Category: Simulator User Group

Savor Serenity – blog post

Server Deployments Week 36

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

• There was no deployment or restart of the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, September 5th. It remains on the server maintenance package deployed in week#34, #17.08.11.328152, comprising the MIME type changes for HTTP.
• On Wednesday, September 6th, the RC channels should be updated as follows:
  • RC Bluesteel and RC LeTigre should receive a new server maintenance package, 17#17.09.01.508236 comprising internal fixes.
  • RC Magnum should receive a new server maintenance package, http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_RC_Magnum 17#17.09.01.328871, also comprising internal fixes.

SL Viewer

• On Tuesday, September 5th, the Alex Ivy 64-bit RC viewer updated to version 5.1.0.508209.
• On Friday, September 1st, the Voice RC viewer updated to version 5.0.8.328552.
• On Thursday, August 31st, a new version of the Maintenance RC viewer was released, version 5.0.8.328812, replacing the earlier version, pulled shortly after release due to BUG-134213, [Maint: Moonshine] breaks clickable functionality for certain HUDs.

Feature Request

The Lab  welcomes well thought-out and present feature request via the Second Life JIRA. Not every feature request is accepted – which is not the same as saying they aren’t looked at / considered. Commenting on how and when requests are taken up, coming out os a conversation about script functions, Simon Linden had this to say:

We have a long list of “it would be nice to do” script features. We don’t make final decisions on anything until we get to the point where we’d actually work on them. There’s always a tough choice which one is the best thing to spend limited time on.

When we look at features, we have to juggle how hard it might be to implement, if it’s going to affect a narrow or broad set of customers, if it’s really a new thing or something you might already be able to do (most often with scripting features), potential for lag, griefing or privacy problems, how much would break, etc.

 

 

Les Reves Perdus – blog post

Updated, September 2nd: to reflect the Maintenance RC viewer 5.0.8.328612 being replaced by version 5.0.8.328812 on Thursday, August 31st.

Server Deployments Week 35

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

• On Tuesday, August 29th, the Main (SLS) channel received the server maintenance package previously deployed to the three RC channels in week#34, #17.08.11.328152, comprising the MIME type changes for HTTP.
• On Wednesday, August 30th, the RC channels were updated with a new server maintenance package 17#17.08.22.507928 comprising some tool changes made to the simulator software build systems, which should not change functionality anywhere.

Dual Region Restarts

For around the last month, it appears that some regions have been undergoing unintended double restarts: the first sees the region comes back on-line on the same simulator version as before the restart, but on a new host. The second restart – occurring roughly an hour later – sees the region restart on the new simulator version, but still on the same host as the first restart.

This is not normal behaviour, and JIRAs are request – with logs – from anyone witnessing their region doing this following a weekly deployment,.

SL Viewer

On Thursday, August 31st, 2017, the Lab released a new Maintenance RC viewer, version 5.0.8.328812, comprising a wide range of bug fixes.

Animation Syncing

Much of the Simulator User Group meeting of Tuesday, August 29th, focused on animation syncing. Animations are largely handled by the viewer, and there are minimal user control over how animations sync (e.g. couples animations when dancing, except when loaded. There have long be calls for more granular levels of user control over animations – such as a scripted means of pre-caching (such as can be done with sounds) to help with smoother playback, and better syncing control.

Firestorm offers a degree of individual user control of animations through the resync animation command / button. However, there’s no easy way to synch animations between viewers to ensure everyone is seeing the same thing – which can be an issue when dealing with the likes of games and things, and could complicate matters with animated objects / animesh.An interim suggestion might be for the Lab to adopt the Firestorm resyc function, were it to be contributed.

Cocoon – blog post

Server Deployments Week #34

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

• On Tuesday, August 22nd, the  Main (SLS) channel was updated with server maintenance package, 17#17.08.11.328159, comprising internal fixes and the following feature requests:
  • BUG-5398: llGetObjectDetails() constants OBJECT_SELECTED & OBJECT_SAT_UPON. This sees the addition of two new parameters:
    • OBJECT_SELECTION_COUNT – returns how many agents are selecting any link in a linkset
    • OBJECT_SITTER_COUNT – returns how many agents are sitting on any links in a linkset.
  • BUG-9666: llGetObjectDetails() constants OBJECT_REZ_TIME, OBJECT_CREATION_TIME and OBJECT_RETURN_TIME.
  • BUG-134057 OBJECT_CREATION_TIME output precision possibly clamped – this sees a shift to 6-digit precision.
• The three RC channels are, at the time of writing, TBD on the status of any update. However, it is believed (as per Rider Linden at the Simulator User Group meeting), should have additional logging for altitude changes, a couple new constants for llGetObjectDetails and some additional validation for mime types passed into HTTP requests. There is also a change that lets you customize what is passed in the Accept header.

