Topic: Free trial bug on MC 21 (Read 8972 times)

Okanochiwa · « **on:** August 15, 2015, 11:05:45 am »

I was using JRiver MC 20 on free trial and decided to try the MC 21. The first launch worked, I ran the library restore and was asked to restart MC. I had to kill the MC 21 process because it was stuck. Then I had a warning message that my trial has expired the option to extend it by email. I extended the trial period, received the key by email, enter it - had to kill again the MC 21 process - and now it says that the trial period has expired.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #1 on:** August 15, 2015, 12:38:29 pm »

Are you using Media Center 21.0.4 for Linux?

Okanochiwa · « **Reply #2 on:** August 15, 2015, 03:27:20 pm »

Yes, I am on Linux Mint. But it would more accurate to say I am trying to use MC 21.

mwillems · « **Reply #3 on:** August 15, 2015, 03:36:24 pm »

Quote from: Okanochiwa on August 15, 2015, 03:27:20 pm

Yes, I am on Linux Mint. But it would more accurate to say I am trying to use MC 21.

You missed the important part of his post (the version number). The bugs with the trial expiring instantly were fixed in 21.0.4

Okanochiwa · « **Reply #4 on:** August 15, 2015, 03:40:12 pm »

Yes I confirm this is version 21.0.4 since the packet name is mediacenter21_21.0.4_amd64.deb

AlexS · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2015, 02:24:56 pm »

From my end...

Completely clean install of Ubuntu Studio (latest).

Followed instructions here (apart from restore license).
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99334.0

After restarting JRiver once maybe twice I was prompted to email to extend trial. I could no longer run MC21. No time at all for a trial.
Version installed is 21.0.4.

No bother for me as I installed the master license, however please be aware this is an issue.

Thanks.

AlexS · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2015, 03:36:44 pm »

Also please note if you end the MC 21.0.4 task you will lose the master license (even if you reboot), it will go into expired trial mode, and will have to restore it.
Additional info I am running 64 bit.
Thanks

mwillems · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2015, 04:08:35 pm »

Quote from: AlexS on August 16, 2015, 03:36:44 pm

Also please note if you end the MC 21.0.4 task you will lose the master license (even if you reboot), it will go into expired trial mode, and will have to restore it.
Additional info I am running 64 bit.
Thanks

I can confirm that "kill"ing the MC process seems to dump the license with this version.

I'm not seeing the instant trial expiration issues with this build though.

AlexS · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2015, 06:40:17 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on August 16, 2015, 04:08:35 pm

I'm not seeing the instant trial expiration issues with this build though.

Just to emphasize again, this was a totally clean Ubuntu Studio install (14.04.3) and I followed the instructions to the letter...
I suggest you test it on a LiveCD or something.
Maybe you have a different build of MC?

Cheers...

mwillems · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2015, 07:31:35 pm »

Quote from: AlexS on August 16, 2015, 06:40:17 pm

Just to emphasize again, this was a totally clean Ubuntu Studio install (14.04.3) and I followed the instructions to the letter...
I suggest you test it on a LiveCD or something.
Maybe you have a different build or MC?

Cheers...

I don't work for JRiver, I'm just a user like you; I only have access to the same builds you do.

Bob will be around during the work week, he may have some insight.

bob · « **Reply #10 on:** August 17, 2015, 01:35:55 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on August 16, 2015, 07:31:35 pm

I don't work for JRiver, I'm just a user like you; I only have access to the same builds you do.

Bob will be around during the work week, he may have some insight.

I don't think the trial extension works on linux.

As for the trial/license, you are saying that when you hard kill the mediacenter21 process it loses the license on the next start?

mwillems · « **Reply #11 on:** August 17, 2015, 02:04:29 pm »

Quote from: bob on August 17, 2015, 01:35:55 pm

I don't think the trial extension works on linux.

As for the trial/license, you are saying that when you hard kill the mediacenter21 process it loses the license on the next start?

