openwebwork-devel — WeBWorK development discussion

Re: [WWdevel] [WWcvs] pg: SECURITY: tighter constraints on which macro files can be loaded without restriction.

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

> This is the second attempt to close this hole. The previous attempt
> assumed that | binds tighter than ^ and $, which is not true. (Noticed
> by dpvc). It also failed to escape metacharacters in the file names.

One last thing with this:  I don't know if quotemeta does anything  
with dots, but the dots in the file names will match any character  
unless they are quoted to \. So "IO-pl" would load in unsafe mode.

Davide

Re: [WWdevel] Units.pm internal variables

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

> [If we made the hash of known units be public rather than private in
> Units, we could do a better job of this, and could treat kg m/s as
> kg*m/s for example.]
>
> -----------
>
> I don't see any reason not to make these public.  I believe that
> if we replaced the "my" variables by
>
> %Units::fundamental_units
>
> and
>
> %Units::known_units
>
> things would still work.  (We might have to modify a few calls in the
> Units.pm to satisfy the use strict.pm  pragma.)

I think if you make these

	our %fundamental_units

and

	our %known_units

that would satisfy the strict pragma, and still make them available  
from outside.

Davide

[WWdevel] Units.pm internal variables

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Davide Cervone writes, in reference to adding units to the answers  
involving functions:

[If we made the hash of known units be public rather than private in
Units, we could do a better job of this, and could treat kg m/s as
kg*m/s for example.]

-----------


I don't see any reason not to make these public.  I believe that
if we replaced the "my" variables by

%Units::fundamental_units

and

%Units::known_units

things would still work.  (We might have to modify a few calls in the  
Units.pm to satisfy the use strict.pm  pragma.)

I'll be happy to do this unless someone can see objections.

To the best of my recollection these variables were private only  
because there
was no need to make them public - previously.

Take care,

Mike

[WWdevel] Moodle 1.7, WW

[Mark H. <mmh...@un...>]

Hello everyone,

I am now setting up Moodle 1.7 and WW.I received an error from Webwork
stating that mdl_sessions table was not available when I created a
course for WW.  I checked the Moodle database, there is a mdl_session2
table.  I am guessing this is a version issue.

I know that Moodle 1.5 was the version targeted for WW, has there been
anyone to use a newer version than 1.5?


Thanks,
Mark

Re: [WWdevel] [WWcvs] pg: SECURITY: tighter constraints on which macro files can be loaded without restriction.

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

> Log Message:
> -----------
> SECURITY: tighter constraints on which macro files can be loaded  
> without
> restriction. Previously, any file that *contained* the strings PG.pl,
> dangerousMacros.pl, or IO.pl would be loaded with an empty opmask.
>
...
>  			my $unrestricted_files  = "PG.pl|dangerousMacros.pl|IO.pl";
> -			if ($fileName =~ /$unrestricted_files/) {
> +			if ($fileName =~ /^$unrestricted_files$/) {

Sam, I don't think this quite does it.  I think you need

		if ($fileName =~ /^($unrestricted_files)$/) {

otherwise, the ^ only goes with PG.pl and the $ only with IO.pl.  (I  
think.)

Davide

[WWdevel] Problems that automatically assist

[Jason H. <how...@po...>]

Hello,

Hi -- My name is jason howald.  I'm a math faculty member at SUNY  
Potsdam.  I sent a similar message to Mike Gage, and he recommended  
the development list.

I've enjoyed Webwork very much, but I have often wished that it gave  
students some useful advice appropriate to the problems.  I also wish  
that it would solve the problems *itself* -- I'm too lazy to type the  
answer as a function of the problem parameters.

I'm interested in enhancements of Webwork which allow for the  
creation of "automatically assistive" problems, capable of generating  
their own solutions, explaining those solutions to students, and of  
course checking student submissions for correctness.  I'm focusing on  
differentiation, since that's a nice simple case.  I'm writing to  
show off a tool, and start a conversation about whether the kind of  
functionality I'm interested in can be incorporated into Webwork.

This is a screengrab of a JavaScript implementation that I put  
together, to help you see what I'm talking about.  (The site is live  
but has some odd interfacing and general problems with IE.)

