Beta 11b: accented sound files and syncing
silverbear
'Have given beta 11b a trial this am. Two things have happened:
1. We seem to have lost the sound on accented sound files again i.e.
the files are present but there is no sound.
2. Attempt to sync failed. The message on the client read: "Sync cycle
detected. Sync through intermediate partner". Should I have emptied
the client db before the attempt?
Both the client & server are windows vista connected via a local wired
lan.
Kind regards
Barbara
Peter Bienstman
> Hi Pete,
> 'Have given beta 11b a trial this am. Two things have happened:
> 1. We seem to have lost the sound on accented sound files again i.e.
> the files are present but there is no sound.
OK, I'll look into this.
> 2. Attempt to sync failed. The message on the client read: "Sync cycle
> detected. Sync through intermediate partner". Should I have emptied
> the client db before the attempt?
Apart from your client and server, there are no other machines involved? It's
not that you synced A to B, B to C and C to A?
If not, please send me your client and your server db file.
Cheers,
Peter
silverbear
upgrades so I can't say at what point the accented sound files
disappeared.
Cheers,
Barbara
Peter Bienstman
I implemented a fix for this. However, unfortunately, the fix only works on Linux, as it seems to hit a Windows specific bug in a library Mnemosyne uses.
I've tried the fix in the Google Chrome browser, which uses the same browser code as Qt, the library Mnemosyne uses, but a later version than Qt. Since it works in Chrome, I'm hoping that a later version of Qt will fix this.
Cheers,
Peter
silverbear
Still working on the sync. issue. I did the clean install on the
client and resynced a few times OK. Last night I tried to resync again
after a couple of days and it failed. It gets a bit messy to report
what's going on because I'm not sure whether the issue is with my
firewall getting in the way.
This morning, I've cleaned out the client db again today and the sync
worked fine.
Update: I've just done a bit of 'learning ahead of schedule' to change
the server database and done another sync. It's failed:
Client: 'Timeout while waiting for server'
Server: 'Checking for changed media files' then 'Dynamically creating
media files' (it's still doing this).
I've just started the sync again (it reported a full sync was required
because of the previous failure) and it's worked OK. Could this be a
timing issue just after the log--on?
Because it's worked OK earlier (no reboots or anything), I'm beginning
to think it's not my firewall afterall.
B.
Peter Bienstman
> Thanks Peter - though disappointing. 'Suppose I'm at Apple's mercy.
Not Apple, but Qt :-)
> Client: 'Timeout while waiting for server'
If that's the error you are getting, it does seem indeed to be firewall
related. Is there a way you could temporarily disable it and see if that
changes anything?
Also note that there are two kinds of sync:
* a full sync, which happens the very first time and each time it finds a
conflict
* a 'normal' sync which happens a lot quicker
It's not that your errors occur in one situation and not in the other? Or are
they mixed?
> Server: 'Checking for changed media files' then 'Dynamically creating
> media files' (it's still doing this).
(BTW, in the server configuration dialog you can disable 'check for changed
media files' if you don't need this, it will be faster)
Peter
--
Peter Bienstman
Ghent University, Dept. of Information Technology
Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
tel: +32 9 264 34 46, fax: +32 9 264 35 93
WWW: http://photonics.intec.UGent.be
email: Peter.B...@UGent.be
silverbear
language locale?
Anyway, back to the sync. The following has happened 3 days running
after I've booted up the m/cs and done my reps. on the server.
>> I switch off the firewall on both client & server:
1st attempt: sync fails with client timing out waiting for the server.
The server is 'checking for edited media files'.
>> I 'OK' the client message & cancel the sync on the server.
2nd attempt: sync fails again with client waiting on the server.
Server is either 'checking for edited media files' or 'dynamically
creating media files'.
>> I 'OK' the client message & cancel the sync on the server.
3rd attempt: client reports that a full sync needs to happen. I select
'fetch remote db'. Sync works.
>> I switch the firewall back on on both m/c's & do a few more reps. on the server.
4th attempt: sync works again.
Does this help?
B.
Peter Bienstman
> Isn't Quicktime owned by Apple? Is this because Quicktime uses the
> language locale?
It's not Quicktime, but rather the GUI toolkit Qt (by Nokia) :-)
> Anyway, back to the sync. The following has happened 3 days running
> after I've booted up the m/cs and done my reps. on the server.
>
> >> I switch off the firewall on both client & server:
> 1st attempt: sync fails with client timing out waiting for the server.
> The server is 'checking for edited media files'.
Do you have cards with latex in them, and perhaps a problem with the latex
plugin on the server?
If you uncheck 'check for changed media files' on the server (Configuration -
sync server), does that change anything?
> >> I 'OK' the client message & cancel the sync on the server.
>
> 2nd attempt: sync fails again with client waiting on the server.
> Server is either 'checking for edited media files' or 'dynamically
> creating media files'.
>
> >> I 'OK' the client message & cancel the sync on the server.
>
> 3rd attempt: client reports that a full sync needs to happen. I select
> 'fetch remote db'. Sync works.
>
> >> I switch the firewall back on on both m/c's & do a few more reps. on
> >> the server.
> 4th attempt: sync works again.
>
> Does this help?
I don't really see a pattern in this yet...
Peter
silverbear
I don't have any latex formatting that I'm aware off (I'd never heard
of latex formatting before encountering Mnemosyne).
