SCOUG-HELP Mailing List Archives

<< Previous Message << >> Next Message >>

Date:	Sat, 2 Apr 2005 16:48:15 PST8
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: do your INI maintenance

Content Type: text/plain

Steven Levine wrote:
>
> >Separately I've heard that the INI cache space is only 4
> >MB or 5 MB, and one other developer (Jim Read at UniMaint) has also told
> >me of this problem. So, if you've been lax in cleaning up your INI files
> >here's an incentive . . .
>
> This is misleading. Since the shared area is a cache, clean or dirty INIs
> should not really an issue.

Check with Moylan and Read. "Should not really be an issue" means "if
it's bug-free then it won't be an issue." :-)

> Performance may suffer if the cache has too
> much turnover, but the cache size should not cause app failures. What
> really causes the INI related failures is a combination of defects. Most
> apps do not handle running out of shared memory very well and the WPS with
> is a heavy user of shared memory seems to leak memory.

Well there's the answer then. If the INI files are smaller they consume
less shared memory, so the apps are less likely to run out of shared
memory and VOILA! your system is more stable.

> Crank up Mozilla or Firefox and run it for several days of moderate
> browsing and I guarantee you will run out of shared memory.

Steven, how can I look at, or monitor, the shared memory usage? How can
I determine if I am approaching the "out of shared memory" condition?

> Several new INI cleaning tools have appeared in the last year or so.
> Those interested in reducing their INI file footprint should look at Rich
> Walsh's Iconomize and FPos tools.

Iconomize has an excellent premise but doesn't always help. The concept
is that some icons are stored in the INI files and don't have to be
there, thus they can be removed. On my system, none of my icons are
eligible. FPos is worth looking at also though the space saving is
small. Lurkers: to get both, go to
http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-browse?sh=1&button=Browse&dir=%2Fpub%2Fos2%2Futil%2Fwps&sort=name

> >I also got rid of Theseus which turned out to have something to
> >do with half my bootups ending in traps -- not a single trap since I
> >removed it.
>
> The version of Theseus you were running is ancient, even in OS/2 terms,
> and required a device driver. It is not surprising that it had a defect
> or two. The current version of Theseus that works with current kernels
> does not require a device driver so while it probably still has some
> defects, but these are not going to have an effect on bootup.

You mean there's a _reason_ I should upgrade my Warp 4 Fixpak 10?

> FWIW, using INI files for large quantities of data has always been bad
> idea, as Peter is now discovering. INI files were never intended to hold
> large quantities of volatile data.

It's a handy little database. I've never looked at mSQL -- maybe that
would be a good alternative? I've used a file tree occasionally as a
keyed database, it actually works quite well even if people sneer at
it. dbExpert is loved by a number of people.

- Peter

=====================================================

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email message
to "steward@scoug.com". In the body of the message,
put the command "unsubscribe scoug-help".

For problems, contact the list owner at
"postmaster@scoug.com".

=====================================================

Return to [ 02 | April | 2005 ]

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.