Author Topic: Old problem.. any known solution ? (American Heritage Dictionary by DUX)  (Read 16050 times)

Dariusz Piatkowski

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...actually, I have to confirm Lars' experience with this PMMERGE DLL. In my case I tried this with a SMP kernel, TRAP-D was the result, and so that was the end of that testing attempt on my part.

I will monitor this thread in case Lars has a different outcome.

OS4User

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...actually, I have to confirm Lars' experience with this PMMERGE DLL. In my case I tried this with a SMP kernel, TRAP-D was the result, and so that was the end of that testing attempt on my part.

I will monitor this thread in case Lars has a different outcome.

As far as I understand, he already has a different outcome -  on SMP kernel everything is ok for him.

...
If I try the SMP kernel, it works ok. ...

Your Trap D is very welcome. Pls show trapscreen.

roberto

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Hi all, when trying to run the good old American Heritage Dictionary (published by DUX) on ArcaOS 5.0.7, I get a SYS3175 with PMMERGE.DLL, the app does not start.
I have never used that application and I don't have it to test.
But if you want to try this completely experimental application, and making your backups prior to trying it.
How to execute it:
1 Close all applications
2 Open a DOS window sesion
3 Execute QBASIC D: \ DCSI01.Bas
4 A black sale has to appear with a cursor
If Overflow appears, try 4 or five times the run, if it does not start you may not be executed.

I refer it to you because I am playing the pmmerge.dll, this is with arca 507

Try it and tell me if it does something different.

Saludos

Pete

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Hi

I installed PMMERGE6111 on my ArcaoS 5.0.6 system and rebooted.

As the system switched into graphical mode there was some beeps but then the Desktop loaded and all seemed to work fine - until the system froze while browsing with Dooble maybe 20 minutes after boot.

I tried this 3 times with the same result ie  rebooted , had beeps at switch to graphical mode and system froze within 20 minutes.

No Trap screen, no logs - except for xwp startup logs which do not show any problem suggesting the beeps happen before xwp starts.

Eugene Tucker

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I used to use the full version of XWP and noticed that it caused me some issues. I switched to the Arca Noae version of the lite version try that isd yo wish.

Roderick Klein

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Hi all, when trying to run the good old American Heritage Dictionary (published by DUX) on ArcaOS 5.0.7, I get a SYS3175 with PMMERGE.DLL, the app does not start. Googling for that error gives many results with people mentioning similar problems. There are also patched versions of PMMERGE.DLL but all much older than the current ArcaOS version, that may or may not have integrated this patched version. IIRC this problem happened with eCS too but not with the original Warp 4.

Was there a known solution / workaround to be able to start such programs on current versions of the OS?

From my perspective this way of fixing stuff is the same as throwing mutt at the wall and see if it sticks.
I think everybody is putting Glenn on the wrong foot to make him replace pmmerge.dll. It might fix the crash the but nobody even knows why the crash occurs in the first place. So if you backlevel the last version of pmmerge.dll with an older one. The program might start to work, but then what is broken ?
I mean its all well intended but what is causing the crash in the first place ? PMMERGE.DLL is pretty important system dll and not something that should just be swapped out like spare tire from the trunk of your car.

Glenn can you put back the original version of pmmerge.dll and run the program ? Post the popuplog.os2 entry and then I might be able to tell why it crashes. Maybe a font that is installed ? I have no clue but then we MIGHT be able to trace why it crashes.

Roderick

Roderick Klein

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I tried to load this version on ArcaOS 5.0.7.
https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/misc/AHD_Patch_2-02.zip
It opens but no crash occurs. Anyway I would need your popuplog.os2 entry. And if that does not work maybe procdump can help to figure out WHY its crashing. You could load that up in PMDF and with the PMMERGE.SYM file give a hint why its crashing.
Its not easy but it could give a hint.

Roderick Klein

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How big is DUX, can you ZIP up the program and send it to roderickklein@xs4all.nl I will try and debug it here and see if I can find the reason for the crash.

Roderick

David Graser

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Hi all, when trying to run the good old American Heritage Dictionary (published by DUX) on ArcaOS 5.0.7, I get a SYS3175 with PMMERGE.DLL, the app does not start. Googling for that error gives many results with people mentioning similar problems. There are also patched versions of PMMERGE.DLL but all much older than the current ArcaOS version, that may or may not have integrated this patched version. IIRC this problem happened with eCS too but not with the original Warp 4.

Was there a known solution / workaround to be able to start such programs on current versions of the OS?

From my perspective this way of fixing stuff is the same as throwing mutt at the wall and see if it sticks.
I think everybody is putting Glenn on the wrong foot to make him replace pmmerge.dll. It might fix the crash the but nobody even knows why the crash occurs in the first place. So if you backlevel the last version of pmmerge.dll with an older one. The program might start to work, but then what is broken ?
I mean its all well intended but what is causing the crash in the first place ? PMMERGE.DLL is pretty important system dll and not something that should just be swapped out like spare tire from the trunk of your car.

Glenn can you put back the original version of pmmerge.dll and run the program ? Post the popuplog.os2 entry and then I might be able to tell why it crashes. Maybe a font that is installed ? I have no clue but then we MIGHT be able to trace why it crashes.

Roderick

I noticed the pmmerge.dll in ArcaOS is still at buildlvl

[D:\]bldlevel d:\os2\dll\pmmerge.dll
Build Level Display Facility Version 6.12.675 Sep 25 2001
(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1993-2001
Signature:       @#IBM:14.106#@ OS/2 PM Merged Library
Vendor:          IBM
Revision:        14.106
File Version:    14.106
Description:     OS/2 PM Merged Library

It appears to be at the same build level since this patch came out.

https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/system/patches/PMFIX.zip

Patches for PMMERGE 14.106

This could be a wrong assumption, but if pmmerge had been patched or updated by the ArcoOS team, would not the build level number increase?  Not being a programmer, this may be a wrong assumption.

