Revision history for Perl extension Helios. 2.601_3610 Mon Sep 02 00:01:37 2013 - Patch for [RT79690] Job initialization error handling. - Fix for [RT81709] WORKER_MAX_TTL not always enforced. - Fix for [RT81914] Race condition on PID file. - Internal documentation updates, including addition of project metadata to Makefile.PL. 2.60 Mon Nov 06 00:00:00 2012 -Significant changes to Helios database connection handling, including a specialized Data::ObjectDriver class and TheSchwartz extensions. Helios now aggressively caches database connections at the DBI layer and uses DBI features to properly handle database connect/disconnect between daemon and worker processes. These improvements result in significant performance increases, especially when using Oracle as a collective database. One user's application experienced job throughput increases of ~70%. MySQL collectives should also experience speed increases and a reduced number of open connections. -NEW Helios::Config modular configuration API. Similar to Helios::Job and Helios::Logger, Helios::Config defines the basic Helios configuration API while also serving as a base class to build custom configuration modules for Helios applications. To define a custom configuration API for a Helios application, specify a ConfigClass() method in your Helios::Service subclass. Auxiliary application pieces such as scripts and cronjobs can use Helios::Config to get the application's configuration without needing to instantiate the application class and calling the prep() method as in the past. Helios::Config makes the Helios configuration API more robust, modular, and flexible. See the Helios::Config POD for more details. NOTE: Helios::Service->getConfigFrom*() methods are now deprecated in favor of Helios::Config->parseConfig(). The prep() method uses Helios::Config and will continue to be supported. -NEW Helios exception class for configuration errors: Helios::Error::ConfigError. -NEW WORKER_MAX_TTL_WAIT_INTERVAL parameter to fine-tune use of WORKER_MAX_TTL with specific applications. -NEW WORKER_BLITZ_FACTOR configuration parameter to launch more workers sooner. -NEW configuration parameter documentation. All Helios out-of-box configuration parameters are now defined in a section of the Helios::Config POD. For more information about the new configuration parameters or any others, check the Helios::Config POD! -Helios::Service->dbConnect() has been updated to work with the new database connection caching scheme and to better support DBI options. -Bundle::Helios::Generic has been changed to Bundle::Helios and can be used to install Helios prerequisite modules with generic Perl installs. Bundle::Helios::RedHat was dropped in 2.41. See the INSTALL.* files in the main distribution directory to determine the right type of install method for your environment. -Improved module loading code. -Removal of most instances of Error module's try {} catch {} blocks in favor of Perl generic eval {} or do {}. -More tests. -Updated INSTALL.* files for generic Perl and CPAN installs and Red Hat/CentOS 6.x. BSD, Mac OS X, and other *nix should use the generic install instructions. (Debian and Ubuntu based instructions continue to be the quickest and easiest. Thank you Debian for your excellent Perl and CPAN packaging!) 2.41 Sun Jun 03 22:00:00 2012 -Official Oracle support! DDL for a Helios Oracle schema is in 'sql/helios_schema_oracle.sql'. Please note: 1) you will need to adjust the Oracle schema to fit your environment (especially in regards to security and tablespaces) 2) while the Helios core supports Oracle, the Helios::Panoptes web admin interface still only supports MySQL (Panoptes support for Oracle is being worked on) -Helios::Service and Helios::Job: added deferredJob() and deferred() methods to defer processing of a job even though it was available in the job queue. These methods (for now) simply expose the declined() feature added in TheSchwartz 1.10; no Helios job history is recorded for a deferred job. Existing Helios users will need to upgrade their TheSchwartz library to 1.10 to use this feature. -Helios::Logger & Helios::Logger::Internal: moved driver creation to base Helios::Logger class so (if necessary) any loggers can get a Data::ObjectDriver to the collective database -Helios::Service & Helios::Logger: refactored getDriver() into initDriver() and getDriver() to eventually allow caching of Data::ObjectDriver objects. Anything needing an ObjectDriver to the collective database should just continue to call getDriver() and everything will work fine. -helios.pl: calls the service class prep() method on startup rather than getConfigFromIni() and getConfigFromDb() separately. This ensures proper setup of the loggers and Data::ObjectDriver db connection. -helios.pl: changed startup message so perl doesn't carp a warning if the service class doesn't have a $VERSION defined. -helios.pl: added registration_interval as a configuration parameter (previously it was hard-coded to 300 seconds in helios.pl). The "registration_interval" parameter is the amount of time (in secs) between service daemon "collective check-ins" (when a service daemon records its current status in the HELIOS_WORKER_REGISTRY_TB table). This table is used to create the Helios::Panoptes Collective Admin page, and is also useful for system monitoring and statistics. -helios.pl: set new defaults for zero_sleep_interval (10) and registration_interval (60). These new defaults should make Helios more responsive in low load situations and generally work better for more users out-of-the-box. (The old defaults geared Helios more for large volumes of long-running jobs on heavily loaded databases. The new defaults should work for a better range of small- to mid-sized loads.) If these new defaults create too much traffic for your database, you can set new larger values in your helios.ini file to decrease database traffic. -helios.pl: changes to prevent a worker from transmuting to a new service daemon (caused by database instability during transition between helios.pl, TheSchwartz->work(), and Helios::Service->work() -updated tests -submitJob.pl: fixed example in POD -Removed Bundle::Helios::RedHat. Ultimately, it didn't work any better (or worse) than using 'install Helios' command with the CPAN shell. Bundle::Helios::Generic seems to work well on other platforms, however. If you wish to use Helios with RHEL/CentOS 5.x or earlier, it is recommended you install a more recent version of Perl than 5.8.8 for ease of installation reasons. 