RE: [Draconet-developers] RQ: Where did all my build logs go?

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From: David Reed [mailto:dreed@eRealty.com] 
Sent: maandag 22 maart 2004 1:14
To: dra...@li...
Subject: RE: [Draconet-developers] RQ: Where did all my build logs go?

Correct, Yves, the example being:

3/20/2004 9:46:09 PM - Daily Activity Summary Test : Path 'C:\Sandbox\Log\'
does not exist or no permission to access

I guess it's been doing that since Thursday or so on the new test box, for
300MB worth of log, and I never noticed.  Doh!

However, I would disagree with you that it's "not the build's fault."

1.	It's highly likely that the average Draco installation is given
about as much administrative attention as mine: rapidly approaching zero -->
unless it's broken (aka the build reports don't arrive or begin to indicate
failures for some reason).  Those build reports are the canary in this coal
mine.

*       I agree. Draco should, after configuring, run out of the box. The
configuration should be verified at startup (but to what degree ...).

2.	The build log directory *is* configured as part of the build
<notification> element, and it can't be notified if it doesn't exist.  I
believe notification failure to be a build failure, from a design
perspective.

*       I disagree. If an email doesn't arrive (or more generally a
notification subscriber can't be reached) than this does not mean the build
failed. We can check all we want at startup, but if something (the network,
the mail server ...) goes AWOL (BTW, what does this abbreviation stand for?)
while Draco has been running for months, than this is hardly Draco's fault.
However, how this gets to your attention is something we must address (see
3).

3.	The log file is a quarter gigabyte to half a gigabyte (or larger)
monstrosity that takes eons to open in Textpad (especially across a slow
100mbit network) and I cringe every time I have to plumb its depths to
figure out what's wrong.  :)

*       I hear you. Rollover logging would indeed be a good addition.

*       What would make administration and notification of the fact that
something's wrong with the service easier for you?

I'm not clamoring for a breaking change if everybody likes it this way.  Now
that I know, assuming I can remember when my vacation is over, I'll just
keep it in my mental "software quirks" drawer against the day I need it
again.  :)

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From: dra...@li...
[mailto:dra...@li...] On Behalf Of Yves
Reynhout
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 5:49 PM
To: dra...@li...
Subject: RE: [Draconet-developers] RQ: Where did all my build logs go?

Judging from the code the directory seems to be verified (since v1.5B1):

public void Notify(BuildResult results) {
            try {

                // Perform some checks on the specified directory.
                // TODO: beef up the checks (is it fully accessible and
writable?)
                if (!Directory.Exists(dir)) {
                    Trace.WriteLine(Draco.Formatter.Format(
                        "FileNotifyBadDir", results.Module, dir));
                    return;
                }

Have you looked into the log file of your Draco service?

We could perform the check earlier (i.e. in the constructor of the
FileNotifier).

But it's not the build's fault, because it is working. Unless I'm mistaken
the draco service log does report this issue!

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From: dra...@li...
[mailto:dra...@li...] On Behalf Of David
Reed
Sent: zondag 21 maart 2004 23:22
To: dra...@li...
Subject: [Draconet-developers] RQ: Where did all my build logs go?

What would you expect to happen, based on this build frag, if the path
specified didn't exist?

<notification>

      <email>

            <recipient>dreed@eRealty.com</recipient>

      </email>

      <file>

            <dir>C:\Sandbox\Log\</dir>

      </file>

</notification>

I'm testing out a whole bunch of "new" stuff on a new build server
installation with Draco Beta 3, and I just grabbed some builds from another
server to start testing.  Cut-n-paste is my friend.  However, when it got to
a frustrating point (sometimes email around here is a bit slow), the light
in the fridge went on and I went looking for my build logs instead...

But they weren't there... because "there" didn't exist.  However, the rest
of the build seemed to function just fine (as far as Draco was concerned),
and Draco didn't complain once about being directed to write build logs to a
nonexistent path.  I looked for them elsewhere, but since I couldn't find
them, I must assume that Draco decided the /dev/null equivalent was just as
good as the nonexistent path I specified.

It's a good thing I (re)install sandbox machinas frequently, I guess, so I
can find these oddities.  I created the MIA directory and, whoa, nelly, new
build logs started showing up there.  Of course, the one I really wanted was
in the same place as Howard Dean's presidential campaign.

Does anybody else think that this is a bug and Draco should've thrown a
ConfigurationException (or something) because the specified log directory
was AWOL instead of blithely building and leaving me to believe that my logs
were being dutifully written to disk?  (If not, you could just chalk this up
as YARQ - yet another rhetorical question.)

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