Invalid Parcel Format loading MySQLEXDI

I was trying to load into 7.2.1 a parcel I saved from 7.4.  VW
complained the parcel had an invalid format.  First, why did that
happen?  Second (and most importantly) how can I make sure a parcel is
backward compatible?  How can I make sure a parcel can be loaded into
older images?

--
Visit <http://tggagne.blogspot.com/>,<http://gagne.homedns.org/> or
      <http://gagne.homedns.org/~tgagne/> for more great reading.

Thomas Gagné wrote:
> I was trying to load into 7.2.1 a parcel I saved from 7.4.  VW
> complained the parcel had an invalid format.  First, why did that
> happen?

Simple: the parcel format changed between those revs to support some new
feature (perhaps a new bytecode?).


> Second (and most importantly) how can I make sure a parcel is
> backward compatible?  How can I make sure a parcel can be loaded into
> older images?

File source out of 7.4, file into a 7.2.1 image (or use Store source
mode publishing/loading),
publish 7.2.1 parcel.


I have heard several rumors about people building a 'parcel compiler'
that takes source and creates a parcel without actually loading the code
into the image but I don't know who and whether that materialized...



I have no idea whether this incompatibility also affects Store's binary
loading....


R
-

Hmm.  I've not seen that - I have some 7.2 and 7.2.1 parcels that
have not changed loading into my BottomFeeder builds.

There's been no change in byte codes between 7.2.1 and 7.4.1 that I am aware of

At 08:49 AM 8/29/2006, you wrote:
>I was trying to load into 7.2.1 a parcel I saved from 7.4.  VW
>complained the parcel had an invalid format.  First, why did that
>happen?  Second (and most importantly) how can I make sure a parcel
>is backward compatible?  How can I make sure a parcel can be loaded
>into older images?
>
>--
>Visit <http://tggagne.blogspot.com/>,<http://gagne.homedns.org/> or
>      <http://gagne.homedns.org/~tgagne/> for more great reading.

<Talk Small and Carry a Big Class Library>
James Robertson, Product Manager, Cincom Smalltalk
http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/blog/blogView

James Robertson wrote:
> Hmm.  I've not seen that - I have some 7.2 and 7.2.1 parcels that have
> not changed loading into my BottomFeeder builds.

We're discussing a problem in the other direction: loading 7.4 parcels
into 7.2.1

There was a byte code change (extension) in 7.4. See "Items of special
Note" in doc/ReleaseNotes7.4.pdf

HTH,

Martin

Thomas Gagné wrote:

> I was trying to load into 7.2.1 a parcel I saved from 7.4.  VW
> complained the parcel had an invalid format.  First, why did that
> happen?  Second (and most importantly) how can I make sure a parcel is
> backward compatible?  How can I make sure a parcel can be loaded into
> older images?
>

Reinout Heeck wrote:
>> Second (and most importantly) how can I make sure a parcel is
>> backward compatible?  How can I make sure a parcel can be loaded into
>> older images?
>
> File source out of 7.4, file into a 7.2.1 image (or use Store source
> mode publishing/loading),
> publish 7.2.1 parcel.
Filing code in and out doesn't do a great job of keeping code together.

If I publish the code to the public Store from 7.4 will I be able to
load it from Store into 7.2?  I hope so otherwise it would appear Cincom
deliberately designed to make my life as a Cincom customer difficult.

--
Visit <http://tggagne.blogspot.com/>,<http://gagne.homedns.org/> or
      <http://gagne.homedns.org/~tgagne/> for more great reading.

In general, we don' guarantee down compatibility of parcels or
images.  Within a major version number (5i.x, 7.x, etc), we guarantee
up-compatibility.  So a 7.2.1 parcel will load into 7.4.1, and a
7.2.1 image will run on a 7.4.1 VM - but the reverse may well not hold.

If you manage code with Store, you should be able to do source
loads.  The blog server I manage is on 7.1, and other than Security
related incompatibilities, I maintain that code in 7.4.1 and 7.1 with Store

At 11:07 AM 8/29/2006, you wrote:

<Talk Small and Carry a Big Class Library>
James Robertson, Product Manager, Cincom Smalltalk
http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/blog/blogView

Thomas Gagné wrote:
You will be able to, you just have to load code from your Store repository
from sources and not in binary form. To do this, uncheck the following in
the settings: Store -> Allow binary loading.

We have the same problem, because we use one repository for both VW73 and
VW74 projects.

Hope this helps,

Ladislav Lenart

At 11:07 AM 8/29/2006, Thomas Gagné wrote:

>Reinout Heeck wrote:
>>>Second (and most importantly) how can I make sure a parcel is backward compatible?  How can I make sure a parcel can be loaded into older images?
>>
>>File source out of 7.4, file into a 7.2.1 image (or use Store source mode publishing/loading),
>>publish 7.2.1 parcel.
>Filing code in and out doesn't do a great job of keeping code together.
>If I publish the code to the public Store from 7.4 will I be able to load it from Store into 7.2?  I hope so otherwise it would appear Cincom deliberately designed to make my life as a Cincom customer difficult.

While our primary objective is always to make life more difficult for our customers, we have not yet succeeded in making Store source loads incompatible between versions :-) Binary loads work via parcel load, so would behave exactly the same way.


--
Alan Knight [|], Cincom Smalltalk Development
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
http://www.cincom.com/smalltalk

"The Static Typing Philosophy: Make it fast. Make it right. Make it run." - Niall Ross