GemTools 1.0-beta.8.6

[1]

GemTools 1.0-beta.8.6 has been released. With this release the GLASS upgrade process has been improved, yet again.

One-Click 1.0-beta.8.6 GemTools

One-Click GemTools images are available on the GLASS downloads page. GemTools images are available for use with GemStone/S 2.3.x, GemStone/S 2.4.4.x, and GemStone/S 3.0.1.x,

GLASS Upgrade Cha Cha

I suppose it is a little known fact that the GemTools code base includes code that is used to drive the GLASS upgrade process, although my constant entreaties to “upgrade GemTools to the latest version before upgrading GLASS” may have given you a clue or two.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to describe what goes on behind the scenes when you select the  Update > Update GLASS menu item in GemTools. This section should be especially useful if you prefer to upgrade your system without running GemTools.

For a complete upgrade script, take a look at the GLASS upgrade script page on the glass db wiki. The GLASS upgrade script page will always have the latest and greatest upgrade script.

Through the ‘Update GLASS’

The upgrade process has been greatly simplified since I first started using Metacello for bootstrapping GLASS 1.0-beta.0, back in November of 2009, but the basic steps have remained the same:

1. bootstrap the latest version of Metacello
2. bootstrap the latest version of Monticello
3. upgrade GLASS

Bootstrap Metacello

Currently Metacello 1.0-beta.31.1 is the version that is needed for a smooth upgrade process:

ConfigurationOfMetacello project currentVersion versionNumber < '1.0-beta.31.1' asMetacelloVersionNumber ifTrue: [
        (Gofer new)
            gemsource: 'metacello';
            version: 'Gofer-Core.gemstone-dkh.135';
            version: 'Metacello-Base-DaleHenrichs.19';
            version: 'Metacello-Core-dkh.468';
            version: 'Metacello-MC-dkh.531';
            version: 'Metacello-Platform.gemstone-dkh.23';
            load ].

It turns out that the best formula for bootstrapping Metacello is to directly load the key packages. I would have liked to use Metacello to bootstrap itself, but for GLASS we need to upgrade a wide range of Metacello releases dating back to over a year ago and there are several bugs that make it impractical to do anything but load the packages directly.

Bootstrap Monticello

To bootstrap Monticello, we use the GLASS configuration and load the ‘Core’ and ‘Monticello’ projects:

MCPlatformSupport commitOnAlmostOutOfMemoryDuring: [[[
    (ConfigurationOfGLASS project version: '1.0-beta.8.7.1') 
        load: #( 'Core' 'Monticello' )
] 
    on: MetacelloSkipDirtyPackageLoad
    do: [:ex | ex resume: false ]]
        on: Warning
        do: [:ex | 
            Transcript cr; show: ex description.
            ex resume ]].

We wrap the load with an out-of-memory handler.

The MetacelloSkipDirtyPackageLoad handler is there to compensate for a bug in the Monticello package loader that occasionally resulted in a package being marked dirty after a successful load.

The Warning handler is also there to ensure that packages needed for the upgrade are loaded whether or not they are marked dirty.

Upgrade GLASS

The GLASS upgrade is completed by doing a simple load:

MCPlatformSupport commitOnAlmostOutOfMemoryDuring: [[[
    (ConfigurationOfGLASS project version: '1.0-beta.8.7.1') 
        load
] 
    on: MetacelloSkipDirtyPackageLoad
    do: [:ex | ex resume: false ]]
        on: Warning
        do: [:ex | 
            Transcript cr; show: ex description.
            ex resume ]].

—–

[1]http://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/5228946002 / CC BY-SA 2.0

GemTools 1.0-beta.8.5

[1]

GemTools 1.0-beta.8.5 has been released. With this release there have been several bugfixes:

• Issue 132 : Use System class>>#”cacheName:” to make session recognizable in vsd
• Issue 250 : order and size of args asociated with #halt changed in Gci3xErrStype64 (GemStone 3.0)
• Issue 280: GemTools login error: ”Network error – text follows”, does not follow with error message…
• Issue 291: Maintenance Gem Topaz Exit 3.0 / GemStone 3.0

as well as some tweaks to the GLASS upgrade process.

Upgrades

I always recommend that you update GemTools before upgrading GLASS, because the GLASS upgrade process is driven by code included in GemTools. When you select the Update GLASS menu item, the class OGUpgradeJadeServer (included in the GemTools distribution) is compiled on the server and is then used to control the upgrade process.

