A whoops or two in LW 4.0.8 for Mac

[JayG]

Too damn often, when a large download (700 meg) is within moments of completing it vanishes. It's gone from the screen, from the incomplete folder, from everywhere, as though it never was—even when searched for via the Finder. It appears that you're sometimes dropping the ball during the handoff from the download to the verify routine because the verify never appears. I've noticed this in the past, so it's not unique to 4.08. It's frustrating to spend several days searching out and downloading a large file only to have the effort turn out to be wasted.

What is unique to 4.0.8 is what appears to be a memory leak. When I open LW I have 1.5 gigs left on the system drive. It stays that way until people begin uploading large video files from my machine. Then it plummets each time a new file is requested. I could understand the need to make a working copy of the file, but I'm not given the option to select the work-disk, so my 75 gig disk sits idle while the crowded system disk free-space drops, until I get messages talling me I have to force quit something because there's no room for application memory on the disk. And that situation does not correct if the uploads either complete or I force-terminate them via the monitor screen. The only thing that will restore the drive to normal is restarting LW, which means I have to get back in line for anything I'm downloading, after waiting half the day for access.

And while I have you on the line... It seems that if the right click is used to select the contextual menu on a search tab it can only be dismissed by either selecting one of the menu options or clicking the tab. It should also dismiss if the body of the search screen is moused.

I also have to comment that with this upgrade the preferences didn't copy properly. It lost the force IP checkbox, the freeloader settings, and I think, preferencing (I'm pretty sure I had it disabled, but it was on and set to 3 when I looked at it after installation).

And... Though I enabled iTunes support, when I launch a mp3 file the LW previewere plays it, where in the past iTunes opened and played the selection. I haven't verified if the control is simply backward, but it doesn't do what it claims to do.

And of course, chat and sharing partials had been re-enabled.

And finally.... The incomplete downloads are going into the folder I created on my second disk—as I instructed LW to do when that destination was something that could be user-selected. I don't know why you removed that ability (or hid it so it couldn't be set from the preferences), but if a future version of LW decides to place those files in my user's incomplete file or within the LW application folder I will probably be forced to stop using LW due to lack of room. The present incomplete-folder size is greater than my free space on the primary drive (and no, I can't move the system to the large drive because it's a 7200 rpm drive, which is too fast for my G3, so the system often freezes on bootup if that drive is used (agreed, it's not impossible that the missing file business I mention above is related to this, but no other application has ever had a problem, and even the system ran perfectly if it got by the speed-bump on bootup, so...).

In any case, I think you may need a new set of beta testers.

Jay

[JayG]

Sometimes killing LW when the disk space is tied up doesn't work and a reboot is required. Sometimes even that doesn't work and I have to use Techtool to rebiuld the volume desktop. And that is a real pain in the ***.

[JayG]

LW had dragged my hard drive space from 1.4 gig to 200k, tonight, when I decided to post my original comments. This time quitting LW did not restore the memory. I was about to reboot (hating to do it because I had files actively transferring on the Carracho network) when I decided to try the system's disk utility and repair the permissions. There was a single error, and fixing it restored the free space to 700 meg, which was enough to get by on for tonight without a reboot.

Hope this helps.

[Lord of the Rings]

Can u supply us all your specifics of your comp. G3 model, speed, ram, connection type, hard dd's & their sizes & speeds & types, OS version, Java version, & any other details u can think of. Which 3rd party utilities do you have? Do u use other apps at same time as LW? Are u on a network & how is it set up in regards to u using LW? Do u save locally?

[rkapsi]

And... Though I enabled iTunes support, when I launch a mp3 file the LW previewere plays it, where in the past iTunes opened and played the selection. I haven't verified if the control is simply backward, but it doesn't do what it claims to do.

It transfers newly downloaded songs to a Playlist called LimeWire in iTunes. There's no connection between "iTunes Support" and LimeWire's Preview button or the integrated player!

The incomplete downloads are going into the folder I created on my second disk—as I instructed LW to do when that destination was something that could be user-selected. I don't know why you removed that ability (or hid it so it couldn't be set from the preferences), but if a future

An option to change the location of the incomplete directory never existed! The location is coupled to the "Save Directory" so if you desire to change the Incomplete directory you must do it via the Saving option.

Btw. the reason you run out of Disk space is probably the Preview function which creates copies of the files before it opens them (they're kept in the Incompletes directory and have a "Preview-" prefix).

[JayG]

Originally posted by Lord of the Rings
Can u supply us all your specifics of your comp. G3 model, speed, ram, connection type, hard dd's & their sizes & speeds & types, OS version, Java version, & any other details u can think of. Which 3rd party utilities do you have? Do u use other apps at same time as LW? Are u on a network & how is it set up in regards to u using LW? Do u save locally?

Machine Model: Power Macintosh G3 Series
CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (83.2) @ 500 mhz
Boot ROM Version: 154
Ram = 640 meg
Primary Hard drive = 6 gig
secondary hard drive = 80 gig
Os = 10.3.5
Java Webstsrt = 2.0.2
Java 1.4.2 plugin settings = 2.1.1
Java 1.3.1 plugin settings = 2.0.0
Connection is comcast cable via a Belkin router, with no traffic on the network, though there's an idle PC on the network.
I'm also running Dragthing, Explorer, PandoCalender, and may or may not be running Carracho (same effect either way)
Files, both complete and incomplete are saved to the 80 gig drive.