Re: [WWdevel] New Message: Re: Some Gateway Questions

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

> Sam, Mike and Gavin,
>
> I think I have a working snapshot of this now. I've uploaded the  
> modified files to
>
> http://moodle.math.wvu.edu/code/WWIPRestrict.tgz
>
> I made changes to
>
> lib/WeBWork/ContentGenerator/GatewayQuiz.pm
> lib/WeBWork/ContentGenerator/Instructor/ProblemSetDetail.pm
> lib/WeBWork/DB/Record/Set.pm
> lib/WeBWork/DB/REcord/UserSet.pm
>
> and included them in the archive in their locations. Diff should  
> show the changes but let me know and I can give you an overview.  
> I've tested it here and have the behavior I was looking for. I have  
> some concerns about students being able to view the tests after  
> they submit them for grading but I'll work on that next.
>
> As a quick overview, there is a new field in the gateway set detail  
> edit page called IP Range that writes to a field in the database  
> called IP_block. I added this field by hand to the course _set and  
> _set_user tables as varchar(20) fields. I then added a function to  
> GatewayQuiz.pm called can_usecomputer and wrapped the pre_header  
> conditional with a test conditional for the IP address. Anyway, let  
> me know what you think.

Hi Eddie,

Your modifications look good. Just a few comments:

> +       IP_block

I'd prefer if the database field you're adding was in all lowercase  
-- "ip_block" rather than "IP_block" -- c.f. "user_id". Also,  
"ip_block" is somewhat confusing, since it could also be interpreted  
as a list of IP addresses to block. Maybe "allow_ip"? (With a  
corresponding "deny_ip" to be added in the future if the need arises.)

Also, take a look at bin/wwdb_upgrade. You should define a database  
version that adds the field to the appropriate tables.

> +       #get client IP and mask, split into quartets
> +       my @IP =  split( /\./ , Apache->request->connection- 
> >remote_ip);

This won't work with Apache 2 as written. The solution is to use the  
existing WeBWorK::Request object $self->r rather than Apache- 
 >request. WeBWorK::Request inherits from Apache::Request or  
Apache2::Request depending on the mod_perl version. Both support - 
 >connection->remote_ip.

> +       #this is kludgey and won't work as is with IPv6; probably  
> should add Net::IP module
> +       #compare each quartet in sequence from left to right; look  
> for wildcards

I agree. It would also be nice to support more IP formats. Apache's  
Allow directive supports:

* "A (partial) domain-name" -- might be kinda annoying to implement,  
since we'd have to do DNS lookups. It would be useful though, e.g.  
".mathlab.yourschool.edu".
* "A full IP address" -- supported right now.
* "A partial IP address" -- supported right now, except wildcards are  
required.
* "A network/netmask pair" -- maybe useful, but the next one is just  
as good:
* "A network/nnn CIDR specification" -- useful.

It looks like Net::IP would be able to do most of these. Now that I  
think about it, the domain-name one is just a matter of doing a  
reverse lookup of the remote IP and matching the string to it.

Supporting a list of IPs/ranges would be nice too -- consider a quiz  
being given in two different labs.

> +} else { ## not an allowed IP address
> +       $self->{invalidSet} = "Your computer at IP address " .
> +                           Apache->request->connection->remote_ip .
> +                           " is not authorized to take this exam.";
> +}

I think we're calling these "sets", not "exams". These names should  
be customizable at some point, but until then consistency is preferred.

At some point, the IP checking code should probably go into a utility  
module, so we can use it in multiple modules. I'm thinking that  
normal (non-gateway) sets should be able to use IP limits as well.

Let me know what you think.
-sam

Re: [WWdevel] can't locate Exception/Class.pm error

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

On Oct 17, 2006, at 10:47 AM, Sam Hathaway wrote:

> the latest versions of DB.pm probably don't work that well with the  
> original Schema::SQL and Schema::Moodle::* modules...

What I meant to say is: Version 1.80 and later of DB.pm will NOT work  
with the Schema::SQL and Schema::Moodle::* modules.
-sam

Re: [WWdevel] can't locate Exception/Class.pm error

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

On Oct 17, 2006, at 10:31 AM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:

> Hi Sam,
>
> Unrelated: I just did a cvs up -d on my development box, and I'm  
> now getting errors:
>   "Can't locate Exception/Class.pm in @INC"
>
> I can't find any Exception directory/entry in either my directory  
> tree or using viewcvs on cvs.webwork.rochester.edu.  Am I missing  
> something here?

