Re: Internet address conflict between namespace and local.boot file

Le jeudi, 2 oct 2003, =E0 00:25 Europe/Paris, Benjamin Benninghofen a=20
=E9crit :

>
>
>     This sounds perfectly reasonable... but it happens that I have=20
> spent
>     countless hours,
>     years ago, to load many symbolic packages into my own "complete=20
> world".
>     In many cases  (like those of Joshua,  Concordia or Plexi or...)=20
> the
>     installation
>     was rather difficult, in the sense that many of the paths expected=20
> by
>     the installation program
>     were not existing, mayne they were not made for a Mac Ivory
>     and I had to do many fixes, by hand. I have of course completely
>     forgotten now
>     how I managed to do it, but I remember that it took a long time.
>
> This sounds very strange.
>
> Do you have access to the Distribution Tape or CD-ROMs of the Symbolics
> software to be reinstalled ?
> By writing the Translation files you decide yourself where the Files
> of the system are stored. Just load the same Translation files for
> "Restore Distribution" and "Load System". Then everything works without
> the problems you mentioned.
>
> Below I appended one of the files I loaded to build our Genera 8.3=20
> worlds.
> After loading the file you can call (WFORM) and click on the presented
> form. Then you wait some hours and enter the "Save World" command.
>
>                I understand that it would then be also logic to create=20
> a
>     totally new namespace and site, but
>     would it be also necessary to start again from the=20
> Distribution-World
>     and rebuild all my favorite worlds ?
>     This looks strange to me. Isn't there a way out ?
>
> You may try several things, but the required time (not including=20
> waiting)
> probably will be minimized by building the new world.
>
> For example you could define a new site in the distribution world. That
> Site will contain exactly one LispM. The local boot file then must=20
> contain
> the adress of the LispM you specified in the new Site. Then you may=20
> boot
> your old world (with the known problems). But you will have a Lisp=20
> Listener
> where you can enter the "Set Site" command. In case that you can=20
> succesfully
> execute the "Set Site" command you can save an incremental world.
>
>
>     establishing a communication by RPC  between Macsyma running under
>     Genera
>     and some other math program (like Mathematica) running on the Mac=20
> side
>
> I created an RPC interface between Genera and PARI. However synchronous
> calls waiting for a result slow it down.
>
>>
>> However when you change the address of your Symbolics then you
>> will need a new Macsyma Key anyway.
>
>     Ah... Yes ? How dos this key check work ?
>
> See the compiled code of CLIMAX::MACSYMA-TOPLEVEL (including the split)
>
>
>     Symbolics ? You mean Symbolics Inc or Macsyma Inc ?
>     I have no idea where to contact Symbolics Inc !
>     I though it had disappeared...
>     Can you elaborate ?
>
>
> Symbolics Inc and Macsyma Inc are owned by the same person. While
> Macsyma Inc is in "Cold Store", Symbolics Inc is still active.
> You can visit them at
>
> www.symbolics.com
>
> When you have an ALPHA Workstation you can order OpenGenera 2.0
> (at 5000$ for industry) and as add on they also can deliver
> Macsyma 421.45 for OpenGenera. They also can sell you Macsyma
> for a PC. However for all other plattforms they cannot generate
> Macsyma Keys.
>
>
>     Benjamin Benninghofen
>


Thank you for your advise:  it did not work exactly as you said, mostly=20
because it was not easy to access the new site (and the new namespace) =20
from the old one, but it put me on the right track and I finally=20
succeeded.  Please find below a maybe--too-detailed account of what I=20
did, which is maybe not the most elegant way of doing what I wanted,=20
but at least it worked.  I do not pretend to be an expert but maybe my=20
explanations may help other people.

I remind you what the problem is:

Start from your favorite world on your ivory machine, in a given=20
namespace environement, a given site and a given internet address. The=20
problem is to change almost everything: the namespace, the site and the=20
internet address without having to start from a fresh distribution=20
world (in particular you do not want to have to reload all your=20
environment and favourite programs). This is not documented (I think)=20
in the standard Genera documentations and appears to be  less trivial=20
than
what it seems...

What I did is commented below.

Load distribution world genera-8-3.ilod

Login as Lisp-Machine

I modified the local.boot file, removed the old IP number and gave a=20
new one (a local one, for home use, that I invented).

I used the Define Site Home command to create a new namespace called=20
Home, a new site
called Home and a unique host called IvoryFX , defined as namespace=20
server.  I had also to specify in Internet adress:  I  gave the same=20
one (the new one) that I had already specified in the local.boot file.=20
Using the Namespace Editor, I also defined a unique user (me), using a=20
new name (Robert), but I decided to also give my old login name as a=20
nickname for my new name (this turned out to be useful, as you shall=20
see at the end). I also completed several fields of the object site=20
Home and of the object site Host IvoryFX by adding my Macsyma password.=20
I also added two other host objects (an apple G4 laptop and a bluetooth=20
ADSL router if you want to know).

