history trouble

history trouble

[Thomas Richter]

Hi,
I have a problem with zsh 4.2.6 (i686-pc-cygwin). My history
isn't read and write. I have the permission:
 $ ls -l ~/.zsh_history 
 -rw-r--r-- 1 richter Kein 7 Jan 26 14:56 /home/richter/.zsh_history
I have set all correct:
 $ cat ~/.zshrc
 HISTSIZE=99999
 HISTFILE=~/.zsh_history
 SAVEHIST=9999
They are read:
 $ set | col -bx | grep HIST | sort
 APPEND_HISTORY=1
 HISTCHARS='!^#'
 HISTCMD=5
 HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth
 HISTFILE=/home/richter/.zsh_history
 HISTFILESIZE=999999
 HISTIGNORE='[   ]*:&:bg:fg:exit'
 HISTSIZE=99999
 SAVEHIST=9999
The other are from bash where I exportet the variables.
The options look ok for me:
 $ setopt 
 extendedglob
 histexpiredupsfirst
 histignoredups
 interactive
 monitor
 promptsubst
 pushdsilent
 shinstdin
 zle
I can write to the history with 
 setopt inc_append_history
but I want the file read!

wkr Thomas Richter

-- 
dss1://49.431.801306      Wot're we going to do tonight, Brain ?
gsm://49.179.5192431   The same thing we do every night, Pinky .
icq://124849926                     Try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD !
mailto:richter@thomas-richter.de    http://www.thomas-richter.de

Re: history trouble

[Bart Schaefer]

On Jan 28,  8:41am, Thomas Richter wrote:
}
} The options look ok for me:

I don't see "login".  Only login shells read the history automatically.

}  $ setopt 
}  extendedglob
}  histexpiredupsfirst
}  histignoredups
}  interactive
}  monitor
}  promptsubst
}  pushdsilent
}  shinstdin
}  zle

(By the way:  'honk'.  Based on all the extra cruft in your message
header, you're not too concerned about whether your mail goes into most
people's spam filters.  And what is your X-Face meant to look like?)

Re: history trouble

[Thomas Richter]

Hi Bart Schaefer <schaefer@brasslantern.com>,
you wrote on Saturday, 2006-01-28 15:53:51 +0000:
> On Jan 28,  8:41am, Thomas Richter wrote:  
> }
> } The options look ok for me:
> 
> I don't see "login".  Only login shells read the history automatically.

On my other computer (zsh 4.1.1 (i386-suse-linux)) there also no 
login set - but it read my history ...

wkr Thomas Richter

-- 
dss1://49.431.801306      Wot're we going to do tonight, Brain ?
gsm://49.179.5192431   The same thing we do every night, Pinky .
icq://124849926                     Try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD !
mailto:richter@thomas-richter.de    http://www.thomas-richter.de

Re: history trouble

[Bart Schaefer]

On Jan 28,  8:04pm, Thomas Richter wrote:
} Subject: Re: history trouble
}
} Hi Bart Schaefer <schaefer@brasslantern.com>,
} you wrote on Saturday, 2006-01-28 15:53:51 +0000:
} > On Jan 28,  8:41am, Thomas Richter wrote:  
} > }
} > } The options look ok for me:
} > 
} > I don't see "login".  Only login shells read the history automatically.
} 
} On my other computer (zsh 4.1.1 (i386-suse-linux)) there also no 
} login set - but it read my history ...

Sorry, I'm being dense this morning.  I forgot that it's my own setup
that skips history settings for non-login shells.

Possible reasons for the history not to be read are:

- the NO_RCS option is set (the doc says this prevents history from
  being written, but it also suppresses reading it)

- the INTERACT option is not set

- lockhistfile() fails because
  + a temporary lock file can't be created in the same directory
    as the HISTFILE
  + a link to that temp file can't be created
  + something else [possibly several somethings] has the file locked
    for more than about 10 seconds (but this shouldn't apply at shell
    startup, only for incremental history)

- the file can't be opened for reading

- some part of the file is corrupt

- HISTSIZE is zero (in which case, I believe, the file is read but all
  the contents are discarded)

My (new, ahem) guess is that the problem is with the lock file.

Re: history trouble

[Thomas Richter]

Hi Bart Schaefer <schaefer@brasslantern.com>,
you wrote on Saturday, 2006-01-28 20:32:36 +0000:
> On Jan 28,  8:04pm, Thomas Richter wrote:
> 
> Possible reasons for the history not to be read are:
> 
> - the NO_RCS option is set (the doc says this prevents history from
>   being written, but it also suppresses reading it)

This option is not set.
 
> - the INTERACT option is not set

This option is set.
 
> - lockhistfile() fails because
>   + a temporary lock file can't be created in the same directory
>     as the HISTFILE

How can I test this?