It's a CPAN module. I'm using it for exception handling in  
DB::Schema::NewSQL.

By the way, the latest versions of DB.pm probably don't work that  
well with the original Schema::SQL and Schema::Moodle::* modules...  
I've made several changes for NewSQL that probably don't play nice  
with the older stuff.

If you're going to use the latest DB stuff, you should probably  
switch over to using NewSQL. If you don't want to bother with it, you  
can back out of the last couple of weeks' worth of changes to lib/ 
WeBWorK/DB.pm and lib/WeBWorK/DB/* without problems.

Here's my database.conf that uses NewSQL, NewSQL::Merged, etc. The  
moodle stuff isn't done, so I wouldn't use that yet. I should be done  
with this stuff by the end of the week.
-sam

$dbLayouts{sql_single} = {
	password => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::Password",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_password",
		},
	},
	permission => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::PermissionLevel",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_permission",
		},
	},
	key => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::Key",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_key",
			fieldOverride => { key => "key_not_a_keyword" },
		},
	},
	user => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::User",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_user",
		},
	},
	set => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::Set",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_set"
		},
	},
	set_user => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::UserSet",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_set_user"
		},
	},
	set_merged => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::UserSet",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Merge",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		depend => [qw/set_user set/],
		params => { %sqlParams,
			merge => [qw/set_user set/],
		},
	},
	problem => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::Problem",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_problem"
		},
	},
	problem_user => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::UserProblem",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Std",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		params => { %sqlParams,
			tableOverride => "${courseName}_problem_user"
		},
	},
	problem_merged => {
		record => "WeBWorK::DB::Record::UserProblem",
		schema => "WeBWorK::DB::Schema::NewSQL::Merge",
		driver => "WeBWorK::DB::Driver::SQL",
		source => $database_dsn,
		depend => [qw/problem_user problem/],
		params => { %sqlParams,
			merge => [qw/problem_user problem/],
		},
	},
};

[WWdevel] Fwd: match_questions_list in PGchoicemacros.pl

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: ch...@io...
> Date: October 11, 2006 12:51:16 PM EDT (CA)
> To: ap...@ma..., ga...@ma...
> Cc: we...@ps...
> Subject: match_questions_list in PGchoicemacros.pl
>
> I ran across a function in PGchoicemacros that wasn't compatible  
> with jsMath.  It needed a
> similiar fix to the table patch I made earlier to generate jsMath  
> tags.  Maybe you've already
> fixed this in the latest CVS but in case you haven't and want the  
> fix, here's what I did.
>
> In /home/pg/macros/PGchoicemacros.pl, at the end of sub  
> match_questions_list {}, where it says:
>
>         }
>         $out;
> }
>
>
> I inserted an extra if clause to replace the \( and \) with  
> appropriate SPAN tags for jsMath, as
> follows:
>
> 	}
>         if($main::displayMode =~ 'jsMath') {
>                 $out =~ s/\\\(/<SPAN CLASS=\"math\">/g;
>                 $out =~ s/\\\)/<\/SPAN>/g;
>         }
>         $out;
> }
>
>
> Chad
> webwork at uci

Re: [WWdevel] [WWcvs] webwork2: change key.timestamp type to BIGINT and problem_user.status type to INT.

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

On Sep 28, 2006, at 7:12 PM, P. Gavin LaRose wrote:

> This may be a silly question, but: should problem_user.status be INT?
> For example, in a problem with three parts on which I get 1/3  
> correct: the
> status on that problem would then be .33?

Yikes! Thanks for catching that. It should be FLOAT. Hopefully no one  
ran wwdb_upgrade on important data since the last commit.
-sam

Re: [WWdevel] [WWcvs] webwork2: change key.timestamp type to BIGINT and problem_user.status type to INT.

[P. G. L. <gl...@um...>]

Hi Sam,

This may be a silly question, but: should problem_user.status be INT? 
For example, in a problem with three parts on which I get 1/3 correct: the 
status on that problem would then be .33?

