Forum OpenACS Q&A: ACS/pg is disrupting AOLserver

I had AOLserver serving static files.  No problem.  I was using
AOLserver 3.0.  I just downloaded the latest version last week, to get
all the fixes from their upgrades. To serve static files, I just
modified the default nsd.tcl a little.  I had AOLserver installed in
/home/nsadmin.  I can't remember why I put it there, but it worked.

I got PostgreSQL 6.5.3 running without any trouble.  I can do all the
work I need as postgres, as well as nsadmin (my AOLserver
administrator).

I compiled the PostgreSQL driver for AOLserver without any errors.

I loaded the latest ACS/pg (3. something beta--I just got it tonight,
so I know it's the latest).

I unzipped ACS/pg without any trouble, but I kept things in /tmp.

Up to this point, I could still get the web server to serve static
pages.

I was playing with the driver, trying to use it in my nsd.tcl.  I had
a few problems, read the docs, read these discussion forums, found
some answers.  I can't remember what all happened there.  I've had a
tough day, and my head is swimming.

I moved ACS/pg from /tmp to /web/rbs (my virtual server).

Somewhere in the last two steps, I lost the ability to serve static
pages.  I haven't even tried to serve anything from the ACS yet.  I
went back and commented out all the Postgres driver related code out
of my nsd.tcl file.  I moved the contents of /web/rbs/parameter to
somewhere else (I know that there was something pointing to these
files from nsd.tcl, and I didn't have any additional parameters
before).

I also checked my server.log, and there are no errors.  It says
"Notice: waiting for connections" as the last line in server.log.  I
know that this line was written from the most recent time I ran the
server.

The command I ran was:

/home/nsadmin/bin/nsd8x -u nsadmin -t /home/nsadmin/nsd1.tcl &

I ran the command as root.  When I hit return after this, the terminal
says the process is done, although it leaves running threads.

The bottom line is I can't serve static files, and I can't figure out
what I broke.

Can anyone help me please?

After you get openACS up (hey, am I the first to use our new name?), you'll get a login screen.  Log in as system/changeme.  From your workspace page, select "sitewide administration".  From there, just select "bboard" and then "add new topic".

You'll be off and running.

Anyway, I thought while I have some expert attention, I could use some help telling openACS (Is that what you're calling ACS/pg now?) about postgres.  Last night I found someone's post that included a section of their nsd.tcl file.  After using that, and guessing with a thing or two, I know I don't have it right.  Here's what I've got at the end of the file (warning, it's pretty messy):

# This section is cut from a post in the ACS/pg bb

ns_section "ns/db/drivers"
ns_param postgres postgres.so
#ns_param postgres nspostgres.so

ns_section "ns/db/pools"
ns_param users "nsadmin"

ns_section "ns/db/pool/users"
ns_param Driver "postgres"
ns_param User "postgres"
ns_param Datasource "127.0.0.1:5432"
#ns_param Datasource "127.0.0.1:5432:users"

ns_param Connection 10

ns_log notice "nsd1.tcl: finished reading config file."

I know that a lot of what I've got above is just a wild guess at what I'm supposed to tell AOLserver, but I'm not sure what to try.  Any suggestions?  (with a test index.adp, I can confirm that I can't see the db.  However, I can see, insert, and delete as nsadmin from the command line using psql.)

I have a couple of questions.  When I compiled the driver, it created postgres.so instead of nspostgres.so.  Is that just a difference between platforms?

Also, it looks like you've got user acs running database acs.  Is that how I should interpret everything?  (I know you mentioned the user account, I'm just making sure I'm not working off of assumptions.)

Thank you again.

I've used the code Don just gave me.  As AOLserver tries to load the driver, it chokes.  Here's the problem:

in the server.log, I get a warning that /home/nsadmin/bin/postgres.so can't load.  This is the right path of the file.  The next message is undefined symbol: Ns_dbAddColumnInfo.  I've gone through the driver code (there are 4 references in postgres.c and 1 in postgres-backup.c) but I haven't tried to really debug the .c.  I'm assuming the problem is somewhere else.

Any ideas?

Also, I've taken a closer look at postgres.c.  It declares the class at the top.  It uses Ns_DbAddColumnInfo in Ns_PgGetTableInfo.  Finally, it defines the class lower.  That's all there is to the c side of things.

It sounds, however, that there's something else to the makefile that I don't know about.

Again, I downloaded AOLserver3 release sources (including the driver) and compiled it (and the driver) and it works just fine with PG7 and OpenACS.  The makefile that comes down with the release sources has FOR_ACS_USE define that's needed (or is it embedded in postgres.c as a default?  doesn't matter, it works).

So somewhere in this long train of events you've followed you've probably gotten a bogus makefile.