Xilinx java application freeze

Hello,

I'm using the Xilinx tools under linux 32 bits ( a gentoo ) and
I'm having a really big problem. Basically every Xilinx application
based on java (chipscope, planahead, coregen) can just 'freeze'
at anytime (usually pretty soon after I launch it). By freeze I mean
the GUI completly stops responding and doesn't even refresh
anymore.

Since the Xilinx tools are more and more based on java, that
means I'm really screwed.

Anyone with the same symptoms or a diagnostic ?


Sylvain

Hi Sylvain,

"Sylvain Munaut <SomeOne@SomeDomain.com>" <246tnt@gmail.com> wrote in
message news:1144221898.783029.239120@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hello,
> I'm using the Xilinx tools under linux 32 bits ( a gentoo ) and
> I'm having a really big problem. Basically every Xilinx application
> based on java (chipscope, planahead, coregen) can just 'freeze'
> at anytime (usually pretty soon after I launch it). By freeze I mean
> the GUI completly stops responding and doesn't even refresh
> anymore.

What version of the Xilinx tools? What kernel? What JVM?

Xilinx only officially supports RHEL but I know lots of people (including
me) run it on other Linux flavours without any problems. I'd see what
difference there are between your system and an out-of-the-box RedHat
install, and go from there. (Tech support can probably tell you what the
requirements are.)

> Since the Xilinx tools are more and more based on java, that
> means I'm really screwed.

Actually, I'd disagree. Certainly Coregen as of ISE 8.1i is a native
application, with only small amounts of Java for legacy core GUIs. You're
right about the other two though. But there is certainly no policy at work
to increase the amount of Java used (if anything, the reverse is true).

Cheers,

    -Ben-

Hi Ben,


> > I'm using the Xilinx tools under linux 32 bits ( a gentoo ) and
> > I'm having a really big problem. Basically every Xilinx application
> > based on java (chipscope, planahead, coregen) can just 'freeze'
> > at anytime (usually pretty soon after I launch it). By freeze I mean
> > the GUI completly stops responding and doesn't even refresh
> > anymore.
>
> What version of the Xilinx tools? What kernel? What JVM?

Sorry for the lack of Infos :

 - ISE Foundation 8.1 sp 3
 - Chipscope 8.1.03
 - PlanAhead 8.1.2

The JVM is each time provided with theses tools. It's the sun jre 1.5.0
but i'm not sure of the revision.
I've tried with the latest sun jre as well with the same effects and
blackdown jre is only 1.4.2 and doesn't work at all (normal, its not a
1.5)

tnt@ritsuko ~ $ uname -a
Linux ritsuko 2.6.14-gentoo-r5-ritsuko #3 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jan 1
22:48:38 CET 2006 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz GenuineIntel
GNU/Linux


> Xilinx only officially supports RHEL but I know lots of people (including
> me) run it on other Linux flavours without any problems. I'd see what
> difference there are between your system and an out-of-the-box RedHat
> install, and go from there. (Tech support can probably tell you what the
> requirements are.)

I don't know why but each time I try to open a webcase, I get a "Server
Error"
page at url :

https://xapps2.xilinx.com/websupport/clearexp_cgi/?login=Login

with a small sun favicon.


> > Since the Xilinx tools are more and more based on java, that
> > means I'm really screwed.
>
> Actually, I'd disagree. Certainly Coregen as of ISE 8.1i is a native
> application, with only small amounts of Java for legacy core GUIs. You're
> right about the other two though. But there is certainly no policy at work
> to increase the amount of Java used (if anything, the reverse is true).

Well, ok it may not be a policy. But it's still a fact ;)
Indeed coregen has only some "ip customizer" but one of it is the v4 fx
emac wrapper ;) And besides that, it works well. I can work with
chipscope running on a remote machine using windows remote desktop and
launching the cs_server.sh on my local machine. But for plan ahead it's
a whole lot
more annoying.
And the weird thing is I never noticed that behavior in 7.1 ...


Regards,

Sylvain

Hi Sylvain,

"Sylvain Munaut <SomeOne@SomeDomain.com>" <246tnt@gmail.com> wrote in
message news:1144237213.879794.79360@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
>  - ISE Foundation 8.1 sp 3
>  - Chipscope 8.1.03
>  - PlanAhead 8.1.2
> The JVM is each time provided with theses tools. It's the sun jre 1.5.0
> but i'm not sure of the revision.
> I've tried with the latest sun jre as well with the same effects and
> blackdown jre is only 1.4.2 and doesn't work at all (normal, its not a
> 1.5)

Interesting. I guess you can run other Java apps without any problems,
right?
If this were Windows I'd probably diagnose that as some manifestation of DLL
hell, but I don't usually have problems like that with Linux. Maybe there is
a Java guru around somewhere who would know better...


> I don't know why but each time I try to open a webcase, I get a "Server
> Error" page at url :
>
> https://xapps2.xilinx.com/websupport/clearexp_cgi/?login=Login

Curious. I got a login prompt.

