Tech Forum

When MLS performs a backup, the file is written extremely slowly, taking several minutes to complete when it should only take seconds. As discussed by several users in this thread, the slow file writing is caused by a simple programming bug. In the source code, the statement that writes to disk is flushing data to the disk constantly, rather than allowing the buffer to fill up. If this is fixed it would save many headaches, and it is so easy to fix. Can someone notify the programmers and get this fixed?

dwfarrelljr wrote:Can someone notify the programmers and get this fixed?

They have been notified as you can see in the thread to which you privided a link.

These forums are mostly user-to-user. We seldom get posts in the forums from the developers indicating they use these forums for feedback. You could provide feedback yourself on the MLS: Feedback and Suggestions page of the wiki.

The thread that I linked in my first message just shows that the topic was discussed by users. It seems from the thread that the users have not been able to get the programmers' attention on this issue.

I would love to provide feedback on the "MLS: Feedback and Suggestions" page of the wiki as you have suggested, but this is not allowed. Here's a quote from that page: "Once the idea has been discussed on the forum, an administrator will move the suggestion to this page -- regular users can no longer make changes to this page directly." So, I need an administrator to move the suggestion for fixing the slow-backup bug to that page. It is currently not listed.

dwfarrelljr wrote:The thread that I linked in my first message just shows that the topic was discussed by users. It seems from the thread that the users have not been able to get the programmers' attention on this issue.

I would love to provide feedback on the "MLS: Feedback and Suggestions" page of the wiki as you have suggested, but this is not allowed. Here's a quote from that page: "Once the idea has been discussed on the forum, an administrator will move the suggestion to this page -- regular users can no longer make changes to this page directly." So, I need an administrator to move the suggestion for fixing the slow-backup bug to that page. It is currently not listed.

The wiki page is not really being used as a feedback mechanism any more. Direct contact with Local Unit Support via email, MLS message, or phone is the most effective way to inform them of problems.

And I would also take that thread with a grain of salt -- it talks about the speed of writing to the backup, but completely ignores the time spent reading the backup data from the database and other sources. Even with the programming fix, backups will not be as quick as the person who started that thread assumes.

One way to perhaps speed up your backup time is to remove any old forms and items in your Finance Statements section. At the least, it will decrease the size of your backup. Smaller size should mean less time.

As for bugs, see this statement which is found at the bottom of the MLS release notes:

Submitting bugs
If you have an isolated problem with MLS or you have a feature request, you have two options to report them: e-mail or phone call. When submitting bugs, make sure that you include enough detail so we can reproduce it.

E-mail: mlssupport@ldschurch.org
Phone Call from Salt Lake City: 801-240-3500
Phone Call Toll Free: 800-453-3860 x23500