Holy F*** I Finally Fixed the CRHS Photo Site

[Ed Kapuscinski]

In case you were looking for your fix of Conrail Porn and the archives site isn't enough (although...)

I figured out the issue that was breaking the thumbnails for http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/

So go enjoy pages like these again.

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/random

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/RecentAdditions

[eja]

Nice ...  and thanks !

eja

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And I just discovered uploads work now too.

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-3196-on-the-NEC-in-East-Baltimore

I have NEVER been this excited about fixing a bug.

[johnb]

And I just discovered uploads work now too.

http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-3196-on-the-NEC-in-East-Baltimore

I have NEVER been this excited about fixing a bug.

I get it, I was very happy to fix Trainboard's search function...input vars....spent a month in the code...

[nkalanaga]

So, in basic terms, what was the bug?  Bad code to start with, a corrupted program file, somebody changed a file name and the program couldn't find it?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So, in basic terms, what was the bug?  Bad code to start with, a corrupted program file, somebody changed a file name and the program couldn't find it?

So the site runs Drupal 5.5 which was written back in the stone age and ran on a stone age version of PHP.

The company that hosts the site upgraded its servers with a version of PHP that was no longer supported by that version of Drupal.

One of the big issues was that one of the modules we used for the site passed variables by reference instead of by value. That ability got killed off in one of the intermediate versions of PHP between the stone age and now.

So that module was quietly failing.

In order to fix it I ended up editing the module's code (hooray for Free Software) and having it pass its variables correctly.

[Philip H]

and having it pass its variables correctly.

That's the most technical explanation of taking a sh!t I think I've ever seen.   

Glad you got the site un-digitally constipated.

[johnb]

Damn, were you on PHP 5.2? Any host that has 5.5 or older is asking for a hack. We are on a crusade to retire anything that old

[CodyO]

Explain like I`m 5: Ed made old stuff work with new stuff

But congrats Ed, its a great feeling when you fix the "internet"

[Bangorboy]

Glad you got the site un-digitally constipated.

Should that be "digitally unconstipated"?

Congrats, Ed.  Always happy to see someone get rewarded for persistence and effort.

[johnb]

Ed uses a program that is so old, it's language is Shakespearean English

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Damn, were you on PHP 5.2? Any host that has 5.5 or older is asking for a hack. We are on a crusade to retire anything that old

We were. And that's what started all this: getting off it.

[basementcalling]

That's the most technical explanation of taking a sh!t I think I've ever seen.   

Glad you got the site un-digitally constipated.

No pictures, please.

So Ed, in model railroad terms please? Was it like debugging a BLI sound decoder? Making animated ceiling fans in a bar? Ballasting track @GaryHinshaw style? Or making a tree day for a month?

[nkalanaga]

Probably closest to debugging the decoder.

In basic English:  The way I interpreted it, it was a software issue, due to the new server software and the old site software no longer speaking the same language.  What Ed did was to change the way the site "spoke" to the server so that the two could understand each other again.

JohnB:  Not far off.  We can understand Shakespeare's English, if we try, but we still have issues with it.  The biggest thing is that many of words and sayings have changed their meanings since his day, but so slowly that people haven't noticed it.  The language looks like English, but many of the phrases don't have quite the meaning he intended.

One of my favorites is the word "nunnery".  Most people today would interpret that as an obsolete term for a religious convent.  And, it is, but...

"On a small side note, the word "convent" or "nunnery," in Elizabethan England, was a slang term for a house of prostitution. So, Hamlet may be calling her a rude name for breaking up with him (while at the same time expressing a deep-seated misanthropy)."
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-does-hamlet-send-ophelia-nunnery-68701

[johnb]

JohnB:  Not far off.  We can understand Shakespeare's English, if we try, but we still have issues with it.  The biggest thing is that many of words and sayings have changed their meanings since his day, but so slowly that people haven't noticed it.  The language looks like English, but many of the phrases don't have quite the meaning he intended.

we call it depricated coding, and certain functions get replaced....think of the Model T, it had 3 pedals, the right was gas, the left was a brake, the center, reverse...all features of a modern car, just different locations