Speaking of upgrading GLASS… If you are interested in doing a GLASS upgrade from a topaz script take a look at this page on the glassdb wiki has the most up-to-date instructions.

Help

Don’t forget that when you load GemTools into Pharo and Squeak, a set of Help Browser pages are created to provide the most up-to-date information on getting started with GemStone and the GemTools image.

Pharo

Before releasing 1.0-beta.8.5, I tried loading GemTools into some of the more recent Pharo releases, like Pharo 1.3 and Pharo 1.2, but unfortunately the OmniBrowser implementation in those images is incompatible with the OmniBrowser required for GemTools. The latest version of Pharo that I found that works with GemTools is Pharo1.1.2-11422.

Squeak VM versions

While we’re on the subject, you should also be aware that in order to connect to GemStone, you must use an older version of the Squeak vms (4.2.2 or older) to avoid an FFI bug. For more details, see Issue 258.

—–
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhankamer/5616046050 / CC BY-NC 2.0

A Peek at tODE

[1]

tODE – the Object (centric) Development Environment is a Smalltalk development environment written in Seaside that runs in Pharo and GemStone.

In preparation for ESUG, I created (with the help of James Foster) an introductory video and a One-Click Pharo download.

I created tODE for a couple of reasons:

• GemTools is slow over the WAN. Neither the GCI interface [pdf] nor VNC interface is fast enough for me. A faster development environment for deployed GLASS applications is sorely needed.
• With Platform as a Service becoming a popular way to deploy web apps, development-level access to deployed applications is often limited to HTTP (including VMware’s Cloud Foundry). In these cases, even a slow GemTools is not even an option. What Smalltalk programmer in their right mind would choose to resort to print statement debugging for deployed applications?
• I wanted to provide GLASS users a development environment with integrated Metacello support. Alexandre Bergel made an excellent start with the MetacelloBrowser, but like most tools in the traditional Smalltalk development environment, the MetacelloBrowser was Yet Another Tool Window (YATW) and not directly integrated into the development environment.
• While not a reason for creating tODE, it is very important to me that tODE run on multiple platforms. The fact that I’ve implemented tODE in Seaside means that tODE could run on every platform that supports Seaside. I’ve licensed the code for tODE under the MIT license, so licensing issues will not stand in the way.

I started work on tODE in April and by mid-June I started using tODE to develop tODE as much as possible. I’ve been able to do about 80% of my development work in tODE, only having to drop out of tODE to perform operations not available yet.

With almost 2 months of development experience under my belt, I’ve found a bunch of things that I’ve done right and a couple of things that I need to change before tODE is really ready. There are a handful of technical changes I’d like to make to the basic architecture and a couple of issues in tODE 0.1 that I need to solve:

• The debugger is more of a stack inspector than a real debugger. Some of the difficulty is due to the way that the JQuery components make their callbacks into Smalltalk and some of the difficulty is probably due to my ignorance. I can capture the stack easy enough, but the Smalltalk process that I want to debug is also the process that is supposed to return the HTTP response…
• I am not happy with how tightly coupled the business logic and rendering code has become. By it’s very nature, the tODE rendering methods are pretty small (we’re not talking about the complex interactions of a multi-pane code browser here), but disentangling the small fragments of business logic from the small fragments of rendering code looks difficult from my current perspective. I would prefer a cleaner separation, but I have not spent time investigating a solution, so hopefully there’s a simple solution to be found ‘just around the bend’.

All in all, I personally enjoy using tODE so I think that tODE will form the basis of a solid Smalltalk development environment that can extend the Smalltalk development experience to applications that have been deployed in the cloud.

Of course I am interested in feedback so I’ve create the tODE mailing list where you can share your thoughts and criticisms.

—–

[1] Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamdotcom/518999335 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

GemTools 1.0-beta.8.3 for Pharo 1.1

Thanks to the hard work of Norbert Hartl, GemTools can now be loaded into Pharo 1.1.

If you’d like to build your own GemTools on top of Pharo 1.1, then download Pharo 1.1 image (core or dev) and follow the installation instructions here.

If you are using GemTools 1.0-beta.8.2 on Pharo 1.0 or Squeak 4.1, you can upgrade to 1.0-beta.8.3, but there should be no functional differences.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/dditt/3958565556/ / CC BY NC ND 2.0

Pharo 1.0: Fresh from the Oven

[1]
Adrian Lienhard just announced the availability of Pharo 1.0:

Pharo is a modern open-source Smalltalk language and environment. Pharo’s goals are to provide a robust and clean core and to implement innovative extensions of the language and its environment. By providing a stable and small system and excellent developer tools, Pharo is an attractive platform for mission critical Smalltalk applications.

