Indexing with Linux

[rmrichesjr]

Java has some know problems (sounds exactly like what you are experiencing) if you are running Beryl or Compiz. The good news is that it is fixable if you want to recompile Java. Here is a document talking about it. Eventually you will find a site that tells you what you have to do to fix it. If you are running Beryl or Compiz, verify this is the problem by trying to run any java swing based application to see if you get the same problem. One of my favorites is Freemind.

Tom

Thanks for the suggestion. I think my case is different. I'm not running Gnome, KDE, Beryl, or Compiz. My window manager is twm. The "Here" test case puts up a window with "WM Test" displayed. Freemind brings up an editor with menus that seem to work. Indexing still gives a blank window (except for upper left menu headings and lower right "online").

[WelchTC]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think my case is different. I'm not running Gnome, KDE, Beryl, or Compiz. My window manager is twm. The "Here" test case puts up a window with "WM Test" displayed. Freemind brings up an editor with menus that seem to work. Indexing still gives a blank window (except for upper left menu headings and lower right "online").

Sorry...I've exhausted my knowledge

I run on Kubuntu 7.10 and it works fine for me. I do have a later version of Java than you.

Tom

[russellhltn]

Is that the newest version of Java available for that platform? The older ones had vulnerabilities that could be exploited - regardless of they were Unix, Linux, Apple or PC.

[rmrichesjr]

Is that the newest version of Java available for that platform? The older ones had vulnerabilities that could be exploited - regardless of they were Unix, Linux, Apple or PC.

It was the newest available Java version when I installed it, but 1.6 is now available from Sun. I tried 1.6 with the non-RPM installation method, and it seems to get only a bit further. After entering my username (and password), it puts up two windows, the one with the menu items and a smaller one with a slightly darker background but nothing at all besides the light gray background. Running "javaws -viewer" also brings up two windows, the control panel and another blank light gray window. (Java 1.5 had shown a window apparently intended to show the cached/available/running applications.) I'll give the RPM installation method a try.

[WelchTC]

Running "javaws -viewer" also brings up two windows, the control panel and another blank light gray window. (Java 1.5 had shown a window apparently intended to show the cached/available/running applications.) I'll give the RPM installation method a try.

It defnintely sounds like you have a problem with java, not with FamilySearch Indexing. When I run javaws -viewer I see the control panel (which you see) and then I see a listing of the java webstart programs in my cache. Since you can't see that, it would indicate something is messed up with your distro and java.

One other possibility is that you somehow have both the gnu java and the sun java installed on your system and for some reason when you are trying to run the sun java, it is picking up the gnu java. By default, the gnu java is installed and used with (k)ubuntu. Since the gnu java is not quite as compatible with applications as the sun java, make sure you are running the sun jre. To do this, execute the javaws with the full path to the correct jre. In my example, that was "/opt/jdk1.6.0_01/bin/javaws -viewer".

Tom

[rmrichesjr]

Thanks for your patience.

I installed Java 1.5.0_13. The GNU Java is not a problem, because those executables are not called "java" or "javaws". I did

/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_13/bin/javaws http://familysearchindexing.org/iis-apps/apps/iude.jnlp

After I entered my username and password, the application window is blank except for the top menu bar and the bottom status bar. It looks hung on something. Doing "lsof -i" shows

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
java 25120 rob 6u IPv4 3489006 TCP one.localnet:2467->64.90.195.26:http (CLOSE_WAIT)

The java application is hung waiting for network traffic. Whois says host 64.90.195.26 is owned by ViaWest Internet Services, Inc. in Denver, CO. Doing "traceroute -I 64.90.195.26" goes to hop 12 and stops:

11 gige-09-00.crrt02.slc03.viawest.net (206.71.65.42) 47.590 ms 46.764 ms 47.542 ms
12 vi-011.aggm01.slc03.viawest.net (64.90.192.38) 47.436 ms 46.816 ms 47.396 ms
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *

My external IP address is in the 71.*.*.* block that was activated only a few years ago. For a while, I was not able to get to qa.mandriva.com because some router in France was failing to recognize 71.*.*.* as valid. Eventually, I complained in enough places to get somebody to fix the outdated router, and the problem went away.

This smells like the router in ViaWest territory just past 64.90.192.38 is failing to recognize 71.*.*.* as valid.

Besides complaining to ViaWest and reporting the problem to FamilySearch Indexing support, any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[WelchTC]

So if you were to take your machine to a different location that had a different IP address, I wonder if the problem would disappear. If your machine is a laptop, try taking it to some free wifi spot.

Tom

[cannona-p40]

So if you were to take your machine to a different location that had a different IP address, I wonder if the problem would disappear. If your machine is a laptop, try taking it to some free wifi spot.

Or perhaps an SSH Tunnel?

Aaron

[jkarras-p40]

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
java 25120 rob 6u IPv4 3489006 TCP one.localnet:2467->64.90.195.26:http (CLOSE_WAIT)

The java application is hung waiting for network traffic. Whois says host 64.90.195.26 is owned by ViaWest Internet Services, Inc. in Denver, CO. Doing "traceroute -I 64.90.195.26" goes to hop 12 and stops:

The CLOSE_WAIT state means that the close process has started. The first of the FIN flags have been sent. So actually the program has finished communicating. If a program was waiting for data netstat would not show this. It would just show ESTABLISHED. This you would have to look to the program for that kind of information not the TCP stack. If the program could not connect you would probably see the SYN_SENT stuck until the timer expires.

FYI my computer shows the same traceroute. It is a firewall blocking the echo requests. You can see the same things with other providers that like to do that.

It also should be noted that the IP you were tracerouting is http://www.familysearchindexing.org. So the fact that you could browse to get the jnlp file shows that it is not a network issue. The issue must be with the Java version or some other problem.

Is this the first time you have run this program? I seem to remember a similar problem when I told the system to go offline. It wouldn't work correct after that. I had to delete the java web start cache to get the program to reload. It should also be noted that I was using Java 6 it may have even been a beta of Java 6 at the time. I have not used the indexing application for a while but I do remember those problems.

Jonathan

[thedqs]

Or perhaps an SSH Tunnel?

Aaron

Problem with SSH Tunnel is you need a target machine to tunnel through. Most people don't have that access.