Just curious,
Gavin

-- 
P Gavin LaRose, PhD  |  gl...@um... | 734.764.6454  |  ...you have
Program Manager, Instructional Technology |   to respect someone who can
Mathematics Dept,  University of Michigan | spell  Tuesday, even if they
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/   | can't spell it right. -Milne

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006, Sam Hathaway via activitymail wrote:

> Log Message:
> -----------
> change key.timestamp type to BIGINT and problem_user.status type to INT.
>
> Modified Files:
> --------------
>    webwork2/bin:
>        wwdb_upgrade
>    webwork2/lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record:
>        Key.pm
>        UserProblem.pm
>
> Revision Data
> -------------
> Index: wwdb_upgrade
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /webwork/cvs/system/webwork2/bin/wwdb_upgrade,v
> retrieving revision 1.3
> retrieving revision 1.4
> diff -Lbin/wwdb_upgrade -Lbin/wwdb_upgrade -u -r1.3 -r1.4
> --- bin/wwdb_upgrade
> +++ bin/wwdb_upgrade
> @@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
>
> ################################################################################
>
> -our $THIS_DB_VERSION = 3;
> +our $THIS_DB_VERSION = 5;
>
> our @DB_VERSIONS;
>
> @@ -83,6 +83,19 @@
> 	$dbh->do("CREATE TABLE depths (md5 CHAR(33) NOT NULL, depth SMALLINT, PRIMARY KEY (md5))");
> };
>
> +$DB_VERSIONS[4]{desc} = "changes type of key timestamp field to BIGINT";
> +$DB_VERSIONS[4]{course_code} = sub {
> +	my $course = shift;
> +	$dbh->do("ALTER TABLE `${course}_key` CHANGE COLUMN `timestamp` `timestamp` BIGINT");
> +};
> +
> +$DB_VERSIONS[5]{desc} = "changes type of problem_user status field to INT";
> +$DB_VERSIONS[5]{course_code} = sub {
> +	my $course = shift;
> +	$dbh->do("UPDATE `${course}_problem_user` SET `status`=NULL WHERE `status`=''");
> +	$dbh->do("ALTER TABLE `${course}_problem_user` CHANGE COLUMN `status` `status` INT");
> +};
> +
> ################################################################################
>
> {
> Index: Key.pm
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /webwork/cvs/system/webwork2/lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/Key.pm,v
> retrieving revision 1.8
> retrieving revision 1.9
> diff -Llib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/Key.pm -Llib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/Key.pm -u -r1.8 -r1.9
> --- lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/Key.pm
> +++ lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/Key.pm
> @@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
> 	__PACKAGE__->_fields(
> 		user_id   => { type=>"BLOB", key=>1 },
> 		key       => { type=>"TEXT" },
> -		timestamp => { type=>"TEXT" },
> +		timestamp => { type=>"BIGINT" },
> 	);
> }
>
> Index: UserProblem.pm
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /webwork/cvs/system/webwork2/lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/UserProblem.pm,v
> retrieving revision 1.7
> retrieving revision 1.8
> diff -Llib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/UserProblem.pm -Llib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/UserProblem.pm -u -r1.7 -r1.8
> --- lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/UserProblem.pm
> +++ lib/WeBWorK/DB/Record/UserProblem.pm
> @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
> 		value         => { type=>"INT" },
> 		max_attempts  => { type=>"INT" },
> 		problem_seed  => { type=>"INT" },
> -		status        => { type=>"TEXT" },
> +		status        => { type=>"INT" },
> 		attempted     => { type=>"INT" },
> 		last_answer   => { type=>"TEXT" },
> 		num_correct   => { type=>"INT" },
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
>

Re: [WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[John J. <jj...@as...>]

Davide P. Cervone wrote:

>>In testing an answer, "3 ft / s" worked for me, but "3ft / s" gave  
>>a pink screen.
>>    
>>
>
>Sorry about that.  I have fixed it, and now use a more sophisticated  
>approach to strip off the units that will find them even when there  
>is no leading space.  But since the %Units::known_units hash is  
>private, the pattern is a little more aggressive than it ideally  
>would be.  This shouldn't be a problem for well-formatted answers,  
>but some erroneous answers may get unhelpful messages.  For example  
>entering "3x" would give an error about unknown unit 'x'.  The regexp  
>approach is never going to be perfect, but the better approach would  
>be to make a proper units class for the Parser.
>
Thanks.  The current version works great.

