steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield) (06/22/91)
I've just spoken with Fox Technical Support about a problem I was having using multiuser FoxBase. They claim that Apple has acknowledged a major bug in System 7's file sharing software. In this case, it showed up when I tried to open a database from the machine it is on. Apparently, there is no problem opening files from the client machines. But if you open files on the server, there is some problem with file locking, etc. I don't think Apple has announced plans to fix the bug. It's possible it won't be fixed until this fall when Apple releases four new machines and a new version of system 7 to run them. All the above information comes from Fox Technical Support, and I have no independent verification. Perhaps someone could confirm it with Apple. Steve Goldfield College of Engineering
jblue@mwunix.mitre.org (Jason D. Blue) (06/22/91)
steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield) writes: >I've just spoken with Fox Technical Support about a >problem I was having using multiuser FoxBase. They claim >that Apple has acknowledged a major bug in System 7's >file sharing software. In this case, it showed up when >I tried to open a database from the machine it is on. >Apparently, there is no problem opening files from the >client machines. But if you open files on the server, >there is some problem with file locking, etc. >I don't think Apple has announced plans to fix the >bug. It's possible it won't be fixed until this fall >when Apple releases four new machines and a new version >of system 7 to run them. >All the above information comes from Fox Technical Support, >and I have no independent verification. Perhaps someone >could confirm it with Apple. >Steve Goldfield >College of Engineering Can you supply the sympton that you encountered that madeyou call Fox support? I have been using it for quite some time on system 7, and I have been developing a database and program on a server machine from a client, but I have encountered no problems at all. Jason The MITRE Corporation
steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield;232HMB;3-6292;;MF62) (06/22/91)
In article <jblue.677533078@mwunix.mitre.org> jblue@mwunix.mitre.org (Jason D. Blue) writes: #>steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield) writes: #> #>>I've just spoken with Fox Technical Support about a #>>problem I was having using multiuser FoxBase. They claim #>>that Apple has acknowledged a major bug in System 7's #>>file sharing software. In this case, it showed up when #>>I tried to open a database from the machine it is on. #>>Apparently, there is no problem opening files from the #>>client machines. But if you open files on the server, #>>there is some problem with file locking, etc. #> #>>I don't think Apple has announced plans to fix the #>>bug. It's possible it won't be fixed until this fall #>>when Apple releases four new machines and a new version #>>of system 7 to run them. #> #>>All the above information comes from Fox Technical Support, #>>and I have no independent verification. Perhaps someone #>>could confirm it with Apple. #> #>>Steve Goldfield #>>College of Engineering #> #>Can you supply the sympton that you encountered that madeyou call Fox support? #>I have been using it for quite some time on system 7, and I have been #>developing a database and program on a server machine from a client, #>but I have encountered no problems at all. #> #>Jason #>The MITRE Corporation My symptom was that the server could not open the main database file; I got the message that the file didn't exist. I phoned Fox; the tech. support person said this was probably because Fox User was not in the system file. Then he told me about the bug. He said that a number of things could happen if the database was opened from the server. First, the clients could be locked out. Fox said that System 7 file sharing software does not properly handle locks. Also, if there is more than one database on the server, Fox' rep said that system 7 responds (I'm not sure in what way) with the one being used on the server rather than the one requested by the client. I didn't pursue the details. If you only use FoxBase from clients, Fox said there is no problem. The problem comes in when you use FoxBase on the server machine itself. Fox apparently stopped testing multiuser FoxBase under system 7 when they discovered this bug. They say that Apple acknowledged the bug a week ago. I too have been working on my database from a client machine with no problem. The problem appeared after I began configuring my application for multiuser use (with record and file locks, etc.) and when I tried to use the application from the server. Incidentally, my server is running system 7 but my client is running 6.04. That seems not to cause a problem. Presumably I could reinstall 6.04 on the server and use TOPS as a temporary solution. If you want more detailed information about what is wrong, I suggest you phone Fox tech. support. Steve Goldfield College of Engineering UC Berkeley