a2c online compiler problems; mono issues

[Ken Raeburn]

Trying to submit a file for compilation earlier this evening, I got:

> Fatal error:
> There was an error in running a2c:
>
> The command was
>
> mono /cgi-bin/a2c.exe -out=holder holder0.asn
> FileName: Error File Not Found ../ASNFiles/holder0.asn

I can specify "Kerberos PK-INIT" to be built from the options on the
web page, and that seems to work; I just can't upload a file of my
own. I was submitting a little toy file of a few lines, trying to see
if a2c was going to complain about it...

I tried out a2c on my new(-ish) desktop machine (Mac G5, running Mac
OS 10.5.4), with a newly installed Mono framework (1.9.1). It
processes test/example-1.asn okay, but crashes on example-
everything.asn; so does Mono 1.2.6 when I fetch and install that. On
a MacBook Pro, Mono 1.2.5.1 works, as does 1.9.1. (All versions were
downloaded, not compiled locally.) I'm still failing to be
impressed. :(

Ken

[Paul Hoffman]

Sorry for the very long delay in getting back to you. I have been
investigating a2c under Mono on various platforms, and the results are
not pretty. Mono varies from platform to platform in different ways
that cause a2c to fail. As far as I can tell, Mono 1.2 works fine with
a2c on all platforms, and Mono >1.2 works fine with a2c on Linux (or,
at least, on SLES where I tested it).

As for the web site not working with your file: yeah, that's a bug in
the CGI. It worked at one point, but it doesn't now, and I suspect I
never fully tested it with user-supplied files. If this is really
important to you, I'll dust off the CGI again, but, really, a2c is
meant to be run locally. The web site is really just to show people
that a2c is real and works.

--Paul Hoffman