Head over to the Pharo 1.0 download page and get it while it’s hot!
—
[1]http://www.flickr.com/photos/ludovicmauduit/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

GemTools Client 1.0-beta.3

[1]

GemTools 1.0-beta.3 features:

• improve ”Show Object log” output format
• add ”List backup files” command
• add some missing icon definitions for Squeak
• load OB/Shout if not present
• ProfStef tutorials (Pharo only for the moment)

The major change with this version is that the installation instructions are included as part of GemTools release. The last statement in install expression opens an interactive tutorial (created with ProfStef) in the Smalltalk image to guide you through the necessary steps to finish the GemTools install. The tutorial provides guidance for several different tasks from installing GemStone/S to opening the GemTools Launcher. A How To… button has been added to the GemTools Launcher with step by step tutorials for the following topics (so far):

• How to finish the GemTools installation
• How to define a GemTools session to log into your GemStone server
• How to update your GemStone server code (GLASS.230-dkh.164 through GLASS.230-dkh.231)
• How to open GemTools Launcher
• How to install and start a GemStone Server
• How to build a custom extent (GLASS 1.0-beta.4 and later)
• How to update your GLASS software after building a custom extent (GLASS 1.0-beta.4 and later)
• How to update your GemTools client software

Here’s a sample screen from the ‘How to finish the GemTools installation’:

What this means for you is that the installation instructions will match the version of GemTools that you are installing and you won’t have to guess which blog post has the right instructions for your situation. I will be updating the tutorials to cover more subjects and I welcome the contributions of tutorials from others (just let me know and I’ll add you as a developer to GemTools repository).

Wiki and Bug Reports

In the last week or so, I created a Google Code project for GLASS called glassdb. The project provides a public wiki and a public issue reporting system. I encourage you to submit a bug if you run into issues using GemTools or GLASS.

With a public bug reporting system it is now possible for you to contribute bugfixes as well as bug reports. If you want to contribute let me know and I’ll you to the glassdb project and add you to the GLASS DEVS group on GemSource.

Update GemTools

Execute the following code in a Squeak or Pharo workspace:

ConfigurationOfGemTools loadLatestVersion

Or click on  the Update… button in the GemTools Launcher and select Update GemTools Client menu item.

Install GemTools

Execute the following code in a Pharo workspace after downloading a recent version of Pharo (tested with Pharo1.0-10508-rc2dev10.01.2 and PharoCore-1.0-10508rc2 images):

Gofer new
        squeaksource: 'MetacelloRepository';
        package: 'ConfigurationOfGemTools';
        load.
(Smalltalk at: #ConfigurationOfGemTools) perform: #loadLatestVersion.
(Smalltalk at: #ProfStef) perform: #goOn: with: (Smalltalk at: #OGFinishGemToolsInstall)

Until ProfStef  is ported to Squeak and Gofer is installed in the trunk, you’ll have to follow these instructions (tested with Squeak3.10.2-Trunk-090912).

—–

[1]http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiorover/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

GemTools Client 1.0-beta.2

[1]

GemTools 1.0-beta.2 features:

• fix update client logic to use #lastMetacelloVersionLoad
• change annotation pane and make more room for useful info
• inspect undefined and inspect sent but not implemented menu items available only when tests are installed
• clean up preferences problems
• Admin>>Seaside submenu available only when Seaside2.8 installed
• improve session window label (include the session name) when working with multiple stones

Install

To install the GemTools Client in a virgin Squeak or Pharo image jump to the Install instructions.

Update

For version 1.0-beta.0 of the GemTools Client,  follow these Update instructions.

For version 1.0-beta.1:

1. Logout of your GemStone session(s).
2. Click on the Update Client button and select ’1.0-beta.2′.
3. Save your client image.

—–
[1]http://www.flickr.com/photos/dystopos/91980377/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

GemTools Client 1.0-beta.1

[1]

With the 1.0-beta.1 release of the GemTools Client, we’re doing two things:

1. Conforming to the new Metacello configuration naming convention.
2. Getting ready for the imminent GLASS 1.0-beta.0 release.