> > Actually, I'd disagree. Certainly Coregen as of ISE 8.1i is a native
> > application, with only small amounts of Java for legacy core GUIs.
You're
> > right about the other two though. But there is certainly no policy at
work
> > to increase the amount of Java used (if anything, the reverse is true).
> Well, ok it may not be a policy. But it's still a fact ;)

Touch&#4294967295;. :-)

> Indeed coregen has only some "ip customizer" but one of it is the v4 fx
> emac wrapper ;) And besides that, it works well. I can work with
> chipscope running on a remote machine using windows remote desktop and
> launching the cs_server.sh on my local machine. But for plan ahead it's
> a whole lot more annoying.
> And the weird thing is I never noticed that behavior in 7.1 ...

Was that on the same gentoo system (i.e. did you just upgrade and now
everything is borked)?

Looking at the answers database it appears that in 7.1i there were some
problems with multi-threading in the Linux JNI that caused the GUIs to
freeze during core generation (because the UI thread had to be disabled).
This didn't actually cause anything to freeze indefinitely though (it would
come back when the core had been generated). Perhaps it's somehow related to
that? Hard to tell.

Cheers,

    -Ben-

Hi -

Hmm.. Speaking for PlanAhead, this is a setup that we definitely do not test
on.
Not sure if I can help you, but answers to a couple of our questions may
give us a clue:

1. Are you running on a notebook?
2. Does it hang consistently or semi-repeatably? If so, how? CPU remains
idle or is it pegged?

BTW, can you download 8.1.5 at www.xilinx.com/planahead and see if you still
get this problem?

Thanks
Salil Raje, Ph.D
Software Development Director, PlanAhead
Xilinx Inc.



"Ben Jones" <ben.jones@xilinx.com> wrote in message
news:e10enr$hla1@cliff.xsj.xilinx.com...
> Hi Sylvain,
>
> "Sylvain Munaut <SomeOne@SomeDomain.com>" <246tnt@gmail.com> wrote in
> message news:1144237213.879794.79360@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
> >  - ISE Foundation 8.1 sp 3
> >  - Chipscope 8.1.03
> >  - PlanAhead 8.1.2
> > The JVM is each time provided with theses tools. It's the sun jre 1.5.0
> > but i'm not sure of the revision.
> > I've tried with the latest sun jre as well with the same effects and
> > blackdown jre is only 1.4.2 and doesn't work at all (normal, its not a
> > 1.5)
>
> Interesting. I guess you can run other Java apps without any problems,
> right?
> If this were Windows I'd probably diagnose that as some manifestation of
DLL
> hell, but I don't usually have problems like that with Linux. Maybe there
is
> a Java guru around somewhere who would know better...
>
>
> > I don't know why but each time I try to open a webcase, I get a "Server
> > Error" page at url :
> >
> > https://xapps2.xilinx.com/websupport/clearexp_cgi/?login=Login
>
> Curious. I got a login prompt.
>
> > > Actually, I'd disagree. Certainly Coregen as of ISE 8.1i is a native
> > > application, with only small amounts of Java for legacy core GUIs.
> You're
> > > right about the other two though. But there is certainly no policy at
> work
> > > to increase the amount of Java used (if anything, the reverse is
true).
> > Well, ok it may not be a policy. But it's still a fact ;)
>
> Touch&#4294967295;. :-)
>
> > Indeed coregen has only some "ip customizer" but one of it is the v4 fx
> > emac wrapper ;) And besides that, it works well. I can work with
> > chipscope running on a remote machine using windows remote desktop and
> > launching the cs_server.sh on my local machine. But for plan ahead it's
> > a whole lot more annoying.
> > And the weird thing is I never noticed that behavior in 7.1 ...
>
> Was that on the same gentoo system (i.e. did you just upgrade and now
> everything is borked)?
>
> Looking at the answers database it appears that in 7.1i there were some
> problems with multi-threading in the Linux JNI that caused the GUIs to
> freeze during core generation (because the UI thread had to be disabled).
> This didn't actually cause anything to freeze indefinitely though (it
would
> come back when the core had been generated). Perhaps it's somehow related
to
> that? Hard to tell.
>
> Cheers,
>
>     -Ben-
>
>

Salil Raje wrote:
> Hi -
> 
> Hmm.. Speaking for PlanAhead, this is a setup that we definitely do not test
> on.
> Not sure if I can help you, but answers to a couple of our questions may
> give us a clue:
> 
> 1. Are you running on a notebook?

No it's a workstation. Intel CPU dual core, 2Go of RAM.

> 2. Does it hang consistently or semi-repeatably? If so, how? CPU remains
> idle or is it pegged?

It's not fully repeatable. I mean it always crash but not always at the
same point but it happens quite fast. I think it's always related to a
GUI action. I mean, if I don't do anything with it it will stay fine
(i.e still refresh the window when another window passes over), but
possibly at the next button click or action on a text field, it will
just stop responding.

AFAIK, cpu is idle when it's freezed but I'll need to confirm that on
monday.


> BTW, can you download 8.1.5 at www.xilinx.com/planahead and see if you still
> get this problem?

I'll try that on monday.


	Sylvain