Hi Joseph,

 

Thanks for your interest in our testing procedures! We are testing various JVMs 
with random settings on the so-called “Policeman Jenkins server” 
(http://jenkins.thetaphi.de/, which runs Linux, Windows, MacOS in various 
VirtualBOX VMs. IBM J9 v7 is checked in Linux only for Lucene/Solr 5.x builds). 
 You might also be interested in this talk: 
http://2013.berlinbuzzwords.de/sessions/testing-lucene-and-solr-various-jvms-bugs-bugs-bugs,
 video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVRdLyQGUxE

 

We are testing Lucene only with J9 in the stable branch (coming Lucene 5.0, 
Java 7 minimum), because Lucene trunk (aka Lucene 6) will require Java 8.

 

Because I had not much time in installing recent releases (I / My company is 
hosting this server, and of course, I am busy) the J9 version tested there is a 
bit older (the version listed here is used for both 32bits and 64bits tests):

 

-print-java-info:

[java-info] java version "1.7.0"

[java-info] Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (pxi3270_27sr1-20140411_01 (SR1), 
IBM Corporation)

[java-info] IBM J9 VM (2.7, IBM Corporation)

[java-info] Test args: 
[-Xjit:exclude={org/apache/lucene/util/fst/FST.pack(IIF)Lorg/apache/lucene/util/fst/FST;}]

 

As you see, it uses special Test args to make the tests pass at all (it 
excludes the given method from optimizations, otherwise the index corruption 
happens for sure -> reproducible!). This bug is also listed on the given 
JavaBugs page. Give me a few more days so I have time to update the JVM list 
and install newer releases! I am glad to install them… but:

 

The problem with IBM J9 VMs is the hard install procedure, because it is not 
just a tgz file to unzip. You have to:

-          Download the installer in an endless 
login-then-click-agree-of-license-then-fill-out multiple 
pages-of-personal-details web page.

-          Run a Installshield-like installer and say yes to various questions. 
It is also not easily possible to install multiple versions in parallel, which 
makes testing multiple versions hard – also the Installshield installer is hard 
to use from a Console Window. You can also only install it in /opt, but just 
unzip to your home directory without root access.

-          Install the “Unrestricted policy files” support patch by unzipping 
various files and placing them in the install folder, otherwise Lucene/Solr 
build does not succeed and various Solr tests don’t pass at all, because its 
missing some encryption algorithms which are under export regulations, needed 
to setup the Jetty SSL sockets for testing Solr’s SSL support. Default IBM J9 
is also not able to connect to Apache’s Foundation Webservers during the build 
process for downloading various files (like Issue list, changes,… from 
https://issues.apache.org), because the HTTPS encryption used there is too 
strong. So the build does not even succeed by default, without using the 
“Unrestricted policy files” patch. Unfortunately, on every reinstall of IBM J9 
– although to same installation folder as before - you have to do the patch 
procedure again.

 

On the IBM web page I can currently only find downloads for: “IBM SDK, Java 
Technology Edition, Version 7 Release 1, Service Refresh 2 Fix pack 0” -> is 
this the one you mean? Do you have Java 8 downloads, too?

 

It would really be good, if IBM would provide suitable tar.gz downloads with 
full encryption support, maybe from EU download servers. This would make 
updating much easier. Oracle is able to provide those simple TGZ files with 
full encryption to connect to standard HTTPS web servers, so why not IBM? Is it 
maybe possible to get easier through some other channel?

 

Thanks for support! I hope we can make the current situation better and work 
together with IBM, like we started some closer communication with Oracle 
Quality engineeres. We would be interested to have better support for J9. Maybe 
IBM could run Lucene/Solr tests, which are “famous” for finding all kinds of 
JVM bugs because of the special and very intensive testing procedure, during 
their own QA.

 

Thanks,

Uwe

 

-----

Uwe Schindler

H.-H.-Meier-Allee 63, D-28213 Bremen

 <http://www.thetaphi.de/> http://www.thetaphi.de

eMail: [email protected]

 

From: Joseph Fourny [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 11:38 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: IBM Java 7 JVM Support

 

Hi folks,

Sorry for the spam, but I need to start somewhere :)

I am currently evaluating technologies like Solr and ElasticSearch (both built 
on Lucene). I came across a page,  
<http://wiki.apache.org/lucene-java/JavaBugs> 
http://wiki.apache.org/lucene-java/JavaBugs, which mentions a possible JIT 
compiler issue specific to the IBM JVM that could lead to index corruption. I 
am assuming this is an outstanding problem, since logging PMRs with IBM is 
difficult, unless you are a paying customer. 

I recently browsed the fix list for IBM Java 7 and there are few JIT compiler 
issues that have been resolved. Has anyone officially tested Lucene against IBM 
Java 7 Refresh 8? If not, can someone please verify whether or not the issue 
still exists? If it does, I may be able to help get the details of the issue 
into the hand of someone who can fix it. At the very least, I can have a PMR 
logged and some pressure applied. 

Thanks in advance!

Joseph Fourny
Software Developer, IBM Watson Analytics
IBM Canada
3755 Riverside Drive
ITN: 315-6295
Office: 1-613-356-6295
[email protected]

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