TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Questions concerning theWord running in emulators under linux or other platforms
therapon
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Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:39 pm

TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by therapon »

Hi,
I have TW installed in Wine on Ubuntu as a compact installation. I access the same installation from WinXP on VirtualBox on the same machine. Here's the issue: if I run TW from Wine (after the initial installation) it does its usual building the indexes for all the modules. If I exit TW and run it from VirtualBox, it rebuilds the indexes for the visible Bible modules. If I exit TW and run it from Wine, it rebuilds the indexes for the visible Bible modules. Every time! When there has been no change at all to the installation or edits to the modules. How do I make it stop rebuilding the indexes when there has been no change to the modules?

I don't think this is a Linux-specific issue but this seemed like a good place to ask the question.

therapon
csterg
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Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by csterg »

The indices are rebuild when the bible location changes or the date/time.
A case that this might happen is when you access the module from a different drive (e.g. c:\... and then h:\...)
Check also the date time that is synced.
Costas
therapon
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Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:39 pm

Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by therapon »

The date/time are the same - it's the same physical hardware, so that shouldn't be it. The drives appear different even though it is really the same location. But couldn't that also happen on a portable (flash drive) installation? There's no guarantee the same drive letter would be assigned to a flash drive when it's plugged into different machines. It doesn't get the same letter when I plug it into the same machine depending on what other memory cards or usb devices (external hdd, for example) I have previously inserted. Seems like there might be another more reliable way to determine if the index truly needs rebuilding - checking the archive bit or something. Even just a switch to turn indexing off would be helpful.

therapon
csterg
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Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by csterg »

therapon wrote:The date/time are the same - it's the same physical hardware, so that shouldn't be it. The drives appear different even though it is really the same location. But couldn't that also happen on a portable (flash drive) installation? There's no guarantee the same drive letter would be assigned to a flash drive when it's plugged into different machines. It doesn't get the same letter when I plug it into the same machine depending on what other memory cards or usb devices (external hdd, for example) I have previously inserted. Seems like there might be another more reliable way to determine if the index truly needs rebuilding - checking the archive bit or something. Even just a switch to turn indexing off would be helpful.

therapon
As I can remember, at some point i changed this to work with a relative path; so it should work with a USB no matter the drive letter. Still, if the relative path changes, this should cause a rebuild. is this the case?
Costas
therapon
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Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:39 pm

Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by therapon »

If I look at Help/About/File locations, the only difference is the drive letter; one is C:, the other is J:. the rest of the path is the same for each category, except for the Common Modules folder. That is different but it also doesn't exist under either Wine or VirtualBox.

therapon
csterg
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Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by csterg »

Well, if the files are in the 'Common Modules' then this is the reason.
The path that is checked is the path of the module relative to the 'theword.exe'. Does this change?
Costas
therapon
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Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by therapon »

The path for Common Modules is different BUT the folder listed in each does not exist and consequently there are no files in it. All the files are in The Word folder or sub-folders under The Word, the locations specified for a compact installation. The "compact" file exists so I'm puzzled why TW thinks it needs to look in the normal rather than compact installation location for anything. It is running in compact mode but doesn't seem to respect the use.all.mods.in.compact.mode=0 setting. btw, I'm using version 3.2.0.1141.

therapon
therapon
Posts: 335
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:39 pm

Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by therapon »

OK, did a little more experimenting.

1. I did a compact UFD install of TW to a flash drive. Ran from WinXP in VirtualBox and the first time it built the indexes as expected. Ran under Wine and it started up without rebuilding the indexes. Work fine, as expected, running from the flash drive, whether in VirtualBox or Wine.

2. I copied the entire installation directory from the flash drive (after the indexes were built) to the "local" VirtualBox hard drive. Ran from WinXP and first thing it did was rebuild the indexes.

3. I copied the entire installation directory from the flash drive (after the indexes were built) to the "local" Wine C: drive. Ran under Wine and first thing it did was rebuild the indexes.

4. I copied the entire installation directory from the flash drive (after the indexes were built) to the C: drive on a WinXP computer. Ran TW and it started up without rebuilding the indexes.

As long as the installation is on the flash drive, it works as I expect it to, even using the flash drive in another computer even when it's a non-linux one. Once the indexes are built they are not rebuilt regardless of how you access the installation. Since #2 and #4 behaved differently, VirtualBox must be seeing something differently on a virtual drive than on a flash drive. I guess the same would be true for Wine, and apparently Wine and VirtualBox don't see virtual drives the same way either. Oh well, I guess it's not an issue that would affect many people.

therapon
csterg
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Re: TW under VirtualBox and Wine

Post by csterg »

i will try to check it, but no promise
Costas
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