The permissions fix this last time (I left LW running all night and day and when I came home I had to do a warm boot because the drive showed only 23 meg of free space left and system response was measured in macroseconds) showed:

We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/install.log, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/install.log
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/install.log
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/wtmp, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/wtmp
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/wtmp

I hope this helps. As a quick fix, if I could tell the program to use the larger drive as the workspace disk it would at least keep me from crashing on a daily basis.

Jay

[JayG]

Originally posted by rkapsi
It transfers newly downloaded songs to a Playlist called LimeWire in iTunes. There's no connection between "iTunes Support" and LimeWire's Preview button or the integrated player!

The last version opened iTunes, placed the song in the music library, and played it, using the iTunes controls. This version plays it via the Limewire player control at the screen-bottom, and does NOT open iTunes. Nor does it enter it into the iTunes library, which means I have to do that manually, now. So, what does the iTunes support button do if it has no connection to iTunes?

<<An option to change the location of the incomplete directory never existed! The location is coupled to the "Save Directory" so if you desire to change the Incomplete directory you must do it via the Saving option.>>

Hmm... Okay, then it should exist. If my main disk was larger I would want completed files to be saved there, but still want the incomplete crap to accumulate on a scratch disk where it didn't waste space.

<<Btw. the reason you run out of Disk space is probably the Preview function which creates copies of the files before it opens them (they're kept in the Incompletes directory and have a "Preview-" prefix).>>

No chance. You're talking to a computer professional with forty years in the computer field, from logic design to programming. They had tubes in the things when I came on board, so I'm not taking stabs in the dark, here. The memory leak takes place when others download from me, not the other way around. And in any case, the drop in free space is unconnected to the rate data is arriving, which is usually lethargic, only the upload rate, which is often running at the max my cable connection can handle (and yes, I reduced the bandwith, which did slow the rate of leakage). And finally: It's not me screwing up the permissions. That only happens when I run Limewire.

I don't mean to be insulting, and I know how hard you guys are working to make the product better, but this release was not ready for prime time. Something like the preferences not being moved over tells me that your guys are testing for success rather than failure, because they "know" that teeny little change they made won't effect anything important.

Test plans... You gotta love them.

[Lord of the Rings]

Let me get back to you. I'd like to view this over a few times before I respond. Particularly considering my time zone (which is in the middle of the ocean - no don't say it...hehehhe)

[rkapsi]

The last version opened iTunes, placed the song in the music library, and played it, using the iTunes controls. This version plays it via the Limewire player control at the screen-bottom, and does NOT open iTunes. Nor does it enter it into the iTunes library, which means I have to do that manually, now. So, what does the iTunes support button do if it has no connection to iTunes?

I didn't said that! I said there is no connection between "iTunes Support" and the integrated Player or the Preview/Launch button. It transfers only newly downloaded songs to iTunes. Files that you already have on the Disk stay entirely untouched by "iTunes Support".

If LimeWire's build in player is enabled then will Launch and Preview open songs in the build in Player and if it is disabled then they trigger an "open /Path/To/File.mp3" on the CLI.

Hmm... Okay, then it should exist. If my main disk was larger I would want completed files to be saved there, but still want the incomplete crap to accumulate on a scratch disk where it didn't waste space.

Take a look at this and open then ~/Library/Preferences/LimeWire/limewire.props in TextEdit. As a computer professional with forty years in the computer field with experience from logic design to programming you should be able combine the information you see in both files.

No chance. You're talking to a computer professional with forty years in the computer field, from logic design to programming.

OK

They had tubes in the things when I came on board, so I'm not taking stabs in the dark, here. The memory leak takes place when others download from me, not the other way around. And in any case, the drop in free space is unconnected to the rate data is arriving, which is usually lethargic, only the upload rate, which is often running at the max my cable connection can handle (and yes, I reduced the bandwith, which did slow the rate of leakage). And finally: It's not me screwing up the permissions. That only happens when I run Limewire.

Did you upgraded Java to 1.4.2_05 (recent Java Update)? You said you have a 6GB boot disk, is it also the swap disk? I'm asking because:

a) 1.4.2_05 on OSX seems to have a bug in the Garbage Collector which lets the Real/Virtual Memory grow until the JVM runs out of memory or maybe b)

b) as your boot disk is quite small and if the swapfiles are kept on the same volume then you can run out of disk space. If it happens next time take a look at the Virtual Memory and /private/var/vm.

There's some discussion in the LimeWire Beta forum.

I don't mean to be insulting, and I know how hard you guys are working to make the product better, but this release was not ready for prime time. Something like the preferences not being moved over tells me that your guys are testing for success rather than failure, because they "know" that teeny little change they made won't effect anything important.

Test plans... You gotta love them.

That is utter crap and an insulting for everyone who is participating on LimeWire.

http://www.limewire.org
http://bugs.limewire.com/bugs/home.jsp

[stief]

Originally posted by rkapsi That is utter crap and insulting for everyone who is participating on LimeWire.

well . . . I agree that was offensive for others, but personally I'd be glad to see more beta-testers who can read and write code. The rest of us owe too much to the three or four regular volunteers who help with the code. Hell . . . the LW team itself spends so much time outside of office hours helping that many of then are more like volunteers too.

nothing to read here . . . carry on