If a student enters 3x to a question which is asking for a number with a 
unit, then "Unrecognizable unit: |x|" is a reasonable diagnostic message 
to give students.  I imagine it could be improved, but it is definitely 
much better than it was before.

John

Re: [WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[Davide P. C. <dp...@un...>]

> In testing an answer, "3 ft / s" worked for me, but "3ft / s" gave  
> a pink screen.

Sorry about that.  I have fixed it, and now use a more sophisticated  
approach to strip off the units that will find them even when there  
is no leading space.  But since the %Units::known_units hash is  
private, the pattern is a little more aggressive than it ideally  
would be.  This shouldn't be a problem for well-formatted answers,  
but some erroneous answers may get unhelpful messages.  For example  
entering "3x" would give an error about unknown unit 'x'.  The regexp  
approach is never going to be perfect, but the better approach would  
be to make a proper units class for the Parser.

Davide

Re: [WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[John J. <jj...@as...>]

Davide P.Cervone wrote:

>> I believe the current "parser" uses an initial space to separate the
>> units from the number and thereafter there
>> can be no spaces.
>
>
> OK, I have modified the way units are recognized, so it should  
> accept  "ft / min" now.
>
> I have also fixed a minor problem where the results table at the top  
> did not show the units entered by the student in the "Entered" column.

Thanks.  In testing an answer, "3 ft / s" worked for me, but "3ft / s" 
gave a pink screen.

John

Re: [WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[Davide P.C. <dp...@un...>]

> I believe the current "parser" uses an initial space to separate the
> units from the number and thereafter there
> can be no spaces.

OK, I have modified the way units are recognized, so it should  
accept  "ft / min" now.

I have also fixed a minor problem where the results table at the top  
did not show the units entered by the student in the "Entered" column.

Davide

Re: [WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[Davide P.C. <dp...@un...>]

> I believe the current "parser" uses an initial space to separate the
> units from the number and thereafter there
> can be no spaces.  (The regex expression looks for the last non-
> trailing space.)

That's right (and this is what the old one did, too, if I remember 
correctly).

> I think Davide has plans to some day extend the parser
> so that it is a true parser of units instead of using regex
> expression matches.

Yes, I had the specifications worked out at one time for a units class 
that would allow you to do things like 3 ft / 2 sec and so on, but it 
has never been implemented.  This is a "wish list" item.  I'll think 
about the regular expression and see if I can come up with a better one 
for finding the split.  I've got some ideas.

Davide

Re: [WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

I believe the current "parser" uses an initial space to separate the  
units from the number and thereafter there
can be no spaces.  (The regex expression looks for the last non- 
trailing space.)

I'll try to remember to add the no spaces rule to the others on

http://webwork.math.rochester.edu/spring00-phy121/help_units.html

Can't do much more than that for now although I think Davide has  
plans to some day extend the parser
so that it is a true parser of units instead of using regex  
expression matches.

Take care,

Mike

On Sep 20, 2006, at 1:45 PM, John Jones wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I received a complaint about this from a student.  It doesn't seem  
> like
> a big deal, but I thought I should bring it up in case people felt  
> that
> a change should be made.
>
> There was a question where a correct answer was "17 ft/s".  If spaces
> are added or removed in certain ways, then the answer is marked wrong.
> For example, "17ft/s" is wrong, as is "17 ft / s" and "17 ft /s".
>
> John
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---
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>

[WWdevel] spaces and units in answers

[John J. <jj...@as...>]

Hi,

I received a complaint about this from a student.  It doesn't seem like 
a big deal, but I thought I should bring it up in case people felt that 
a change should be made.

There was a question where a correct answer was "17 ft/s".  If spaces 
are added or removed in certain ways, then the answer is marked wrong.  
For example, "17ft/s" is wrong, as is "17 ft / s" and "17 ft /s".

