Re: Executing a file only on later passes

[Mark . Burgess]

John,

yes I am saying that this could break some more convoluted operations
in cfengine. The feature is there precisely so that none of us has
to think about the issues of dependencies. 

M

On  3 Nov, Wheeler, John wrote:
> I guess I'm just not creative enough, or smart enough to figure out how
> to utilize this feature (kinda why I asked for examples of someone who
> relies on this). The "clutter" I was speaking of is simply when I debug
> a script I seem to always get pages and pages of "pass 2" stuff where
> nothing gets executed. I use cfengine for all of our deploys to the web
> and app tier, so some scripts (or kinda functions as I've written them)
> will never have/need/require/utilze a second pass. I have specifically
> write them to be executed in one pass. Maybe that is less elegant, more
> brute force, but its much easier for the simple admin follow
> 
> shellcommands.stoptomcat.registerDeploy
> copy.registerDeploy
> tidy.registerDeploy
> links.registerDeploy
> shellcommands.starttomcat.registerDeploy
> 
> Than to rely on some activated class that will be picked up in a second
> pass.
> 
> 
> Finally, I'm not advocating any change (though I do like chip's idea).
> I'm just suggesting to one individual how he might "disable" multiple
> passes as I have. Are you suggesting this change will fundamentally
> break cfengine?
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mark.Burgess@iu.hio.no [mailto:Mark.Burgess@iu.hio.no]
>> Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 12:04 PM
>> To: chip@trdlnk.com
>> Cc: Wheeler, John; Help-cfengine@gnu.org
>> Subject: Re: Executing a file only on later passes
>> 
>> Chip, John,
>> 
>> The second pass is just like the next invocation of cfagent.
>> Nothing will change by eliminating it except that the system will
>> not be completely configured in a single iteration. The ordering
>> of events is nothing to do with this. It just speeds up convergence
>> for 90% of cases with hidden dependencies.
>> 
>> > OK.  It does cause things to sometimes (rarely) be executed in an
>> > unexpected order, however.  Life might be made easier if we made
> this a
>> > bit more user-accessible; for example, define a 'laterpass' class
> (or
>> > something similar) after the first pass is done.  This would aid in
>> > debugging (add a !laterpass condition and see if the problem
> persists
>> > and the like) and allow for some clever hacks.
>> 
>> The second pass is only used if there are classes defined that have
>> restricted the first pass, leaving some potentially unexecuted actions
>> that would not be possible to evaluate.
>> 
>> If you want to control the order of things (which should not be
>> necessary if you just trust the agent) then reorganize the
>> input files. But who cares what the order is if it gets done?
>> 
>> > This isn't a major problem, but it can be frustrating.  No doubt
> this
>> > frustration is exacerbated by a lack of grokking on my own part.
>> >
>> 
>> Yup. Whern things get complex they are hard to understand.
>> M
>> 
>> 
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Work: +47 22453272            Email:  Mark.Burgess@iu.hio.no
>> Fax : +47 22453205            WWW  :  http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 



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Work: +47 22453272            Email:  Mark.Burgess@iu.hio.no
Fax : +47 22453205            WWW  :  http://www.iu.hio.no/~mark
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