I had a licensed instance of MC that locked up; I killed it from the command line and on my next restart it gave me the "trial" prompt.

bob · « **Reply #12 on:** August 17, 2015, 04:42:02 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on August 17, 2015, 02:04:29 pm

I had a licensed instance of MC that locked up; I killed it from the command line and on my next restart it gave me the "trial" prompt.

Ok. It doesn't do that when it's running normally on my test machine.
I'm using the ext4 filesystem.
It's possible that the settings file is open when you kill MC but I wouldn't expect that to mess with the settings file.

AlexS · « **Reply #13 on:** August 17, 2015, 05:17:15 pm »

I killed it on the latest Ubuntu studio (64 bit) with ext3.
It happened when a library import went wrong..
Further details see second post:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99472.0

Cheers..

bob · « **Reply #14 on:** August 17, 2015, 05:28:08 pm »

Quote from: AlexS on August 17, 2015, 05:17:15 pm

I killed it on the latest Ubuntu studio (64 bit) with ext3.
It happened when a library import went wrong..
Further details see second post:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99472.0

Cheers..

Is there a reason you aren't using a journaling filesystem?

AlexS · « **Reply #15 on:** August 17, 2015, 05:32:21 pm »

Yup software and OS compatibility.
Cheers...

mwillems · « **Reply #16 on:** August 17, 2015, 05:32:55 pm »

Quote from: bob on August 17, 2015, 04:42:02 pm

Ok. It doesn't do that when it's running normally on my test machine.
I'm using the ext4 filesystem.
It's possible that the settings file is open when you kill MC but I wouldn't expect that to mess with the settings file.

My case was with an ext4 filesystem, but it was on a Raspberry Pi so it's kind of the wild west. I probably wouldn't have reported it if someone else hadn't experienced the same thing

leezer3 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 17, 2015, 06:47:43 pm »

It doesn't lose the license here after a force kill using XFS on Jessie (Upgraded last night, promptly spent today fixing the mess it made of GRUB and the VNC server

)

Journaling filesystems:
ext3, at least by default is journaling. Disabling the journal will essentially make it an Ext2 filesystem, running under the Ext3 driver.
If you've turned journaling off specifically using tune2fs, then frankly I'd call that 100% unsupported by any distribution, let alone MC.

The only remotely good reason I can even think of off the top of my head for turning off journalling is for ultra-paranoid file encryption purposes.
There is *no* OS compatibility issue that I'm aware of. If you've turned it off because you wish to use Ext2FSD on Windows, don't- This works perfectly well with the journal turned on (Ext3 is backwards mount compatible with Ext2, and for that matter Ext4 is also compatible if you don't play with the tune2fs options)
Whilst turning off journaling may increase the filesystem speed access/ write speeds very marginally on a heavily disk dependant system, if that was your aim, it's frankly a plain stupid idea- Invest in a decent SSD / RAID setup instead.

Again, I can't think of *any* software that will react differently on a journaled filesystem. Please enlighten me

-Leezer-

AlexS · « **Reply #18 on:** August 17, 2015, 07:35:25 pm »

It was formatted with ext3. I haven't change the defaults that have come with Ubuntu. I haven't got a clue about journaled filesystems and Linux not sure where this is coming from....
So if you say ext3 is by default journaling then it is journaling. Haven't done any hacks like you mention...
Ubuntu Studio was a fresh install. All trusty.
Thanks.

leezer3 · « **Reply #19 on:** August 17, 2015, 07:54:03 pm »

If you're on the Ubuntu Studio defaults, then you're actually using an Ext4 filesystem, not that it really matters

Looking into your linked post, I suspect you probably completely corrupted the settings attempting to import the Windows library, and hence MC dumped the corrupt file & created a new one on restart.
IMHO the force kill was irrelevant to what you saw.

Your post above sounded very much like you'd turned journaling off deliberately. This isn't something that I (or for that matter any reputable Linux forum) would ever advise doing-
Whilst you are able to tinker with practically anything you please, if you encounter esoteric bugs after doing so and are unable to debug yourself, support will always be limited at best.