John

Re: [WWdevel] pink pages

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi Martha,

I would not recommend an update to version 2.3 in the middle of the =20
semester.  It jumps several years of development
and would not be easy with existing classes running.  I would =20
recommend that you plan to do something like
this during a semester or quarter break.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that WeBWorK2 runs 2 to 3 times faster
than WeBWorK1 on the same hardware -- mainly because certain =20
interpreted code is cached.  Exact comparisons
are tricky because changing hardware and load also changes the amount =20=

of time spent rendering.  (In the short run
it is often easier to speed up a program by speeding up the hardware =20
rather than the software.)  The other
advantage to switching to WeBWorK2 is that new features are available =20=

which are not available on webwork1.9
and the software is being actively maintained. (I can create a sample =20=

webwork2 course on our hosted server for you
and your fellow instructors to try out.)

Since you are using the WeBWorK 1.9 software, which has not changed =20
much in two plus years, I suspect that the
slow down you are experiencing is due to increased demand.  If the =20
slow down has been a sudden
over a few days time then perhaps it is caused by a runaway process =20
and rebooting the server would fix the situation.  It's difficult to =20
say much
more without more information about the symptoms.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

Mike

On Sep 18, 2006, at 8:45 PM, martha simon wrote:

> Mike,
> Would an update to version 2.3 be likely to improve our situation?  =20=

> I am not the person on campus who is "webmaster" for the program =20
> and would not be able to do the actual installation, but can urge =20
> that it be done if there is a good chance of significant improvement.
>
> How would the update affect current classes and problem sets which =20
> have been edited/built?
>
> THanks for your help,
> Martha
>
> ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 19:32:15 -0400
>> From: Michael Gage <ga...@ma...>
>> Subject: Re: [WWdevel] pink pages
>> To: Martha Simon <mar...@cs...>
>> Cc: Michael Gage <ga...@ma...>, openwebwork-=20
>> de...@li...
>>
>>   Hi Martha,
>>   Which version of WeBWorK are you using?  The
>>   current version (out this last week)  is 2.3. In
>>   inspecting your site at
>>   at
>>   https://webwork.csun.edu/ it seemed like the server
>>   was using verision 1.9.x   but perhaps this is an
>>   old url and I didn't findthe new server.
>>   Take care,
>>   Mike
>>
>>   On Sep 18, 2006, at 2:45 AM, Martha Simon wrote:
>>
>>     Our installation is experiencing an unexpected
>>     amount of slowness (including for =93professor=94
>>     functions) and many =93time out=94s when accessing
>>     problems/inputting answers.   This was not a
>>     significant complication until this semester and
>>     seems to occur even when only a few students are
>>     on the =93active users=94 list.
>>
>>
>>
>>     Is this a common problem with the current version
>>     of WW, or is it just our server?
>>
>>
>>
>>                 Martha Simon
>>     mar...@cs...
>>
>>
>>
>>     =20
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------=20=

>> ----
>>     Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support
>>     web services, security?
>>     Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated
>>     technology to make your job easier
>>     Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1
>>     based on Apache Geronimo
>>     http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?=20
>> cmd=3Dlnk&kid=3D120709&bid=3D263057&dat=3D121642_______________________=
______=20
>> __________________
>>     OpenWeBWorK-Devel mailing list
>>     Ope...@li...
>>     https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel

Re: [WWdevel] pink pages

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi Martha,

Which version of WeBWorK are you using?  The current version (out =20
this last week)  is 2.3. In inspecting your site at
at
https://webwork.csun.edu/ it seemed like the server was using =20
verision 1.9.x   but perhaps this is an old url and I didn't findthe =20
new server.

Take care,

Mike


On Sep 18, 2006, at 2:45 AM, Martha Simon wrote:

> Our installation is experiencing an unexpected amount of slowness =20
> (including for =93professor=94 functions) and many =93time out=94s =
when =20
> accessing problems/inputting answers.   This was not a significant =20
> complication until this semester and seems to occur even when only =20
> a few students are on the =93active users=94 list.
>
>
>
> Is this a common problem with the current version of WW, or is it =20
> just our server?
>
>
>
>             Martha Simon mar...@cs...
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------=20=

