Indexing with Linux

[miles-p40]

Just a couple notes on using www.familysearchindexing.org with Linux - Specifically Fedora 7.

I got it working yesterday (28 July 2007.) Found a couple hurdles. Thought others might need to know.

1) Install Fedora 7.

2) Install better Java. You need better Java than provided by Fedora. Specifically, you need a javaws program. It doesn't appear to be part of the current Fedora Java environment. So, you need to install Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

With older versions of Fedora Core, I followed the Java install instructions in the Unofficial Fedora FAQ: http://www.fedorafaq.org/ but it is not updated for Fedora 7 yet. So I followed the Java install instructions available at: http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-f7.html

NOTE: That web page contains a variety of advice for Fedora 7 users. Not all that advice would be useful for all users. For example, I followed their instructions for: Yum, GCC Compatibility, MP3, Macromedia Flash, Java, and Kernel Headers. I passed on the rest. Other people, might have other needs.

3) Volunteer for FamilySearchIndexing. Bring up Firefox. Goto: http://www.familysearchindexing.org Click on "Volunteer" and fill out the form.

4) SKIP THE "INSTALL NOW" link on FamilySearchIndexing. All it does is install Sun's JRE. You should have installed the JRE back in step 2.

5) Tell Firefox to use javaws to interpet the iude.jnlp program. When you go to www.familysearchindexing.org and click on "Start Indexing", Firefox will start to download a file called iude.jnlp Then, Firefox will stop and ask you how to process iude.jnlp Tell Firefox to use the javaws program to process iude.jnlp I found the javaws program at: /opt/jre1.6/bin/javaws You may wish to tell Firefox to use this same program for this kind of file from now on.

6) If more than one username on your Fedora 7 computer wishes to Index, you need to address a bug. When the iude.jnlp program ends, it fails to remove a lock file. This file is located at: /tmp/iislock This file's protections are limited so only the username that creates it, can alter it. When a different username tries to Index, the iude.jnlp program will quit and give the message:
"Only one instance of FamilySearch Indexing can run at time."
"There is already an instances running."

Either manually delete /tmp/iislock every time you switch users (you might need to become ROOTly.) Or, change the permissions of this file so everybody can alter it with a

#chmod 666 /tmp/iislock

Happy Indexing!

Miles

[The_Earl]

2) Install better Java. You need better Java than provided by Fedora. Specifically, you need a javaws program. It doesn't appear to be part of the current Fedora Java environment. So, you need to install Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

Miles

RedHat, and many other Linux distros include the GCC implementation of Java, not the SUN version. This could (and will) cause problems with many java programs.

You can get the SUN JRE from http://java.sun.com/.

The Earl

[thedqs]

Really? Linux has its own version of Java? I wonder if there are some "Linux Only" extensions to the language. If so then what is different then Windows' Old Java VM which had windows specific extensions?

[rmrichesjr]

RedHat, and many other Linux distros include the GCC implementation of Java, not the SUN version. This could (and will) cause problems with many java programs.

You can get the SUN JRE from http://java.sun.com/.

The Earl

Really? Linux has its own version of Java? I wonder if there are some "Linux Only" extensions to the language. If so then what is different then Windows' Old Java VM which had windows specific extensions?

The "GCC implementation of Java", at least the gcc-java package distributed with Mandriva Linux 2007.0, is described as follows (in the package description):

This package adds experimental support for compiling Java(tm) programs
and bytecode into native code. To use this you will also need the
libgcj package.

It's different in the back end from regular Java in that it compiles to native machine code. I'm not aware of any extensions to the front end relative to regular Java in terms of language syntax or features. The last time I read about it, one of the Java graphics groups/packages (either Swing or AWX, I don't remember which) was not yet implemented. With Sun reportedly open sourcing most or all of Java, that may change.

Regarding the extensions that other big company did for its version of Java on its operating system, I seem to recall hearing that a judge agreed with Sun that they shouldn't have done that.

[mkmurray]

Regarding the extensions that other big company did for its version of Java on its operating system, I seem to recall hearing that a judge agreed with Sun that they shouldn't have done that.

Who knows why then even did J#? I would pick C# over it anyday.

[thedqs]

Who knows why then even did J#? I would pick C# over it anyday.

Port your java programs over to the .NET platform. But yes I love C#, especially delegates where you can create a nice separation between application and module. (A project I am doing for my Machine Learning class requires this nice separation).

[jkarras-p40]

"GCC implementation of Java" or GCJ is a Java compiler not a runtime. It can compile java byte code or java code into native machine code.

Most Linux distros used to ship the Blackdown JRE/JDK. This was a build based on the public source distributed by Sun. Now that Sun has opensourced the whole lot I don't know where this will go.

I don't know that the Blackdown JRE had Java Web Start capabilities. When I have used FamilySearch indexing with my Linux machine it has always been with the Sun JRE. I found the Sun JRE to be faster than the blackdown JRE usually and a little more compatible. Some times the Blackdown JRE was behind a bit on having everything implmented.

[The_Earl]

Java has been open source for quite a while. However, SUN does not allow you to re-distribute JAVA. That is why most Linux distros do not bundle the JRE, since they can have the code, but they can't distribute it to a third party.

It is a bit odd to me that RedHat does not ship Java, as they do include licensed drivers and such.

Anyway,

[rmrichesjr]

First, thanks to those who have posted howto-type information about using the Indexing application on Linux. Unfortunately, it's not working for me. The application appears to download successfully, starts up, asks for username and password, puts up a "FamilySearch Indexing" window with File, Tools, View, and Help menu headings in the upper left, "online" in the lower right. The whole insides of the window are white, clicking on menu headings does nothing, and the window won't respond to the nice version of "close window" from the window manager menu. When the window comes up, something (presumably the indexing application) uses a few seconds of CPU time, and then the system goes idle. Nothing is using substantial CPU time, and there is no significant network traffic.

I'm running Mandriva 2007.0 and Sun Java 1.5.0_09 (build ...-b03). The indexing help page says it wants Java 1.5_11, which sounds like probably two tiny notches above what I have. Do we know whether the application is that picky about Java version?

My firewalls (Linux iptables and two hardware NAT routers in series) are set fairly tightly. Are there any unusual ports the indexing application needs to have open for data transfer? If that were the problem, would I be seeing the symptom of a blank window?

I have javaws, and it appears to be doing its thing correctly (except for starting Konquerer when I hit a wrong button...).

In ~/iArchives/logs/AppContainer-0.log, there are a bunch of INFO lines, a block of warnings apparently that ~/jobq.dat doesn't exist (which it does now), and a warning that log4j couldn't find any appenders for the logger.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[WelchTC]

Java has some know problems (sounds exactly like what you are experiencing) if you are running Beryl or Compiz. The good news is that it is fixable if you want to recompile Java. Here is a document talking about it. Eventually you will find a site that tells you what you have to do to fix it. If you are running Beryl or Compiz, verify this is the problem by trying to run any java swing based application to see if you get the same problem. One of my favorites is Freemind.

Tom