GemTools 1.0-beta.1 features:

• Convert to using ConfigurationOfGemTools.
• Nicer info dialog when Undefined symbols and Unsent messages are clean
• Support for GemStone/S 3.0 GciErrSType
• Change restore from backup done message … do not prompt to start Seaside gems if Seaside is not installed
• Replace dialogs that are calling “ifNotEmpty:” with: “isEmptyOrNil” (from Gerhard)
• autoAbort _before_ commands is now optional (off by default)

If you’ve already installed the GemTools Client 1.0-beta.0, then you want to follow the Update instructions. To install the GemTools Client in a virgin Squeak or Pharo image jump to the Install instructions.

Update

With GemTools Client 1.0-beta.0 already installed, we need to update to using ConfigurationOfMetacello as well as ConfigurationOfGemTools:

1. Load the latest version of the ConfigurationOfMetacello package  from http://seaside.gemstone.com/ss/metacello.
2. Load the latest version of the ConfigurationOfGemTools package  from http://seaside.gemstone.com/ss/GLASSClient.
3. Execute the following expression in a workspace:

   ConfigurationOfMetacello loadLatestVersion.
   ConfigurationOfGemTools loadLatestVersion.

Then continue with Step 3 of the installation instructions.

Installation

If you haven’t already been using the GemTools 2.3.1 Preview for all platforms (which is based on Pharo), then you should download the preview GemTools client and follow the instructions for setting up your session to verify that you can connect to your stone. You’ll need the session information and the gci files from the Preview to get things running with the either Squeak or Pharo.

I’ve tested the installation procedure using Squeak3.10.2-Trunk-090912 and pharo1.0-10492-rc1dev09.11.1.

To load GemTools into a client image:

1. Load the latest version of the ConfigurationOfGemTools package  from http://seaside.gemstone.com/ss/GLASSClient.
2. Execute the following expression in a workspace:

   ConfigurationOfGemTools loadLatestVersion.

3. Execute the following expression to open the GemTools launcher:

   OGLauncher open

4. Copy the session information from your old GemTools Client to the new GemTools Client in your image. Use the Edit session menu item on the Session Menu in the launchers.
5. Save the image.
6. Copy the gci files (gciForWindows.dll, gciForLinux.so, and gciForMacintosh.so) from GemTools-2.3.1-preview.app/Contents/Resources in the one-click into the directory containing your image and changes files. On the Macintosh, the gciForMacintosh.so needs to be copied to both the image directory and the vm.app/Contents/Resources directory (thanks Mark and Ken).
7. Press the Login button on the GemTools Launcher and you should be in business.

—–
[1]http://www.flickr.com/photos/randyweiner/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

GemTools Client 1.0-beta.0

[1]

Shortly after I announced the GemTools Client for Pharo, Gerhard Obermann jumped in and refactored a number of the GemTools menus using sub menus. Unfortunately, I got involved in a number of other tasks (including refining the Metacello API) before I could push his changes out. Now that Metacello is stabilized, it is time to revisit the installation and update procedures for the GemTools Client.

[Update 10/16/2009: fixed egregious errors in the installation instructions ... 2 steps and the first step was plain wrong:) ... thanks Gerhard]

[Update 11/04/2009] Please see the GemTools Client 1.0-beta.1 post for up-to-date instructions.

Installation

[Update 11/04/2009] Please see the GemTools Client 1.0-beta.1 post for up-to-date instructions.

If you haven’t already been using the GemTools 2.3.1 Preview for all platforms (which is based on Pharo), then you should download the preview GemTools client and follow the instructions for setting up your session to verify that you can connect to your stone. You’ll need the session information and the gci files from the Preview to get things running with the either Squeak or Pharo.

I’ve tested the installation procedure using Squeak3.10.2-Trunk-090912 and pharo1.0-10470-BETAdev09.10.2.

To load GemTools into a client image:

1. Load the latest version of the GemTools-Configuration package  from http://seaside.gemstone.com/ss/GLASSClient. GemTools-Configuraton-dkh.12 is currently the most recent version.
2. Execute the following expression in a workspace:

   GemToolsConfiguration loadLatestVersion.

3. Execute the following expression to open the GemTools launcher:

   OGLauncher open

4. Copy the session information from your old GemTools Client to the new GemTools Client in your image. Use the Edit session menu item on the Session Menu in the launchers.
5. Save the image.
6. Copy the gci files (gciForWindows.dll, gciForLinux.so, and gciForMacintosh.so) from GemTools-2.3.1-preview.app/Contents/Resources in the one-click into the directory containing your image and changes files.
7. Press the Login button on the GemTools Launcher and you should be in business.

