gen-index caveat in 4.0

gen-index caveat in 4.0

[Yngve Svendsen]

(Details at 
http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?cmd=view&pr=180&database=gnats )

I tried migrating one of our databases to Gnats 4. Among other things, I 
had to regenerate the index file. I first tried leaving the default setting 
of "binary-index true" in dbconfig. gen-index generated a faulty index, 
with queries bombing with the error message

622 - Index file /usr/local/share/gnats/helpdesk/gnats-adm/index contains 
incorrect number of fields

After setting binary-index to "false" and rerunning gen-index, things 
worked as they should.

Inspecting the check-db script, I noticed the --numeric option of 
gen-index, which makes gen-index sort its output by PR number. On a hunch I 
tried passing that option when regernerating the index. And that produced a 
working binary index!

In short: When regenerating a binary index, use the --numeric option with 
gen-index.

Now, I wonder what causes this. If it is a simple oversight in the 
binary-index handling of gnatsd, it should be corrected. But if numeric 
sorting order is always needed due to design, gen-index should be modified 
to use the --numeric option as default.

Yngve Svendsen
IS Engineer
Clustra AS, Trondheim, Norway
yngve.svendsen@clustra.com