Configuration Hell

A dialog between two CowOrkers. In Hell:

A: What's this error message mean?

B: What's it say?

A: The Morgothrond can't deploy its thumpwhistle. The dialog window just says "can't undeploy". Then it says to read the log file.

B: Can't you read the log file?

A: I can't turn the log file on. When I changed my ~/.thumpwhistle/vars file the Morgothrond wouldn't even launch, so I changed it back.

B: You have to put a matching line in the log.props file, with the relative path to that vars file.

A: Why didn't the Help mention that? Nevermind. I'l deploy again.

B: Okay. It just says "undeploy invalid ModuleTargetID passed". It doesn't even say what value the ModuleTargetID contains, or where it read the ID.

A: Oh wait, I remember this one. I put the answer on our Wiki. Let's see... you have to delete a folder with a name like ~/.thumpwhistle/4.1/config/Y2K/TargetModules?/thumpwhistle_home_bun_bun_2518152_ho-0957/HelloWorld/AmphetamineReptile

B: Okay. Just any file with a name like that, right?

A: Yeah.

B: Back it up with your recycler.

A: Gotcha... now restart the thumpwhistle?

B: Just try to launch HelloWorld again. Oh, wait. Also delete the HelloWorld.XML file from your conf/Argentina/localhost/temp#2 folder. Now launch again.

A: It's asking for a name and password now.

B: It's not supposed to do that. Read the user's configuration file and type in the name and password. It's just clear-text.

A: The global user's file?

B: No, the local one. Open it. Okay, you also have to take that line out.

A: Why is it there?

B: Because you have to move it into the global configuration file, and then add any user-name after it.

A: My username?

B: It can't be the name of any user in the system. Call it "supersonic_enemy_of_evil" or something.

A: Check. Okay, now I saved both files.

B: Oh, yeah, the local file needs a modification time greater than the global file, or you will trigger a refresh.

A: Touch.

B: When you restart, make sure that copies of the binary files are also in the project-specific folder, too.

A: How long have I been trying to install this Thumpwhistle? Is this lucrative?

B: My certification tutors said it was...

Someone once sent me an e-mail to report what happened when he read one of my (unrelated) posts, and got to the tag line.

He was taking classes to learn to configure OracleDatabase. I wrote, "Whip me. Beat me. Make me install Oracle."

He fell off his chair laughing. --PhlIp

CategoryStory, CategoryAntiPattern