Clips bar empty - Page 4

DiapDealer · 09-26-2017, 12:32 PM

I'll certainly try it if I see it again.

After logging many hours over the weekend trying to get it to happen (with ProcessMonitor logging), I was utterly unsuccessful. After the three times, in quick succession, I saw it on Friday... nothing. Nada. It's maddening. I've come to the conclusion that having ProcessMonitor running is somehow actually preventing the race condition from ever happening. I have no other explanation. I can probably easily confirm that by hitting it hard again without ProcessMonitor running. But I'm afraid that if it happened as soon as I turned off the filesystem i/o logger, I might gouge my own eyes out! That would mean the only way I can replicate it would be to ensure that I can't debug it. ARGH!!! I'm not sure I want to find that out!

Turtle91 · 09-26-2017, 02:18 PM

Please don't go too crazy over this!! I only mentioned it because it was an interesting find...not because it was essential. If it was something that essential you would hear me knocking on your door instead of just reading a post... lol

kovidgoyal · 09-27-2017, 02:37 AM

This should be easy to fix by simply using atomic writes for the config file. i.e. have the code that writes the config file write to temp file and rename the temp file to the original after the write is complete.

The file system watcher should notify you about the rename and you are guaranteed that when the rename arrives, the file contents are updated.

kovidgoyal · 09-27-2017, 02:38 AM

And of course to make it fully robust you have to make sure that the code that renames and the code that reads from the file retries on locking failures for a few seconds.

doubleshuffle · 09-27-2017, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinH

If this guess is true, then opening a third instance of Sigil and then adding something to the clip library should send a signal to the first two instances to reload. This should give it a chance of making the lost clips re-appear in the first instance.

Would someone who see this problem on Windows please try adding a couple of new instances of Sigil and then if one loads properly, edit the clips library to add something from it and see if that forces the other instances of Sigil to resync.

Just tried this, and it worked as you expected - editing the clip library in the new instance brought it back in the old one.

DiapDealer · 09-27-2017, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

This should be easy to fix by simply using atomic writes for the config file. i.e. have the code that writes the config file write to temp file and rename the temp file to the original after the write is complete.

The file system watcher should notify you about the rename and you are guaranteed that when the rename arrives, the file contents are updated.

Thanks much for the suggestions, Kovid.

Notjohn · 10-02-2017, 05:18 PM

When I open a new instance of Sigil, the first thing to appear is the Clip window (I've shrunk it to postage-stamp size so it doesn't impinge on the other windows.) It's rather eerie to see it hanging there like the smile on the face of the Cheshire Cat, in reverse, before his body pops into place.

But I have only seven clips.

09-27-2017, 02:37 AM	#48
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,609 Karma: 28549044 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	This should be easy to fix by simply using atomic writes for the config file. i.e. have the code that writes the config file write to temp file and rename the temp file to the original after the write is complete. The file system watcher should notify you about the rename and you are guaranteed that when the rename arrives, the file contents are updated. Last edited by kovidgoyal; 09-27-2017 at 02:39 AM.

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09-26-2017, 12:32 PM	#46
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,888 Karma: 207182180 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I'll certainly try it if I see it again. After logging many hours over the weekend trying to get it to happen (with ProcessMonitor logging), I was utterly unsuccessful. After the three times, in quick succession, I saw it on Friday... nothing. Nada. It's maddening. I've come to the conclusion that having ProcessMonitor running is somehow actually preventing the race condition from ever happening. I have no other explanation. I can probably easily confirm that by hitting it hard again without ProcessMonitor running. But I'm afraid that if it happened as soon as I turned off the filesystem i/o logger, I might gouge my own eyes out! That would mean the only way I can replicate it would be to ensure that I can't debug it. ARGH!!! I'm not sure I want to find that out!

09-26-2017, 02:18 PM	#47
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,397 Karma: 20212733 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	Please don't go too crazy over this!! I only mentioned it because it was an interesting find...not because it was essential. If it was something that essential you would hear me knocking on your door instead of just reading a post... lol

09-27-2017, 02:38 AM	#49
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,609 Karma: 28549044 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	And of course to make it fully robust you have to make sure that the code that renames and the code that reads from the file retries on locking failures for a few seconds.

10-02-2017, 05:18 PM	#52
Notjohn mostly an observer Posts: 1,519 Karma: 996810 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: Kindle	When I open a new instance of Sigil, the first thing to appear is the Clip window (I've shrunk it to postage-stamp size so it doesn't impinge on the other windows.) It's rather eerie to see it hanging there like the smile on the face of the Cheshire Cat, in reverse, before his body pops into place. But I have only seven clips.

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