[Freeciv-Dev] Re: server hangs

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On Sun, Mar 12, 2000 at 10:27:52PM -0800, Mark Hayden wrote:
> Are the people on this list aware that the server has
> a tendency to hang for 10-20 minutes when playing with
> large numbers of clients?

Yes.  I've always assumed it was due to a bad connection from
one of the users.  Such a user may connect while the game is running.

> I see all this traffic about
> various play features, but nothing regarding the fact
> that the server has this serious bug.

Nobody knows what the exact problem is, but you've reported
some problems with the networking code before, and some
improvements have already been committed to CVS.

> Imagine getting 10 people to join a game,
> playing for an hour, and then having the game break up
> because the server hangs for 20 minutes.  I bet
> this turns alot of people off from the game.

It isn't all that common.
 
> A likely cause of the problem was described in a bug report
> I posted over 2 weeks ago, #280, for which I have seen only
> one message on this list.  I haven't seen any other traffic
> related to fixing server hangs.  

  http://arch.freeciv.org/freeciv-dev-200003/msg00037.html
  http://arch.freeciv.org/freeciv-cvs-200003/msg00008.html

> Also, perhaps it would make sense to add a timer in the server
> to watch for hangs and report them in a log.

Seems like a good idea to me.  Please provide the patch.

Another idea I've been thinking of: a Freeciv echo packet
(might use an existing packet type).  The server could do
a 'Freeciv ping' to all clients, and clients could do the
same to servers, even before being connected.

> --Mark

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