SL Viewer

There have been no viewer updates so far this week, leaving the various pipelines as follows:

• Current Release version 5.0.6.326593, released on May 26, promoted June 20 – formerly the AssetHTTP RC viewer – overview
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Maintenance RC viewer version  5.0.7.328060, dated August 9
  • Alex Ivy 64- bit viewer version 5.1.0.507412, dated July 21
  • Voice RC viewer, version 5.0.7.327253 dated June 23
    
• Project viewers:
  • 360-degree snapshot viewer version 5.1.0.506743, dated June 29 – hands-on overview
• Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

llHttpRequest MIME Types Updates

On Thursday, August 17th August, Oz Linden opened a forum thread of on the latest MIME type update the Lab is implementing. The latest changes involve validating the MIME type values:

• The HTTP_MIMETYPE parameter to llHTTPRequest is checked. LSL will validate these for proper format; requests that attempt to send an improperly formatted type will send a debug channel error, not send the request, and return a null request key.
• If you use the new HTTP_ACCEPT option to llHTTPRequest (which allows you to further restrict the type your script expects), the Content-Type of the response is checked to see that it matches your restriction; if it does not, the http_response event will be a 415 error and the body will be “Unsupported or unknown Content-Type”. Further details about HTTP_ACCEPT can be found in llHTTPRequest on the SL wiki.
• Incoming HTTP requests to a script check to see if the Content-Type in the request is formatted correctly and that it is an allowed type (it always checked for allowed types). Previously, it was possible to send a type that was syntactically invalid but matched an allowed wildcard type. Incoming parameters are not validated. If an incoming request has an improperly formatted or unacceptable MIME type, LSL responds with a 415 error response and no event is generated for the script.

Scripts using any of the above can be tested on the following regions:

• Agni regions: Magnum Sandbox 1; Magnum Sandbox 2; Magnum Sandbox 3.
• Aditi regions: Bonifacio; Sandbox Artifex.

Other Items

Script Memory

The Lab periodically receives requests for the Mono script memory limit (64Kb) to be increased.

There are concerns about any increase. Not everyone writing Mono scripts do so efficiently or conservatively; any increase in limits could lead to avatars carrying much larger script loads (even allowing for multiple scripts to achieve functions which might otherwise be managed in a single, large script), impacting teleports and regions during the same. Some suggestions have been offered by users for reducing such potential impact:

• Limiting additional script memory to creators of experiences – which is not seen as overly positive.
• Limiting any increased script memory for premium members – which might be an incentive for some to upgrade.
• Limiting the number of scripts (currently around 2,500) a single avatar can have attached.
• Forcing limits on memory use at compile time – which presupposes the about of memory a script in operation will require at compile time, which might not always be the case.

As it stands, it is unlikely the Lab will have time to investigate any increase in script limits – but they are aware of the requests.

Yasminia – blog post

Server Deployments Week #33

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

• There was no deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, August 15th, which remains on server maintenance package #17.07.27.327933 (not 17#17.07.11.327548 as quoted in the deployment thread. This comprises “additional internal fixes”.
• On Wednesday. August 16th all three RC channel should be updated with the same server maintenance package, 17#17.08.11.328159, comprising internal fixes and the following feature requests:
  • BUG-5398: llGetObjectDetails() constants OBJECT_SELECTED & OBJECT_SAT_UPON. This sees the addition of two new parameters:
    • OBJECT_SELECTION_COUNT – returns how many agents are selecting any link in a linkset
    • OBJECT_SITTER_COUNT – returns how many agents are sitting on any links in a linkset.
  • BUG-9666: llGetObjectDetails() constants OBJECT_REZ_TIME, OBJECT_CREATION_TIME and OBJECT_RETURN_TIME.
  • BUG-134057 OBJECT_CREATION_TIME output precision possibly clamped – this sees a shift to 6-digit precision.

SL Viewer

There have been no viewer updates so far this week, leaving the various pipelines as follows:

• Current Release version 5.0.6.326593, released on May 26th, promoted June 20th – formerly the AssetHTTP RC viewer – overview – download and release notes
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Maintenance RC viewer version 5.0.7.328060, dated August 9th.
  • Alex Ivy 64-bit viewer version 5.1.0.507412, dated July 21st.
  • Voice RC viewer, version 5.0.7.327253 dated June 23rd.
    
• Project viewers:
  • 360-degree snapshot viewer version 5.1.0.506743, dated June 29th – hands-on overview.
• Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

llHttpRequest

Further to my week #32 TPV Developer meeting notes, the llHttpRequest() changes are progressing.

“There are also some changes in the works coming along with llHTTPRequest() and mime types, Simon Linden noted at the Simulator User Group meeting. “A bit of clean-up, but there’s a chance there will be issues if people are doing some funky things along those lines. We will be putting some servers with that code on a few RC regions to test.”