2.40 Sun Jan 22 22:30:00 2012 -NEW Extensible logging subsystem (Helios::Logger) -NEW Helios::Error::BaseError exception class; acts as parent for entire Helios::Error:: hierarchy -NEW Helios::Service->metarun() method to modularize metajob handling and provide for extensible metajob support -NEW service run() and metarun() methods now run in an eval block as a process safety measure to catch uncaught exceptions. -NEW MP3IndexerService example application including in eg/ directory (StubService also rewritten for clarity) -REVISED Helios::Service->work() method no longer pays attention to return value of run() method (this feature was under- documented, misunderstood, and caused problems with eval {} and Try::Tiny exception handling -REWRITTEN submitJob.pl CGI script; supports sending XML stream in addition to form encoding, no longer dependent on HELIOS_CLASS_MAP -REWRITTEN Helios::TestService; more modern Perl and easier to understand -REWRITTEN install instructions, including specific instructions for Red Hat- and Ubuntu-based systems, and including CPAN install bundles (still experimental) -REWRITTEN Helios::Tutorial -Helios::Service: fixed MaxRetries() and RetryInterval() retry job methods -Helios::Job: changed failed() and failedNoRetry() to limit the char length of the error recorded to 254 chars. That's one less than the default size of the db field in the ERROR table, so it should prevent long errors like stack traces from unexpectedly blowing up worker processes and potentially losing jobs. -Revised dependencies: DBI 1.52 (shipped with RHEL/CentOS 5) XML::Simple 2.14 (shipped with RHEL/CentOS 5) Removed XML::SAX dependency (unnecessary) Removed XML::Namespace dependency (unnecessary) Removed XML::Parser dependency (unnecessary) -Removed deprecated classes, methods, and other files: Helios::Service->parseArgXML() (deprecated since 2.00) Helios::Worker (deprecated since 2.00) sql/helios_schema_20upgrade.sql -Updated copyright notices -Switch to "Linux-style" versioning: odd minor version == development version even minor version == stable version second minor number == patch level (we're still also using Perl-style _ for devel versions too) 2.23 Fri Sep 10 12:22:00 2010 -Helios::Job: fixed bug where getArgXML() returned undef if job object was vivified from job queue 2.22 Thu May 21 11:30:00 2009 -Helios::Service: fixed a bug in getFuncidFromDb() that caused services to fail to load properly if there was no entry for them in FUNCMAP table. -helios.pl: Several revisions to make it a more robust daemon. Now honors TERM signal; 'kill ' from a shell will attempt to safely shut down workers and daemon process w/o using Panoptes -Documentation updates 2.21 Thu May 14 17:00:00 2009 -added set/getJob() accessors to facilitate access to current Helios::Job object from methods other than run() 2.20 Tue Apr 28 18:00:00 2009 -various tweaks for cross-platform compatibility -documentation additions/corrections -added Helios::LogEntry::Levels to remove dependencies on Sys::Syslog -helios.pl: Cleaned up messages to console after daemonize -helios.pl + Helios::Service: added support for WORKER_MAX_TTL config param -Helios::Service: added JobClass() allow extensible Helios::Job classes -Helios::Service: added MaxRetries() and RetryInterval() to replace TheSchwartz's max_retries() and retry_interval() (this is not an abitrary change; it's to allow for extensions at the Helios layer in the future) -Helios::Service: added default run() method for class completeness (it throws a Helios::Error::FatalNoRetry error because you forgot to implement a run() method) -Helios::Service: removed logging to syslogd to eliminate Sys::Syslog dependency (see HeliosX::ExtLoggerService) -Helios::Service: added set/getFuncid(), getFuncidFromDb() and changed jobWaiting() to use them. This eliminates an unnecessary database query previously done every time jobsWaiting() was called -Helios::Service: added support for log_priority_threshold config param -Helios::Job: added getFailures() to access the number of times a job has previously failed 2.00 Fri Aug 01 02:00:00 2008 -First public production release (same as 1.90_26 w/more documentation) 1.90_26 Thu Jun 26 11:30:00 2008 -Helios 2.0 RC1 -NEW Helios 2.0 API Helios::Service Helios::Job Helios::MetajobBurstService Helios::ConfigParam Helios::JobHistory Helios::LogEntry Helios::TestService -helios.pl: added PID check to prevent 2 instances of a service running on the same server -helios.pl: added --clear-halt option to clear Worker Admin HALTs at the cmd line -helios.sql: new helios_worker_registry_tb.start_time field for uptime stats -submitJob.pl, helios_job_submit.pl, helios_job_clean.pl use new 2.0 API -eg/Stub/StubService.pm for example of new 2.0 API service class -new tests to test both 1.x and 2.x API 1.19_07 Thu May 29 14:00:00 2008 -added Helios.pm (for version checking & documentation) -added Helios::Job (for eventual refactoring) -added Helios::Test (for system testing) 1.19_06 Wed May 28 12:00:00 2008 -added LICENSE file that was left out -add helios_log_clean.pl utility to clean log, job history -added eg/Stub/StubWorker.pm as a worker class stub example 1.19 Mon May 19 12:00:00 2008 -First public release