Server standalones

[FourthWorld]

The title says it all. I need 'em. I have server products in development for which the GPL License governing the Community Edition would be inappropriate, and I need to run password-protected libraries.

Historically I've just built my own using the Linux engine and running with -ui, but while this used to work well it's increasingly problematic. Issues with using Linux standalones have included among the servers I've tested on dependency on libraries not normally installed in server configurations, and "exit on signal 11" errors preventing the app from running.

If there's a way to resolve these in the Linux desktop engine that would be my preference, so I can continue to use the setup I have. But I imagine this would require a change to the way libraries are linked. If it's possible to avoid dependency on libraries not normally found on servers when running with -ui then let's do it, but if not I'm prepared to abandon command-line apps altogether and just use Livecode Server instead.

Now that we can use libraries in LC Server, changing my setup is minor; bigger is the loss to the community of the flexibility provided by the option to use Linux standalones if we prefer, but maybe I'm the only one doing that so perhaps it's not a major concern.

Either way, I need some solution to be able to put a compatible LC engine on servers which can load password-protected libraries, and do so without any registration or licensing actions required by my users.

Apparently the Server Edition I can download via my RunRev account runs password-protected stacks, so that much is good. But since there's no documentation included, not even a license, it's unclear what I can and cannot do with it. For example, can I rename the executable file to reflect my company's own branding?

Looking at the bigger picture, is there a need for others to be able to run with -ui under as many different systems, including servers, as I have?

If so, is it practical to explore ways to make the behavior with -ui more closely reflect that of LiveCode Server?

[monte]

I could definitely make use of a CLI standalone engine. I'm thinking it wouldn't require -ui because that would just be the behavior of that type of engine. I'm wondering how much work it would take to deploy a standalone from the server engine. Do you need to be able to implement an interactive CLI or are you fine with execute -> quit which is what the server does.

[FourthWorld]

An interactive shell might be nice cor some applications, but I have no immediate need for it. Ideally, we'd be able to deliver a single app that could be either GUI or CLI - rather like the installer, but on some systems the installer doesn't work either.

I guess it all boils down to how much linking can be figured out at runtime, and how much needs to be compiled.

[monte]

Ideally, we'd be able to deliver a single app that could be either GUI or CLI

OK, that's different to what I was thinking. I was thinking of a separate engine that was trimmed down specifically for CLI use.

[FourthWorld]

Well, I'll take what I can get. If we can't get a dual-purpose app to run on as many systems as RevServer can run on, then a specialized engine would be acceptable for my needs.

[LCMark]

Well, the crashes you've been experiencing is I suspect Bug 11559 - which should be fixed for 6.5.1. The engine wasn't properly catching non-loading of some text libraries and thus making calls it shouldn't In 6.5, if you don't have the relevant text libraries on your linux distro, text rendering will be disabled.

[FourthWorld]

Thanks, Mark. In 6.5.1rc1 I'm still getting the "signal 11" error, so I'm assuming that fix is for a later build, no?

[LCMark]

It should make the next build of 6.5.1 - I only fixed it this afternoon

[FourthWorld]

I appreciate the effort, but unfortunately I'm still getting the "exiting on signal 11" error with 6.5.1rc2.

Should the fix be present on both LiveCode Server and the Linux runtime engine?

[LCMark]

I fixed the bug against 'master' - which is at 6.5... However due to a bugfix in 6.5.1, there is another case to sort out in the absence of the text libraries. Will sort it out for the next build.

[FourthWorld]

Mark, aren't you on holiday? I very much appreciate your efforts, but development is an endurance sport so take this opportunity to relax a bit while you can. I hope you and yours have a wonderful solstice season.

[LCMark]

@FourthWorld: Not quite yet on holiday - off from end of today, so just finishing up a few things.