[opennms-devel] OpenNMS 1.14+ on FreeBSD 8, 9, 10, 11

[Paul Pathiakis]

On 03/30/2015 11:56, Benjamin Reed wrote:
> On 3/28/15 3:06 PM, Paul Pathiakis wrote:
>> Openjdk crashes almost
>> immediately while the linux java continues for a longer duration but
>> also crashes.
> Unless it is crashing in jrrd or jicmp which we wrote, it is by
> definition a JVM issue.  Unless we're running out of memory, it should
> be impossible to put something in a jar that crashes the JVM, and if it
> does, it's a JVM bug.  Since the Linux JDK doesn't crash under the Linux
> kernel, that would mean it has to be some interaction in the FreeBSD
> side breaking it.
>
> Without a crash log, though, it's hard to say.  :)
>
>
>
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Ben,

     More than happy to provide any crash dumps.  However, I can't agree 
with it 'must be' the JVM.  Ron Roskens and I have delved into this and 
found some interesting things going on.  The behavior differs between 
the Linux JVM on FreeBSD linuxlator and the openjdk on FreeBSD.
     Once upon a time, previous OpenNMS versions always worked on 
FreeBSD on Java 1.4, 1.5, 1.6.  There was never an issue with getting it 
running, there just wasn't a package/port.

Here's one of the e-mails that I've received regarding this:

*Hi Paul, good morning.***

**

***I’ve been reading a lot of your posts to the lists about OpenNMS on 
FreeBSD.***

**

*I have been running OpenNMS v1.10.6 on FreeBSD 9 for years with no 
trouble, but decided to upgrade. Heh.***

**

*See versions of software I’m running below.***

**

*I have the same symptoms you described last fall:  it runs for a while, 
then boom – JVM blows up.***

**

*Have you had any luck getting it working?***

**

*Thanks!***

**

*___________________________***

**

*Kris Jacobs***

*Network Administrator**
**% uname –a**
**
**FreeBSD NETMONv2.calhouncountymi.local 10.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 
10.1-RELEASE #0 r274401: Tue Nov 11 21:02:49 UTC 2014 
root at releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64**
**
**% pkg version | grep jdk **
**
**openjdk-7.76.13_1,1**
**
**opennms-15.0.1-1**
*

So, here's an example of someone running OpenNMS 1.10.6 on FreeBSD 9 and 
openjdk6.  It ran "for years".  I had run FreeBSD 8.0 with OpenNMS 
1.{5,6}(I think) with an unknown JDK version and it ran for years 
without issue.  Again, what has happened?  The user, Kris, (above) has 
tried getting it to work on OpenNMS 1.15 with openjdk 6,7,8.  None of it 
works.  I believe OpenNMS to be the best NMS system out there right  
now.  However, I'm using Zabbix for all of my new installs which seems 
to be my only alternative at this point.

Could someone tell me if this is working on OSX reliably?  That may be 
an alternative.  BTW, I don't have any other issues with other apps that 
are using openjdk crashing on FreeBSD, it seems to be OpenNMS is the 
only app with a problem.

I'm also sending this to the java maillist at FreeBSD.  I'm hoping that 
the two groups can work together to resolve the issue.

My being in the middle may be hampering the issue but what seems to be 
hurting more is the fact that there doesn't seem to be anyone willing to 
work the issue to PROVE it is something having to do with the JDK.  
People stating "Well, it works on Linux, with the Linux JDK, which we 
have Linux specific conditionals set in XML code and it works fine" 
comes across as a serious dodge.  (Ron Roskens pointed out a couple of 
issues with the code using specific 'epoll' calls.  Kudos to him for 
digging in and finding that.)

Seriously, if OpenNMS says "We will not support OpenNMS on FreeBSD", 
then please make the statement for everyone to see so they know to stop 
using and supporting this product.  Just close the door and well meaning 
people like myself will just walk away. Sevan used to complain that the 
upstream support in the OpenNMS group was what kept the product from 
being stable on more platforms, I'm starting to lean that way as well.  
(With Ron Roskens being the exception, of course.)  (Sad considering 
that Juniper uses FreeBSD for JunOS and Playstation is built on it, and 
Apple is built on it.... etc)

Something that the OpenNMS project should consider:  software being 
well-supported on more than just one or two platforms is the best way to 
hedge your bets.  Right now, there is serious slippage on a couple of 
platforms in the industry.  Any software project that has all their eggs 
in one or two baskets could end up blowing away if those eggs lose 
market share.

Tarus, can you weigh in on this?

BTW, where can I get the source for 10.x?  I'd like to see if it still 
runs on openjdk6.  That might be a solid place to start on my end.  If 
that can work, I'll try openjdk 7.

Thank you,

Paul Pathiakis