Hi Joseph, Thanks for your efforts with libkarma! 2007-01-10: Joseph Nahmias dixit: > I've been trying to test out libkarma before I upload the > packages to Debian, and I seem to have come to a stumbling > block (or three). > > Firstly, when I tried to use it with Amarok (1.4.4) out of the > box, it didn't work very well. [...] After trying many times, > including downloading the latest code from subversion, I gave > up on that and decided to go to a lower layer.
Sure enough this was the first thing to do ;) > When I tried to use riocp, I ran into no end of problems until > I eventually discovered that it needed a file called > device_settings to exist on the Karma itself. Is this > documented somewhere that I missed? It's definitely going into > the README.Debian and manpage... > > After I sorted that out, helped by the create_device-settings > script in the tools/ directory, I managed to issue a successful > query with riocp. I added this device_settings thing for the USB interface to be able to supply the same info as the Ethernet interface does (so the actual interface used should be transparent to the user). In my implementation, the existance of this file was optional; if it was not found there, some safe defaults were used for the required info (as far as I remember, device_settings is only important if you want to handle more than one Karma on the same computer). I am prety confident that it worked this way at least until Changeset 118, which is the last version I did check thoroughly. > However, subsequent queries did not work -- > although adding the -b option made it work again (much slower > though). Eventually, I unplugged the Karma and it wasn't > happy... > > After using a paperclip to reset it, turning it on gave me the > "rebuilding database" message. This helped me get a handle on > the problem which I narrowed down to riocp somehow corrupting > the database on the Karma. For example, if I use the -w option > the query executes without a problem and subsequent queries > work properly. However, if I leave it out it gets messed up > and I get the message "error writing smalldb file". See the > attached log for complete details. This behaviour has been recently reported by a couple of users (please have a look at last Dec messages with Subject: "Karma DB not always updated"). Again, I am confident that this worked correctly at least until Changeset 118. I made some explicit smalldb updating tests on Changeset 122, just before Franky released the current release libkarma-0.0.6. These were only rather shallow tests, but libkarma-0.0.6 is my currently working version which does not seem to have these troubles (I have not had time so far to update or to test the recent versions). > So, where do I go from here? I feel like I'm so close, yet so > far... >From may past experience with libkarma development, 50% of the subbmited patches have typically resulted in some kind of regression, which has needed to be fixed in further patches. Given that not much testing seems to have been done from Changeset 118 (or 122), I fear some of the recent patches have broken some thing; most notoriously, something related with the smalldb updating or writting code. I'll definitively have to find some time to update my libkarma and make some tests; hopefully along the upcoming weekend. On the other hand, I find the error message of your log: "error writing smalldb file" rather unlikely, which hints possible troubles with the OMFS filesystem. So it is very interesting to make the tests suggested by Bob. Another OMFS-related possibility is the kernel you are using. It seems that the standard OMFS code has troubles with the most recent kernels... Best, EV. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ linux-karma-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-karma-devel