I tried the sync with the 'check for changed media files' unchecked on
both m/c's and it made no difference.
It occured to me that I get his problem for the first sync after a
reboot (I power down every night). I've justed tested this theory by
rebooting the m/c's again and lo, and behold, the sync failed again
and I ended up doing a full sync to get the process working again.
A network issue? Client not allowing enough time for Windows to get
it's act together? I'm too tired to think about it tonight. Maybe
inspiration will come with the dawn :-).
B.
Peter Bienstman
> Sorry to take so long to get back to you - busy day!
No problem!
> I tried the sync with the 'check for changed media files' unchecked on
> both m/c's and it made no difference.
What is then the message on the server when it hangs?
> It occured to me that I get his problem for the first sync after a
> reboot (I power down every night). I've justed tested this theory by
> rebooting the m/c's again and lo, and behold, the sync failed again
Strange, typically you'd expect this to be the other way around, with reboots
fixing things :-)
> and I ended up doing a full sync to get the process working again.
Just to make absolutely sure:
* both client and server are on beta 11b?
* you never manually copied Mnemosyne files or directories between client and
server? I.e. delete the *entire* Mnemosyne folder on the client, start
Mnemosyne, notice that your database is empty, and then sync to the server?
> A network issue?
Perhaps... Unfortunately, the way to debug this is rather complex, with
running a program called wireshark to capture all the network traffic.
> Client not allowing enough time for Windows to get it's act together?
Could be... Is your server an old machine? When there is not a full sync (full
sync: messages like 'getting entire binary database) but an incremental sync
(messages like getting/sending log entries), how long does a sync typically
take? Few seconds? Half a minute? Minutes? Normally it's a matter of seconds,
but if for some reason it's slow on your machine, we might need to increase
the default timeout.
When you get the timeout on the client, after how much time is this?
Cheers,
Peter
silverbear
reliably.
The network and firewall were red- herrings. As you suggested, it
seems the 'Check for changed media files' on the server was the
culprit. It needs to be checked on the client side only; if the box is
checked on on the server side (I think this is the default) it gets
it's knickers in a twist .
I am so missing the sound files, I'd like to revert to the last beta
where this worked (beta 7/8? - I've still got the download). I know
I'll forgo some of the improvements but it's a case of weighing the
benefits for me. Will the prior version still work with the current db
structure?
Kind regards
B.
Peter Bienstman
> OK, have tried many combinations and now seem to be able to sync
> reliably.
> The network and firewall were red- herrings. As you suggested, it
> seems the 'Check for changed media files' on the server was the
> culprit. It needs to be checked on the client side only;
Feel free to disable it there too, if you don't update media files once you
added them to Mnemosyne. (BTW, disabling this is the default for the newer
versions)
Perhaps the server takes too long to check for updated media files, which
causes the timeout. How many MB of media files do you have? Does perhaps the
server have a slow CPU or slow hard drive?
> I am so missing the sound files, I'd like to revert to the last beta
> where this worked (beta 7/8? - I've still got the download). I know
> I'll forgo some of the improvements but it's a case of weighing the
> benefits for me. Will the prior version still work with the current db
> structure?
I'm afraid the database structure has changed, sorry. Hopefully, there will be
a new Qt version soon which fixes this.
Is renaming the media files to get rid of the accents a suitable workaround?
Peter
silverbear
on this m/c' and the Server/Settings/Configure Mnemosyne/Sync
Server/'Check for changed media files on this machine' serve the same
purpose?
I only have a sync problem when both are checked - when it's one or
the other, everything is fine. This is consistant regardless of
whether any media files have actually changed. Perhaps placing the
button in one place only would avoid confusion? Just a suggestion.
As for renaming the media files to make the sound work: there are too
many. Maybe I'll load linux onto my old laptop - personally, I
wouldn't hold my breath regarding a quick fix of the Quicktime
problem.
Kind regards
B.
Peter Bienstman
> Just to clarify: the Client/File/Sync/'Check for changed media files
> on this m/c' and the Server/Settings/Configure Mnemosyne/Sync
> Server/'Check for changed media files on this machine' serve the same
> purpose?
They are similar, but not the same. Each of them will look if media files have
been changed on the machine involved. I.e. checking it on the server will look
at the server files, checking it on the client will look at the client files.
How many megabytes of media files do you have? Anyway, I will check on my
system if I can reproduce this.
> As for renaming the media files to make the sound work: there are too
> many. Maybe I'll load linux onto my old laptop - personally, I
> wouldn't hold my breath regarding a quick fix of the Quicktime
Yeah, I know, it's annoying, but the Qt toolkit (not Quicktime :-) ) is
outside of my control...
Peter
silverbear
ip of the server so I thought 'this m/c' must refer to the server.
The Mnemosybe db folder is about 45Mb, nearly 3000 files (compression
could be better). I have sound files for nearly every card. (Besides
the fact that I'm learning in isolation at the mo. - not ideal, audio
input seems to speed up the learning for me and makes it more fun).
Anyway, the size doesn't seem to be a bother. I can only reproduce the
error if I check both client & server boxes.
B.
Peter Bienstman
> Ahh....on the client side, the Checking for Changed media is under the
> ip of the server so I thought 'this m/c' must refer to the server.
Right, I see how the wording could be misleading. I'll change this to 'check
for changed media on client'.
Cheers,
Peter