Last December when I first introduced the GemTools Launcher, it took 6 steps to install the GemTools Client code:

In July I announced the GemTools Client for Pharo (based on version 0.9 of Metacello), it took 4 steps:

Today it takes only 2 steps:

The configuration class bootstraps Gofer and Metacello, then loads FFI and finally loads the OGLauncher application code. Danged close to a one-click install:)

Update

To update the GemTools Client to a later version, you can follow the instructions for the Update…menu.

If you have any trouble join and send mail to the GLASS Beta Mailing List.

—–
[1]Photo by Okinawa Soba (Creative Commons).

GemTools Client for Pharo 1.0 beta

This morning, Adrian Leinhard announced the first Pharo 1.0 beta release.

As most of you are aware, I’ve been heads down on Metacello going on several months now. I’m making very good progress.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reworking the internal GLASS build procedures to use Metacello. I’ve also had a couple of GLASS users using Metacello for creating their own custom extents (i.e., loading only the projects that they are interested in, rather than the whole enchilada you get with the GLASS package).

When I read Adrian’s announcement, I thought this was a perfect time to kill two birds with one stone: release a version of GemTools that runs on the latest Pharo image and get a little more real world exposure for Metacello by using Metacello in the install/update procedure for the GemTools Client.

If you haven’t already been using the GemTools 2.3.1 Preview for all platforms (which is based on Pharo), then you should download the preview GemTools client and follow the instructions for setting up your session and verify that you can connect to your stone. You’ll need the session information and the gci files from the Preview to get things running with the Pharo 1.0 beta.

Installing GemTools Client in Pharo 1.0 beta

[Updated: 10/17/2009] Updated instructions for installing the GemTools Client in Pharo and Squeak can be found here.

If you’ve already been using Pharo as a GemTools client, then follow these instructions to get cooking:

1. Download and install the Pharo 1.0 beta. Don’t forget to get the latest Pharo vm for your platform (also available on the downloads page).
2. Load Metacello-All-dkh.6 from http://seaside.gemstone.com/ss/metacello (loads Metacello-Core, Metacello-MC, MetacelloProject and OB-Metacello).
3. Delete the Metacello-All working copy. Once you’ve got Metacello loaded, you don’t need Metacello-All anymore.
4. Execute the following expression to load the GemTools Client Metacello project (project meta-information):

   (MetacelloMCProject instance packageSpec
     file: 'GemStone-MetacelloProject-dkh.116';
     repositoryName:
       'http://seaside.gemstone.com/ss/GLASSproject';
     yourself) load

5. Execute the following expression to load the GemTools Client code:

   (GemToolsClientMetacelloProject version: '0.9') load

6. Execute the following expression to open the GemTools launcher:

   OGLauncher open

7. Copy the session information from your old GemTools Client to the new GemTools Client in your Pharo 1.0 beta image. Use the Edit session menu item on the Session Menu in the launchers.
8. Save the image.
9. Copy the gci files (gciForWindows.dll, gciForLinux.so, and gciForMacintosh.so) from GemTools-2.3.1-preview.app/Contents/Resources in the one-click into the directory containing your Pharo 1.0 beta image and changes files.
10. Press the Login button on the GemTools Launcher and you should be in business.

[Update 8/1/2009: Use the Update Client and load version 0.9.1, to get a bugfix for interrupt handling].

Moving forward, you’ll use the Update Client button or Update… menu item to get newer versions of the GemTools client.

The ink is barely dry on version 0.9 of the GemTools Client, so if you run into issues, send mail to the GLASS Beta Mailing List (subscription required).

Next GLASS Beta Update

If things go smoothly, I expect to have a new GLASS version (using Metacello of course) available in a couple of weeks. The new update will include Seaside 2.8.4,  Pier 1.2 and a handful of bugfixes.

Metacello

My priorities at the moment are to:

1. Use Metacello to replace the old GLASS package system for communicating software updates and package dependencies.
2. Finish implementing the features that are planned for 1.0 so that I can go into beta with Metacello. I hope to have gone beta with Metacello prior to ESUG.
3. Finish up the Metacello tutorials so that other folks can start using Metacello for their own projects.
4. Define a Metacello project for Swazoo 2 and Aida to make it possible for folks to track the ongoing development of GLASS while using Aida.

Seaside 2.9

We plan to release GemStone/S Version 2.4 within the next couple of months. 2.4 includes VM support for partial continuations, so it will be feasible to run Seaside 2.9 on top of GLASS.