>   + a link to that temp file can't be created

ln -s $HISTFILE newname is ok

>   + something else [possibly several somethings] has the file locked
>     for more than about 10 seconds (but this shouldn't apply at shell
>     startup, only for incremental history)

no process has this file open
 
> - the file can't be opened for reading

cat $HISTFILE is ok 

> - some part of the file is corrupt

no contains only one line with one word
 
> - HISTSIZE is zero (in which case, I believe, the file is read but all
>   the contents are discarded)

HISTSIZE = 99999
 
> My (new, ahem) guess is that the problem is with the lock file.

wkr Thomas Richter

-- 
dss1://49.431.801306      Wot're we going to do tonight, Brain ?
gsm://49.179.5192431   The same thing we do every night, Pinky .
icq://124849926                     Try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD !
mailto:richter@thomas-richter.de    http://www.thomas-richter.de

Re: history trouble

[Peter A. Castro]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006, Thomas Richter wrote:

Greetings, Thomas,
   Can you verify something:
   Start a shell, enter a few commands, exit the shell, then look at the
history file and see if your commands were added to it?  If so, then
it's not a matter of your commands not being written to history, but that
they are being buffered and, upon exit, flushed to file.

Try this:
   setopt inc_append_history

> Hi Bart Schaefer <schaefer@brasslantern.com>,
> you wrote on Saturday, 2006-01-28 20:32:36 +0000:
>> On Jan 28,  8:04pm, Thomas Richter wrote:
>>
>> Possible reasons for the history not to be read are:
>>
>> - the NO_RCS option is set (the doc says this prevents history from
>>   being written, but it also suppresses reading it)
>
> This option is not set.
>
>> - the INTERACT option is not set
>
> This option is set.
>
>> - lockhistfile() fails because
>>   + a temporary lock file can't be created in the same directory
>>     as the HISTFILE
>
> How can I test this?
>
>>   + a link to that temp file can't be created
>
> ln -s $HISTFILE newname is ok
>
>>   + something else [possibly several somethings] has the file locked
>>     for more than about 10 seconds (but this shouldn't apply at shell
>>     startup, only for incremental history)
>
> no process has this file open
>
>> - the file can't be opened for reading
>
> cat $HISTFILE is ok
>
>> - some part of the file is corrupt
>
> no contains only one line with one word
>
>> - HISTSIZE is zero (in which case, I believe, the file is read but all
>>   the contents are discarded)
>
> HISTSIZE = 99999
>
>> My (new, ahem) guess is that the problem is with the lock file.
>
> wkr Thomas Richter

-- 
Peter A. Castro <doctor@fruitbat.org> or <Peter.Castro@oracle.com>
 	"Cats are just autistic Dogs" -- Dr. Tony Attwood

Re: history trouble

[Frank Terbeck]

Peter A. Castro <doctor@fruitbat.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006, Thomas Richter wrote:
> 
> Greetings, Thomas,
>   Can you verify something:
>   Start a shell, enter a few commands, exit the shell, then look at the
> history file and see if your commands were added to it?  If so, then
> it's not a matter of your commands not being written to history, but that
> they are being buffered and, upon exit, flushed to file.
> 
> Try this:
>   setopt inc_append_history

>From Thomas' original posting:

> I can write to the history with
>  setopt inc_append_history
> but I want the file read!

Regards, Frank

Re: history trouble

[Peter A. Castro]

On Wed, 1 Feb 2006, Frank Terbeck wrote:

> Peter A. Castro <doctor@fruitbat.org> wrote:
>> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006, Thomas Richter wrote:
>>
>> Greetings, Thomas,
>>   Can you verify something:
>>   Start a shell, enter a few commands, exit the shell, then look at the
>> history file and see if your commands were added to it?  If so, then
>> it's not a matter of your commands not being written to history, but that
>> they are being buffered and, upon exit, flushed to file.
>>
>> Try this:
>>   setopt inc_append_history
>
>> From Thomas' original posting:
>
>> I can write to the history with
>>  setopt inc_append_history
>> but I want the file read!

Yes, I did see that, however, I wanted to make sure that this option was
really set and that history was been appended to.  Because, if that is
the case, then the history file can certainly be accessed (and read
from).

I guess I don't quite understand the problem.  When you (Thomas) say you
can't read history do you mean you can't do any history functions?  Like,
with zle loaded, scroll through interactive history?  At all?

So, if you start a fresh shell session (with zsh -l -i), you can't
retrieve any previous commands?  If you enter a few commands, can you
retrieve them or not?   Can you 'echo $history'?

I must say that HISTSIZE (and SAVEHIST) are ridiculously large (99999 and
9999).  Setting these to something smaller might be worth a try.

Do you have anything special in any of the /etc/z* files?

Lastly, what if you start zsh from a dos prompt instead of from a bash
shell?

> Regards, Frank

-- 
Peter A. Castro <doctor@fruitbat.org> or <Peter.Castro@oracle.com>
 	"Cats are just autistic Dogs" -- Dr. Tony Attwood