  Then I saved this world by a Save World Complete and called it=20
BasicHomeWorld.

Then I exited to FEP, issued Hello, Clear Machine and loaded my old=20
complete-world.ilod containing all my favorite already loaded program.=20
Of course, I got a warning just after the herald, since this world had=20
been loaded with my old IP address in the namespace, which is =20
incompatible with the new local.boot file. Since the specified=20
namespace server was no longer existing, the herald ended with =20
OldSiteName INTERNET | A.B.C.D (this being the new IP number defined in=20
local.boot). Password protected software (like Macsyma) would not work=20
in this setting.

I then logged as  Login Lisp-Machine and did some GC cleaning (actually=20
this was quite a pain because I had to add some paging space in order=20
for a (si:full-gc) command to be executed without ending in error....=20
and this took about five hours, but this is probably  irrelevant to the=20
present discussion).

Then, back to the listener I typed a Set Site command by typing=20
explicitly Set Site Home. Actually this is not totally trivial because=20
if you only type Set Site and ask for the possibilities... you only see=20
two possibilities: Distribution and OldSiteName. In other words, the=20
site Home that I had nevertheless defined previously (from the=20
distribution world) cannot be selected (to select it you would have to=20
cold boot and boot either the distribution world or the BasicHomeWorld=20
defined before... I know: I tried this). I was telling you that you=20
have to type the command "Set Site Home", you do it and then you are=20
offered to specify a namespace server (you type Home), a namespace=20
server (you type IvoryFX), an internet address (and you type the new=20
adress again) and finally a namespace descriptor file.. but what is=20
nice at that point is that genera already suggests an existing file,=20
namely, the file INTERNET | A.B.C.D :>sys>site>home-namespace that had=20
been automatically created at a previous step, while issuing the Define=20
Site Home command from the distribution world.
Then the system started to execute the set site command... and at some=20
point there was an error related to changing  logical path names for=20
translation files; I confess that I did not understand it but since I=20
was given the possibility to skip this, I skipped it.
Finally I got the expected message "The name of the host is now=20
IvoryFX".
The Herald was still looking satisfactory, with all my favourite=20
programs listed there as before, but with the name of the machine being=20
Home IvoryFX and not  OldSiteName INTERNET | A.B.C.D

So I issued a command Optimize World (by the way it doed not seem that=20
this command triggers necessarily the (si:full-gc) so it was probably=20
wise to use first the garbage collector and then the optimization) and=20
after some time... I could talk again to the listener and  issue the=20
command Save World Complete CompleteHomeWorld.ilod

Then I logged in as Robert (my new name) and my old init files were=20
automatically read (in particular the one that translates a QWERTY into=20
an  AZERTY keyboard), and this could  work, I think,  because, at the=20
very beginning,  I had given my old name (the one I had in the old=20
namespace) as a nickname of the new.
Maybe I should have used  a similar trick for the new host itself...

I then selected various activities, including Macsyma, which worked=20
perfectly and recognized my old password without complaining (the only=20
nuisance, fixed later  by hand, was that it could not find my init file=20
in the right place: it was using the old host name).
I also checked that the new local internet adress was well recognized.

Just for fun, I connected physically the ethernet port of the FX to my=20
bluetooth ADSL router (it is a bluedsl), checked that it was appearing=20
as a gateway in Peek (networks), moved to my G4 laptop, issued an xhost=20
+ my-new-ivory-address,  from its unix terminal, moved to the ivory=20
console again and issued a Start X Screen IP-nb-of-my-G4 (which has a=20
bluetooth antenna inside and receives its IP nb from the bluedsl=20
router). At the end of the day (well... it was the end of the night !),=20
I could sit in the dining room, the -- silent--  laptop on my lap,=20
contemplating a nice Macsyma window wireless sent by the Ivory machine.=20
The screen of the G4 laptop  is much better -- and wider -- than the=20
one displayed by my old MacII monitor :  I can even run Concordia on it!
Furthermore the connection is wireless and  I can now also appreciate=20
the sounds of silence... (my old MacII host is not particularly silent).


Good. Thank you for your help.
Bye

Robert

PS: By the way, I have a small problem, not serious, but irritating:=20
for the last few years, every time I cold boot and talk to the FEP, it=20
tells me that it cannot read the time and date from the local machine,=20
so that  I have to enter it by hand. At some point in the past, it was=20
not so.
I am sure that the local clock of the mac host works 	and that the=20
battery is OK.
Is this a y2k bug ?


Robert Coquereaux