cache problem

by filehound @ 6:22pm on May 4, 2005

For the last several builds I have had a strange behavior. When I search new posts binboy loads new posts and then searches the cache b4 displaying results. In a.b.games.xbox the cache is so large, 12 million or so posts, that it takes quite a while to display the results. The same thing happenes when I search the last 50,000 posts, it searches the whole 12 million and then displays the last 50,000.
in order to read the group reliably I have to turn off cache subjects to disk and then it just behaves normally. Has anyone else had this prob?

BinaryBoy's reply to filehound #1036 @ 8:02pm on May 4, 2005

This is possibly triggered by a gap in the article numbers in the cache. A new build will try to avoid searching the whole cache in that situation. http://www.binaryboy.com/patch.php

filehound's reply to BinaryBoy #1037 @ 12:19am on May 5, 2005

Thank you for the prompt reply, I just downloaded and installed the new build but unfortunatly it dosen't seem to have fixed it. It still recieves the new posts and then scans the cache.

BinaryBoy's reply to filehound #1038 @ 1:09am on May 5, 2005

If you run it with the -log switch, it will show whether it's failing to find the starting header in the cache. To enable the log, click Start, click Run and type: binboy.exe -log

After it starts loading the subjects from the cache, c:\program files\binary boy\log.txt will contain at least one line containing "ArticleToPos" that will show if that's what the problem is. You can send log.txt to me if you like or send me just the lines containing "ArticleToPos".

filehound's reply to BinaryBoy #1039 @ 2:12pm on May 5, 2005

I have :
10:04:24: GetSubjsctsFromCache: ArticleToPos failed. Article 13059983. Using pos -1172384593.
thats the only instance of ArticleToPos in the file, I can send it to you if you like, what email address should I send it to?
Thanks again.

BinaryBoy's reply to filehound #1040 @ 3:15pm on May 5, 2005

Thanks for the info. I probably don't need anything else from the log right now. That shouldn't have returned a negative number so I'll look into that. :eek:

Can you check to see how large the cache file is? You can get to it at
C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Binary Boy\Cache The filename will be the name of the news server, followed by !! and then the newsgroup name like: news.whatever.com!!alt.binaries.whatever.txt If it's over 2GB it could cause some problems.

filehound's reply to BinaryBoy #1041 @ 4:03pm on May 5, 2005

As a matter of fact, its nearly 3, its 2.90GB.

BinaryBoy's reply to filehound #1042 @ 9:43pm on May 5, 2005

Ok. That's very likely to be the problem. I'm working on a fix.

BinaryBoy's reply to BinaryBoy #1043 @ 12:12am on May 6, 2005

New build available. http://www.binaryboy.com/patch.php It has better handling of cache files over 2GB.

Your cache files should be shrinking as the new compressed headers replace the old ones. If they remain over 2GB, this build should solve the problem anyway. If not, please send me the ArticleToPos lines from the log.

filehound's reply to BinaryBoy #1044 @ 1:23am on May 6, 2005

Yep, thats fixed it. Thank you very much - I've been putting up with it for several weeks, now I'm kicking myself for not posting earlier.

BinaryBoy's reply to filehound #1045 @ 1:32am on May 6, 2005

Great! Happy downloading!

P.S. The new limit is 9.2 billion gigs or 2^63 bytes. heh