I  run OS/4 kernel on one partition and the ArcaOS kernel on another.  Neither partition is able to run the American American Heritage Dictionary.

I did download a PDF of the dictionary and Lucide views it without any problems.

David
« Last Edit: May 27, 2022, 04:49:11 pm by David Graser »

Doug Bissett

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Quote
This could be a wrong assumption, but if pmmerge had been patched or updated by the ArcoOS team, would not the build level number increase?

It is a wrong assumption. Patches do not change the release information, although it could be done (and is done, in some cases, like the Kernel). The PMMERGE patch was not created by Arca Noae (but it is pssible that they modified the patch).

I will point out, again, that only Arca Noae has permission, from IBM, to distribute patched IBM sourced binaries. Nobody else has that permission (even eCS couldn't do that). Others need to distribute the patches, and let the user do the work to apply them. Patches are often done automatically, by installers, when something is installed.

OS4User

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Others need to distribute the patches, and let the user do the work to apply them. Patches are often done automatically, by installers, when something is installed.

Seems this idea is not new. Once, I have seen ftp with patches to convert OS/2 kernel to OS/4 level. Somehow I did not pay attention to this and did not add it to my bookmarks. I tried to find it again, but unfortunately without success.

Andy Willis

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Have all the (DUX/AHD) patches been applied?  I had crashes in pmmerge.dll with DUX, however, I fixed it long enough ago I don't recall what it was... my recollection is it was the patches.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2022, 10:35:48 pm by Andy Willis »

Glenn

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Have all the (DUX/AHD) patches been applied?  I had crashes in pmmerge.dll with DUX, however, I fixed it long enough ago I don't recall what it was... my recollection is it was the patches.
I did apply all the patches I found... As mentioned previously, the remedy is worse than the disease, as applying the patches now causes the WPS to freeze when trying to start the program.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2022, 08:13:32 pm by Glenn »

Glenn

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Glenn can you put back the original version of pmmerge.dll and run the program ? Post the popuplog.os2 entry and then I might be able to tell why it crashes. Maybe a font that is installed ? I have no clue but then we MIGHT be able to trace why it crashes.

Roderick

The app not starting produces the following (do not look at the dates, I put back the original unpatched files tonight, to recreate the error message):

06-01-2022  16:07:21  SYS3175  PID 0058  TID 0001  Slot 0094
C:\AHD\AHD.EXE
c0000005
1fabd544
P1=00000002  P2=005bb000  P3=XXXXXXXX  P4=XXXXXXXX
EAX=000000e4  EBX=00039280  ECX=00000022  EDX=000081d3
ESI=000392f4  EDI=005bb000
DS=0053  DSACC=d0f3  DSLIM=5fffffff
ES=0053  ESACC=d0f3  ESLIM=5fffffff
FS=150b  FSACC=00f3  FSLIM=00000030
GS=0000  GSACC=****  GSLIM=********
CS:EIP=005b:1fabd544  CSACC=d0df  CSLIM=5fffffff
SS:ESP=0053:00039274  SSACC=d0f3  SSLIM=5fffffff
EBP=0003938c  FLG=00010206

PMMERGE.DLL 0004:0004d544


After applying the patches, when it freezes the WPS, it shows:

05-15-2022  17:04:40  SYS3170  PID 0026  TID 0001  Slot 004b
C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
c0010001
1ffde411
EAX=00000002  EBX=00000000  ECX=00000000  EDX=00673720
ESI=00000000  EDI=00000000 
DS=0053  DSACC=d0f3  DSLIM=5fffffff 
ES=0053  ESACC=d0f3  ESLIM=5fffffff 
FS=150b  FSACC=00f3  FSLIM=00000030
GS=0000  GSACC=****  GSLIM=********
CS:EIP=005b:1f8f454e  CSACC=d0df  CSLIM=5fffffff
SS:ESP=0053:0004f80c  SSACC=d0f3  SSLIM=5fffffff
EBP=0004f814  FLG=00010202

DOSCALL1.DLL 0003:0000e411



Lars

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The trap in PMMERGE happens in a routine called "MoveAndXform".
It happens when copying a string via the "movsd" instruction.
The exception code is C000005 which means "XCPT_ACCESS_VIOLATION".
P1 = 2 which means XCPT_WRITE_ACCESS which means the target buffer is obviously too small to receive the string.
What's more important: "MoveAndXform" calls routines "GetFaceName" and "GetCellTransform" which seems to indicate that this this is all about using fonts and displaying them in a window.

So I think, Roderick is correct and this is a problem with using fonts. The fix might be to set a proper "default font", maybe the font name of the font that is being used is too long or some such.
I seem to remember that there was a OS2SYS.INI setting for this. An alternative might be to drop a new font onto the program window (it it opens at all).

What I would try is to properly install the fonts that come with the program. Open the fonts palette, select "edit" button, then select "Add..." button and browse to the programs dir to select "AHDPHON.AFM" and "AHDPHONI.AFM". This will install the fonts to the \PSFONTS folder.

Unfortunately, I cannot test the prog as I don't have the encyclopedia data as such.
One thing you obviously need to do is to set up env vars DUX_AHD_DATA and DUX_ENC_DATA to point to the directory where you have the encyclopedia data.

I have installed AHD_PATH_2-0 and then copied over the contents of AHD_PATH_2-02 and I don't experience any crashes but the prog will not display anything either (due to the missing encyclopedia data).
« Last Edit: June 02, 2022, 09:29:01 am by Lars »