Mazidox Linden added:

We should have some regions up tomorrow to test here on Agni, and we’ve already got a couple of test regions on Aditi, including Bonifacio and Sandbox Artifex. I’ll have more details about Agni regions at the Server Beta User Group on Aditi, in Morris on Thursday, at 3 PM Pacific Time.

This work will see MIME types associated with llHttpRequest being validated. This will involve checking the MIME types are well-formed, rather than any kind of checking against a valid whitelist of MIME types.A example of a poorly-formed MIME type, once the changes are implemented would be llHTTPRequest(base_url, [HTTP_MIMETYPE, “application/x-www/form-urlencoded”], “”.

The only exception to this is HTTP_ACCEPT, which does employ a whitelist, details of which are due to be added to the SL wiki. This will require the use of a MIME type from the set of types which are currently posted in the accept header (or any text/[subtype]).

As Oz Linden noted:

Unfortunately, someone put invalid example values in the wiki, and if anyone has used them then they’ll fail. I actually think that there’s little chance of bad failures, but it could trip a few people and given recent history we’re going to go a little more slowly with this one. The bad examples are only a year or so old, so I’m hoping they won’t be too widespread, and I’ll put up a forum post as soon as we have the region list.

Other Items

Aditi Inventory Syncing: Those who routinely log-in to Aditi, the Beta grid, probably know that the inventory syncing from Agni (and Main grid) and Aditi is currently broken. The Lab is aware of the problem, and it will be addressed.

BUG-100870 [Feature Request] Sandboxes should disallow sat upon objects to bypass auto return: this is being considered for all sandboxes, but is not currently being considered for all land, due to the risk of people being unseated from vehicles when crossing land with very short (e.g. 1 minute) auto-return periods.

Banana Bay – blog post

Server Deployments Week #32

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

• On Tuesday, August 8th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with a new server maintenance package (#17.07.27.327933), comprising “additional internal fixes”,
• The scheduled deployment to the RC channels for Wednesday, August 9th has been cancelled due to a back-end data issue which meant the region channel names weren’t being set correctly, so they didn’t start.

SL Viewer

There have been no viewer updates so far this week, leaving the various pipelines as follows:

• Current Release version 5.0.6.326593, released on May 26, promoted June 20 – formerly the AssetHTTP RC viewer – overview – download and release notes
• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • Maintenance RC viewer version 5.0.7.327958, dated July 31
  • Alex Ivy 64-bit viewer version 5.1.0.507412, dated July 21
  • Voice RC viewer, version 5.0.7.327253 dated June 23
    
• Project viewers:
  • 360-degree snapshot viewer version 5.1.0.506743, dated June 29 – hands-on overview
• Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Other Items

Terrain Issues

For the last few months there have been intermittent reports of odd terrain changes occurring following scheduled restarts. These have been mostly seen around golf courses (see my week #26 update and BUG-100693). There have since been a number of what appear to be similar incidents see:  BUG-7922 and BUG-41609). Commenting on the problem during the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, August 8th, Simon Linden said, “the reports of terrain shifting are totally mystifying to me … I believe it’s happening but really a mystery how and why”.

Feeds Issues

Issues with the feed (my.secondlife.com) appear to have been fixed, with many people reporting they can once again post images and comments.

Follow Your Bliss – blog post

Server Deployments Week #31

Please refer to the deployment notice for the week for latest updates and news.

• The Main (SLS) channel was restarted on Tuesday, August 1st, but there was no deployment to the channel, which remains on server maintenance package #17.07.11.327548.
  • This update includes a fix to allow DJ boards to work, however, any scripts which have not been updated to meet the new requirements may not work. for details, please refer to this forum thread.
• On Wednesday, August 2nd, all three RC channels should be updated with the same new server maintenance package (#17.07.27.327933) comprising internal fixes.

Following the recent issues with deployments, there may be a blog post from the Operations team in the future, once the post-mortem has been completed. However, any such post is unlikely to appear in week #31 due to the core Second Life team all attending a planning meeting to determine potential future potential projects for the platform, etc.

SL Viewer

The Maintenance  updated on Friday, July 28th to version 5.0.7.327940. This was superseded on Monday, July 31st by a new update, version 5.0.7.327958.

Otherwise, all other viewers in the LL pipelines remain as:

• Current Release version 5.0.6.326593, released on May 26, promoted June 20 – formerly the AssetHTTP RC viewer – overview
• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • Alex Ivy 64-bit viewer version 5.1.0.507412, dated July 21
  • Voice RC viewer, version 5.0.7.327253 dated June 23
    
• Project viewers:
  • 360-degree snapshot viewer version 5.1.0.506743, dated June 29 – hands-on overview
• Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Reminder

There is no Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, August 1st or Content Creator’s User Group on Thursday, August 3rd. I’m not sure if the SBUG meeting on Aditi on Thursday, August 3rd will be taking place, as I’ve been unable to attend those meetings for the last couple of months or so.

As noted above, the reason for the lack of in-world meetings is the SL planning session that’s taking place throughout the week.