Re: [Queue-developers] single-machine == NFS-shared ???

[Mike C. <da...@ix...>]

On Fri, May 11, 2001 at 03:17:54PM -0400, Werner G. Krebs wrote:
> 
> What I think is going on is that you have somehow gotten a hold of older
> documentation.

From the beta:

nexus@thune[2:01pm]queue/queue-1.40.1beta/doc(509) ls -l *info*
-rw-------   1 nexus    users       18360 May 17  2000 gpl.texinfo
-rw-------   1 nexus    users       63454 May 17  2000 queue.info
-rw-------   1 nexus    users       41661 Dec 27 11:10 queue.texinfo


So, yes, there IS older documentation.  In the distribution.  A packaging
bug I suppose (though also the Makefile SHOULD update it).  Hmmm.... there
IS no makefile in the doc directory.

> Above 1.20, Queue no longer uses NFS. Instead, the spool directory is
> supposed to be local on each machine.

The (updated) documentation states just the opposite:

     When installing with the `--enable-root' option, configure sets
     the Makefile to install GNU Queue under the `/usr/local' prefix.
     `queue' will go in `/usr/local/bin', `queued' daemon will go into
     `/usr/local/sbin', `/usr/local/com/queue' will be the shared spool
     directory, the host access control list file will go into
     `/usr/local/share' and the queued pid files will go into
     `/usr/local/var' . If you want things to go somewhere else, run
     `./configure --enable-root --prefix=dir', where dir is the
     top-level directory where you want things to be installed.

And:

   Under `/usr/spool/queue' you may create several directories for
batch jobs, each identified with the class of the batch job (e.g.,
`sas' or `splus'). You may then place restrictions on that class, such
as maximum number of jobs running, or total CPU time, by placing a
`profile' file like this one in that directory.


And:

   Note that `/usr/local/com/queue' is our spool directory, and `now' is
the job batch directory for the special `now' queue (run via the `-i'
or immediate-mode flag to the queue executable), so these files may
reside in the job batch directories.

Oh... and a typo:

   However, the `now' queue is mandatory; it is the directory used by
the `-i' mode (immediate moe) of queue to launch jobs over the network
                         ^^^

The file profile is obviously intended to be read from a shared area,
based upon the existence of the "host" lines.  Would patches that allow one
to look in 

There is ONE comment in the documentation about NFS and it's in the
"Install by Ordinary User" section:

   As of GNU Queue 1.20.1, a TCP/IP protocol has replaced the older
NFS-based protocol used to communicate job information, so spool
directories should be unique to each machine and should not be shared.

However, a few lines down it says:

     When installing as an ordinary user, configure sets the makefile
     to install GNU Queue into the current directory. `queue' will go
     in `./bin', `queued' daemon will go into `./sbin', `/com/queue'
     will be the shared spool directory, the host access control list

From the man queue page:

       PREFIX/share/qhostsfile       Host Access Control List File
       PREFIX/com/queue              spool directory
       PREFIX/local/com/queue/now    spool directory for immediate execution
       PREFIX/com/queue/wait         spool directory for the '-q' shorthand
       SPOOLDIR/profile              control file for the SPOOLDIR job queue
       PREFIX/com/queue/now/profile  control file for immediate jobs
       PREFIX/var/queue_pid_hostname temporary file

Again, this indicates sharing the spool directory.

> We're certainly interested in your reportings, we're just a bit disorganized
> in how CVS is updated when patches come in (or who updates it). We're all
> volunteers, so it's to be expected.

However, one should get at least the documenation in order before
releasing.

I've been banging my head against the way since the 1.20.1 release trying
to get it to work.  And now I know that the reason I've been having
problems is because I've been using a shared NFS spool directory, just like
every bit of documenation that comes with the program says to do!

And even now, I'm not certain what I'm supposed to do!

If I create a profile, do I copy that profile to each machine on the
network?  Ugh!  That's ugly.  I again refer back to a previous comment of
mine that says soemthing like using files in
/usr/share/queue/profile/{now,wait,sas,whatever}.   That way profile can be
distributed once, and queued can make local files in /var/spool/queue that
isn't NFS shared.  In otherwords, NFS share the profiles, but not the
spool.

mrc
-- 
       Mike Castle       Life is like a clock:  You can work constantly
  da...@ix...  and be right all the time, or not work at all
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