Whilst I wouldn't quite put disabling journaling with the classic sticky on the (mis)use of rm -rf , in my books it comes rather close as plain stupid advice to be giving out/ following

-Leezer-

AlexS · « **Reply #20 on:** August 17, 2015, 09:40:09 pm »

Quote from: leezer3 on August 17, 2015, 07:54:03 pm

If you're on the Ubuntu Studio defaults, then you're actually using an Ext4 filesystem, not that it really matters

I am using the Ubuntu defaults, I specifically formatted the partition with ext3 in GParted upon installation and decided where it should live on the hard drive.

df -T shows
/dev/sda6 ext3 32896880 8964816 22251848 29% /

and...

sudo dumpe2fs /dev/sda6 | more

Journal backup: inode blocks
Journal features: journal_incompat_revoke
Journal size: 128M
Journal length: 32768

I have no idea how to turn off journal mode, or anything about it, and I have not even mentioned this mode anywhere until it was brought up.#
All I did was install Ubuntu with ext3 and a swap partition, and then JRiver. I accepted all the defaults. The install really could not be any cleaner other than I selected ext3 as the file system.
There you go.

AlexS · « **Reply #21 on:** August 17, 2015, 10:16:17 pm »

Quote from: AlexS

I killed it on the latest Ubuntu studio (64 bit) with ext3.
It happened when a library import went wrong..
Further details see second post:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99472.0

Quote from: bob on August 17, 2015, 05:28:08 pm

Is there a reason you aren't using a journaling filesystem?

Quote from: AlexS

Yup software and OS compatibility.
Cheers...

Just a FYI when you asked this question I assumed you were telling me ext3 was not a journalling file system (I had not mentioned this before).
It turns out however it is there by default (see post above), so this is all a red herring I assume.

The "software" I was talking about is Acronis Disk Director 11 which only supports ext3. I will upgrading to a larger SSD soon so I need it to be compatible in case I need to move partitions around.
I guess after that I should considering moving to ext4.

I hope you are now 100% satisfied now that journalling is on.

Thanks...

bob · « **Reply #22 on:** August 18, 2015, 01:58:22 pm »

I was just wondering if this had anything to do with the file system. I'd forgotten ext3 did journaling.
I suspect that it was the import of the windows libraries that messed it up not killing it. There is simply no cross-platform handling of paths in place yet.

AlexS · « **Reply #23 on:** August 18, 2015, 03:33:39 pm »

I assume I've lost a licensed instance from this kill (not 100% sure how it works). If you send me a couple of extra licenses I can test it again perhaps.
Otherwise I'll just leave it and hope it does not happen again otherwise I could end up being unlicensed if it crashes again $:-\$

I am trying to get imports sorted, if you could comment here it would help a lot...

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99474.0

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99472.0

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99477.0

Thanks Bob..

mwillems · « **Reply #24 on:** August 18, 2015, 04:18:52 pm »

Quote from: AlexS on August 18, 2015, 03:33:39 pm

I assume I've lost a licensed instance from this kill (not 100% sure how it works). If you send me a couple of extra licenses I can test it again perhaps.
Otherwise I'll just leave it and hope it does not happen again otherwise I could end up being unlicensed if it crashes again $:-\$

The .mjr file sent to you when you restore a license is good for 14 days and doesn't use additional restores. If you use the command line license restore option with the .mjr file, you can test to your heart's content.

AlexS · « **Reply #25 on:** August 18, 2015, 07:00:50 pm »

OK good thanks...

AlexS · « **Reply #26 on:** August 18, 2015, 07:06:46 pm »

OK ran it, clean, stoped the default auto import.
Killed it.
Registration info still there.
Hopefully a false alarm, although I haven't tested it during an import which will be the other scenario.

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Author Topic: Free trial bug on MC 21 (Read 8972 times)