Opasnet update 2017

This page contains notes produced while updating Opasnet server systems during the summer of 2017.

RTools server

CentOS 6.4: full support ended, but still get maintenance updates.

Key software, upgrade paths and related issues:

• apache 2.2.15 -> 2.2.32 or 2.4.25
  • newer branch not particularly important
• PHP 5.3.3 -> 5.6.x or 7.1.x
  • incompatibilities in mysql functions
    • "mysql" -> "mysqli" (5.5)
  • should upgrade to latest version
• MySQL 5.1 -> 5.7
• mongoDB 2.4 -> 3.2
  • should be relatively easy as we are not using sharding etc.
• rtools_server PHP application
  • starts on test server after minor changes
  • further testing needed
• opasnet_base2

Opasnet-wiki server

CentOS 6.5: full support ended, but still get maintenance updates.

Key software, upgrade paths and related issues:

• apache 2.2.15 -> 2.2.32 or 2.4.25
• PHP 5.4.28 -> 5.6.x or 7.1.x
  • 5.5.9+ required by currently supported mediawiki releases
  • latest php also supported
  • incompatibilities likely to occur in 5.4->5.5, hence might as well upgrade to latest
• MySQL 5.5.37 -> 5.5.56 or 5.7.x
• MediaWiki 1.20.0 -> 1.27 (LTS) or 1.28.2 (latest)
  • need to check supported extensions
  • MyExtension.php no longer supported, need extension.json for registering extensions
  • Composer might be useful for managing PHP dependencies
• RTools MediaWiki extension
  • RTools special page class (now named SpecialRtools)
    • Creates instance of rtools_client
    • separate config file, which is included by SpecialRTools instead of rtools_client for some reason
    • fixed: "mysql" to "mysqli"
    • fixed: "wfMsg" to "wfMessage->text()"
  • <rcode> tag
    • Detected by parser hooks
    • RToolsParser class
      • fixed: "wfMsg" to "wfMessage->text()"
      • fixed: class instead of global functions
        • create class instance in parser given by hook in order to retain variable values
      • fixed: added "wgOut->addModules( 'ext.RTools.parser' );" which enables the on-page UI
      • fixed: changed efRCodeMBInArray to a static function and changed reference in templates/inputs/checkbox.php
  • rtools_client
    • handles connections and job submissions etc. to server
    • xml-rpc library
      • communicates with rtools_server API
  • javascripts
    • script.aculo.us + prototype
      • UI
      • ajax
      • old versions, probably still acceptable
    • loaded by mediawiki resource loader
      • now set up in extension.json
  • wiki database
    • rtools_inputs
      • added schema update hook to create the necessary table if missing
  • Current issues:
    • Show code button does not work
    • Run page throws: Didn't receive 200 OK from remote server. (HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Server Error), which is a xml-rpc related error
    • Runs and shows outputs (oprint and cat), but code is not visible, embed also does not work
    • Input forms are slightly broken: conditional categories do not work, checkboxes crash the whole page
    • Rtools page does not update, shows error until refreshed once the run is over. Error on page: "jQuery is not defined", but it is loaded by mediawiki by default. Caused by some linking problem between the special page and mediawiki.
• table2base MediaWiki extension