Xref: utzoo comp.mail.misc:3451 comp.mail.uucp:4341 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!daver!ditka!zinn!mem From: mem@zinn.MV.COM (Mark E. Mallett) Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.uucp Subject: Re: pathalias breaks on latest map distribution - HELP! Message-ID: <743@zinn.MV.COM> Date: 31 May 90 20:21:23 GMT References: <1990May29.182555.27806@pmsmam.uucp> Reply-To: mem@zinn.MV.COM (Mark E. Mallett) Organization: Zinn Computer Co., Litchfield NH Lines: 63 In article <1990May29.182555.27806@pmsmam.uucp> wwm@pmsmam.uucp (Bill Meahan) writes: >Since the latest distribution I've received from comp.mail.maps, my attempts >to build a new pathalias database result in pathalias hanging forever while >taking up about 4.5 MEGS of core. Hmm, I just commented on this in comp.unix.i386, as follows (the additional light shed here is that I can reproduce the problem with a 3-line input file): ---------- In article ron@mlfarm.uucp (Ronald Florence) writes: >We use pathalias (9.1 87/10/04) with Xenix 2.3.2, on a ps2/80 with six >megabytes of ram. Building our map normally takes ~2 minutes. > >The recent batch of maps apparently has taken our pathalias over some >threshold. Without the map u.usa.ca.1, the build takes the same ~2 >minutes. With all of the maps included on the command line, pathalias >churns and swaps, slowly growing in size. An hour later, when I >finally killed the process, it was at 5704K (according to ps); etc. I spent quite a bit of yesterday tracking this down. The problem seems to be that bcsinc (in u.usa.ca.1) and rt1 (in u.usa.nm.1) declare each other to be terminal links with DEAD cost. I was able to replicate the problem with a 3-line pathalias input file: bcsinc (DEAD) ditka (DEMAND+FAST), zinn(HOURLY+FAST) rt1 (DEAD) Running pathalias with trace options shows that rt1->bcsinc and bcsinc->rt1 (that is, the terminal defs of them) are trying to be resolved coninuously, with ever-increasing costs and links. I got around it by adding this to my local-defs file (which is a file that I feed into the pathalias run to supply local definitions and overrides): bcsinc rt1(DEAD) rt1 bcsinc(DEAD) In fact, I originally had "bcsinc" spelled wrong in the addition, and it still worked. Apparently all it needs is some other route between the two sites. I checked this three-line problem with a neighbor, who ran it with the -l zinn option (to pretend it was me), and they had the same results -- pathalias went into an infinite loop. Incidentally, I also checked this with another neighbor who does NOT have the problem. He says he is running an "unreleased" version of pathalias 9.1, and in fact the trace output is quite different from mine -- both in the formatting (terminals have <> instead of trailing ') and in the costs for DEAD and back links. I can hardly wait to see the update... -mm- -- Mark E. Mallett Zinn Computer Co/ PO Box 4188/ Manchester NH/ 03103 Bus. Phone: 603 645 5069 Home: 603 424 8129 BIX: mmallett uucp: mem@zinn.MV.COM ( ...{decvax|elrond|harvard}!zinn!mem ) Northern MA and Southern NH consultants: Ask (in mail!) about MV.COM