh (shareable) attribute.  That really helped.
>>
>> Why?  What problems were you having, and how did it help?  I'm not
>> familiar with a "shareable" attribute under Linux.  How, exactly, did
>> you set this?
>>
>> > However I'm
>> > not good enough at linux to know how to change all files in my filePro
>> > and fp folders and have it change the attributes in every file
>> > including the files in subfolders.  Right now I have to go into each
>> > folder and change all the files in that folder, then move to the next
>> > folder and do the same thing.
>>
>> Use the setperms script that filePro includes.  That's all that you
>> should have to do.
>>
>> > One other problem that seems to be occurring more often on this server
>> > is freechain rebuilds.  I'm not quite sure why this is happening more
>> > often.
>>
>> Add PFCHECKLOCK=ON to the filePro config file and see if you have any
>> unprotected lookups being modified.  (Note, however, that this would
>> have caused problems in Netware as well, if you had more than one
>> person in at a time.)
>>
>> > I guess I would just like to know if anyone has any tips or tweaks in
>> > general for running filePro from my new linux server and if anyone has
>> > any suggestions for the problems listed.  Thanks so much in advance.
>>
>> --
>> Read the truth behind the movie "Expelled" at
>> <http://www.ExpelledExposed.com>
>> --
>> KenBrody at BestWeb dot net        spamtrap: <g8ymh8uf001 at sneakemail.com>
>> http://www.hvcomputer.com
>> http://www.fileProPlus.com
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>
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