The mailing list for listmasters using Sympa

[Miles Fidelman <address@concealed>]

Hi Olivier,

Thanks for the response!

A few follow-up questions

Olivier Salaün - CRU wrote:
> Hi Miles,
>
> Miles Fidelman wrote:
> > Now that I have Sympa 5.2.1 installed on a new machine, I'm trying to 
> > migrate from a 3.4.4.3 installation, and I've run into a few snags.  
> > I hope some of you can point me at a way out!
> > [...]
> > - first time around it says it installed all the perl modules, but 
> > didn't - had to force install Template and XML::LibXML via cpan (each 
> > failed one test out of about 100 - hopefully not a critical one)
> We noticed that but we don't quite understand why these 2 modules 
> don't install properly.
> If somebody has an idea, he's welcome.
CPAN won't normally install things that fail tests (even if it's 1 test 
out of 100). That seems to be what's causing the problem (why Template 
and XML::LibXML fail a couple of specific tests, and does this matter to 
Sympa is a separate issues - I believe it was a test that has "dynamic" 
in its name.)

It might be worth noting this in the install notes and suggesting that 
people:
- run check_perl_modules.pl manually
- watch for failures in installing the two modules
- install them manually via CPAN (force install)

> > 3. running mysql, so the upgrade notes say that the database would be 
> > updated automagically, so I tried to start things:
> >
> > - got a bunch of errors:
> > Starting module sympa.pl: DBD::mysql::db do failed: Can't DROP 
> > 'list_admin'. Check that column/key exists at /home/sympa/bin/List.pm 
> > line 10997.
> > [...]
> Because lots of DB fields have changed/added, we also need to remove 
> existing indexes and recreate them. You probably didn't have these 
> indexes before, or nor with the right names.
> > [...]
> > - immediately followed by one titled Listmaster/ sympa died, 
> > containing: error : data structure was not updated ; you should run 
> > sympa.pl to run the upgrade process.
> To prevent inconsistencies after an upgrade, all processes are frozen 
> until the DB structure has been updated. This task is performed by 
> sympa.pl (in the future it might be a dedicated script).
> > 4. tried a /home/sympa/bin/sympa.pl - and it seemed to start, so then 
> > stopped it and did a /home/rc3.d/sympa start and everything seemed to 
> > start, but archived stops immediately (which it's been doing lately - 
> > I expect something is locked or corrupted - ANY SUGGESTIONS?)
> Check your log files or try to restart it.
Unfortunately, I've done this - both under Sympa 3.4.4.3 and under the 
newly upgraded 5.2.1 install.

Even at debug level 4, archived starts, then almost immediately stops - 
leaving no messages in the log.

Any thoughts on where to look for locks, corruption, diagnostic ideas, ....?

> > [now it gets "interesting"]
> > 5. the install message indicated that: "Sympa.pl should detect that 
> > you are upgrading from an old version and will run the tpl2tt2.pl 
> > script to migrate your existing .tpl files to .tt2 format." but... 
> > this doesn't seem to have happened.  I can get to everything through 
> > the standard web interface, but all the custom messages don't come 
> > up.  Various files (e.g., welcome.tpl) remain unchanged in 
> > /home/sympa/expl/<listname> and don't seem to be either converted or 
> > used.
> If sympa.pl failed to run tpl2tt2.pl script, then try to run it manually.
Tried to - both as root and as user sympa.

Ran from /home/sympa by typing:
# bin/tpl2tt2.pl

got the error message:
Bad index while coercing array into hash at bin/tpl2tt2.pl line 133.

---
Then tried running it on a single template, as follows:

#cd expl/anginofarm/
#/home/sympa/bin/tpl2tt2.pl welcome.tpl

the script listed the entire file to STDOUT and concluded with: 
"Template file welcome.tpl has been converted to :

full output was:

From: [% conf.email %]@[% conf.host %]
Subject: Welcome to list [% list.name %]
Mime-version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain

Welcome to [% list.name %]@[% list.host %].
Your subscription email is [% user.email %]
[% IF user.password %]
Your password : [% user.password %].
[% END %]

Welcome to the [% list.name %] email list - 
[% INSERT 'info' %]. 

We are using a list management software package that allows considerable
flexibility in how you receive email.  For example, you can elect to
receive every message as it comes in, or you can elect to receive a
daily digest (all the messages posted each day, bundled into a single
message) or as a summary (the same as a digest, except you just get
a table of contents of subject lines - you can click to read any specific
messsage).

Right now, you are set up with the default - which is to receive each
individual message as it comes through. To change your settings, read
the list archives, unsubscribe, or access other control functions, click 
here:
[% conf.wwsympa_url %]/info/[% list.name %]

To access control functions, you'll need to enter a username (your email
address) and password (provided earlier in this message).

To send to the list simply send email to [% list.name %]@[% list.host %]

Template file welcome.tpl has been converted to

---------
any suggestions?

> > 6. I tried to convert archive files using the button on the sympa 
> > admin screen, but...
> >
> > - nothing seems to happen if I hit "rebuild all"
> The rebuild tasks are not performed by wwsympa.fcgi itself but 
> delegated to the archived.pl process. If it is not running, that's the 
> reason why your archives didn't get rebuilt.
Still trying to track this one down.
> We try to make updates as transparent as we can but that's a complex 
> task...
> If you have any suggestions, please suggest.
Well... Sympa is such a great list manager that I don't mind a few 
upgrade issues every couple of years (assuming I can resolve then :-).

Hopefully some of the problems and solutions I run into will be useful 
input to the next rev. and/or documentation and FAQs.

Thanks again!

Miles