> ---
> Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, =20
> security?
> Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your =20
> job easier
> Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache =20
> Geronimo
> http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?=20
> cmd=3Dlnk&kid=3D120709&bid=3D263057&dat=3D121642________________________=
______=20
> _________________
> OpenWeBWorK-Devel mailing list
> Ope...@li...
> https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel

Re: [WWdevel] pink pages

[Arnold P. <ap...@ma...>]

<html>
<body>
At 02:45 AM 9/18/2006, Martha Simon wrote:<br><br>
Hi Martha,<br><br>
This is not a <font size=2>common problem with the current version of
WW.&nbsp; Hopefully Sam or one of the other system's experts can give you
some hints on what to look for.&nbsp; As a starter I would suggest
restarting mysql and apache and checking the various logs for error
messages.<br><br>
Arnie<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Our installation is experiencing
an unexpected amount of slowness (including for “professor” functions)
and many “time out”s when accessing problems/inputting
answers.&nbsp;&nbsp; This was not a significant complication until this
semester and seems to occur even when only a few students are on the
“active users” list.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>
&nbsp;<br>
Is this a common problem with the current version of WW, or is it just
our server?<br>
&nbsp;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Martha
Simon
<a href="mailto:mar...@cs...">mar...@cs...</a><br>
&nbsp;<br>
</font>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services,
security?<br>
Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job
easier<br>
Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache
Geronimo<br>
<a href="http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&amp;kid=120709&amp;bid=263057&amp;dat=121642" eudora="autourl">
http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&amp;kid=120709&amp;bid=263057&amp;dat=121642</a>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
OpenWeBWorK-Devel mailing list<br>
Ope...@li...<br>
<a href="https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel" eudora="autourl">
https://lists.sf.net/lists/listinfo/openwebwork-devel</a></blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Prof. Arnold K. Pizer <br>
Dept. of Mathematics <br>
University of Rochester <br>
Rochester, NY 14627 <br>
(585) 275-7767<br>
</body>
</html>

[WWdevel] pink pages

[Martha S. <mar...@cs...>]

Our installation is experiencing an unexpected amount of slowness (including
for "professor" functions) and many "time out"s when accessing
problems/inputting answers.   This was not a significant complication until
this semester and seems to occur even when only a few students are on the
"active users" list.   

 

Is this a common problem with the current version of WW, or is it just our
server?

 

            Martha Simon mar...@cs...

 

[WWdevel] update: courses and courses.dist directories

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

Hi all,

As it turns out, moving the courses directory to courses.dist in the  
repository was not the right thing to do. Instead, I moved the  
courses.dist directory back to courses, and created a new  
courses.dist directory in its place. This should be a seamless "cvs  
update -dP" for everyone, regardless of whether you are on rel-2-2- 
dev, rel-2-3-dev, or HEAD.

In rel-2-2-dev and earlier, you should see only a "courses" directory.
In rel-2-3-dev and HEAD, you should see only a "courses.dist" directory.

Sorry for the hassle and confusion.
-sam

[WWdevel] installation tests needed... wanna help?

[Sam H. <sh...@ma...>]

Hi all,

Recently I've been working on testing and refining the installation  
instructions for WeBWorK 2.3. The trick to getting installation  
instructions right is to test them in as many situations as possible.  
If you have some time to kill, consider following the installation  
instructions in installing a new WeBWorK system or upgrading a 2.2.x  
system.

Installation manual:
<http://devel.webwork.rochester.edu/twiki/bin/view/Webwork/ 
InstallationManualV2pt3>

Release notes:
<http://devel.webwork.rochester.edu/twiki/bin/view/Webwork/ 
WeBWorKRelease2pt2pt2>
<http://devel.webwork.rochester.edu/twiki/bin/view/Webwork/ 
PGLanguageRelease2pt2pt2>

New features that have their own instructions:
<http://devel.webwork.rochester.edu/twiki/bin/view/Webwork/ 
MoodleIntegration>
<http://devel.webwork.rochester.edu/twiki/bin/view/Webwork/ 
LdapAuthentication>
<http://devel.webwork.rochester.edu/twiki/bin/view/Webwork/ 
AuthenWeBWorK>

If you run into errors, ambiguities, or situations that aren't  
covered in the manual, let me know, or take advantage of the wiki's  
editing capability.

Thanks for your help!
-sam