On Thu, 28 Jul 2016 14:01:37 -0400
Gene Heskett <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thursday 28 July 2016 12:12:07 Nicklas Karlsson wrote:
> 
> > > It might be worth reconsidering how unconnected pins are handled.
> > > Letting something read or write to dummy can cause nasty bugs.
> > > That's particularly true for writing to dummy.
> >
> > Reading a unconnected pin should result at least in a warning. I guess
> > this could be checked beforehand as soon as linuxcnc is started.
> 
> And, since unconnected pins, at least to the external world, read as a 
> logic 1, how do we discern between the unconnected pin, and the g38.2 
> probe that has not yet contacted a grounded object?

This is a problem with default value. Some compiler can complain if variable is 
not initialized which may happen then declared/defined or later.

> hal OTOH maintains an internal connection table, and I would think it 
> would fairly easy to scan the hal files, and detect a "net name source" 
> statement that was never subjected to adding a target load.

I am pretty sure catching used undefined signals are useful although there are 
seldom a problem so priorty may be low. There may also be cases where set a 
default value is a good idea.


> That still leaves the scenario where one has defined a list of target 
> loads, intending to feed that list from a previously defined "net name 
> source", but the names do not match. It can only spot that sort of error 
> if the list of target loads is known as write only.  That is not always 
> carved in stone when dealing with real hardware.  Lets just say that it 
> has caught ne out a few times, with "interesting results".

The hostmot driver send information about available signals/pin then starting 
and it make complaint if it does not agree with configuration so catching 
undefined signals before threads are started should be possible.

> I have had several occasions where, after an extended uptime, I went to 
> run a routine to determine the mounted tools tlo, and drove the tool 
> thru the gauge contact and into the jig or table, crushing the tool.
> 
> The second time it happened I put a meter on the probe line and watched 
> the contact take place as I jogged it down very slowly. But It was not 
> being reported on the halmeter.  So I shut down and swapped the 5i25 
> card, which worked for about a month, then did it again. I verified that 
> the contact was not visible to the halmeter, and simply rebooted.  That 
> fixed it and it has fixed it 4 or 5 times since.  That says its a hal 
> problem.

Yes. Even though periodically sending values use bandwidth all the time it 
avoid the synchronization problem that happen if only changes are sent.

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