I tried running the file using "php h-m-m.php" but it didn't work... just literally did nothing. I'm using linux. maybe you know what's the problem?

[nadrad]

So, what happens when you run it, do you get any errors, does it freeze, or just return to the command line without doing anything? Which terminal emulator are you using?

[hananelroe]

no errors, just returns to command line. what do you mean by "terminal emulator"? I'm using what came with my POP!_OS installation...

[nadrad]

You probably search for "terminal" in your list of applications and run it to access the command line. The application you run this way is a "terminal emulator".

Open one terminal and run the following inside it: journalctl -f -g php

It shows you the latest logs that contain "php". Now open a second terminal and run the following: php -d log_errors=true h-m-m

(replace "h-m-m" with the new name if you've renamed the application.) The "-d log_errors=true" switch overrides your local settings, in case logging is disabled. Now check the first terminal and see if there's any errors and share them here.

[hananelroe]

no new errors when running it

[nadrad]

That's strange!

Do you mind installing another terminal emulator such as xfce-terminal or gnome-terminal and check to see if it works there?

Also, check your php version with php -v and let me know. I have 8.1 in my system. I think it should work with older php versions, in case that's what you have, but I can check to be sure.

[felipelalli]

The same issue here! No error, no log, just do nothing. PHP 7.4.28, terminal zsh.

[bheadmaster]

Same thing here. I'm running:

• Ubuntu 20.04
• PHP 7.4.3
• Konsole terminal 19.12.3
• Bash shell 5.0.15

I've added some debug echos on my fork: https://github.com/bheadmaster/h-m-m/commit/c8a2bff5a5ca22bcd869bd9aaa64b7482c66bcb6

It seems that the script exits during the execution of the set_up_screen() function - all I see is this:

$ php -d log_errors=true ./h-m-m 
Setting up screen...
$

I'll try to debug further, but I just wanted to give you this info for now.

[nadrad]

Thanks @bheadmaster for digging into it. It works in my Konsole, so, I'm going to install Ubuntu and php 7 in a virtual machine and see what's going on there. Meanwhile, maybe you can comment everything in the set_up_screen function to see whether it works without it in your setup.

[bheadmaster]

Actually, the log is incomplete. I've noticed you call some stty functions which change the terminal state, basically destroying all "echo" output - which is why only the first echo, before set_up_screen(), printed any output.

I set up a file logging mechanism (https://github.com/bheadmaster/h-m-m/commit/67a06737ba37c7d4d60cc1c8fc36dff2160d1a42) and executed the script. Here's the log:

Setting up screen...
Calling stty...
Disabling text cursor and getting rid of mouse...
Setting up screen - DONE
Loading settings...
Clearing...
Loading file...
Collapsing all...

So it seems that the real culprit is actually the collapse_all($mm) function call.

I'm investigating further, will report any new findings.

[bheadmaster]

Okay, I've set up some more logs, and it seems that the real (for real this time!) culprit is actually the calculate_x_and_lh function.

Here's the file I've executed (with highlighted line which logs last): https://github.com/bheadmaster/h-m-m/blob/8aa07def707f56cda2cc48baba8ef92121b49ec7/h-m-m#L430

Here's output I get when I run this file, before it crashes:

Setting up screen...
Calling stty...
Disabling text cursor and getting rid of mouse...
Setting up screen - DONE
Loading settings...
Clearing...
Loading file...
Collapsing all...
calling foreach...
calling foreach - DONE
building map...
resetting the global values...
resetting the global values - DONE
executing foreach...
executing foreach - DONE
setting up some node stuff...
setting up some node stuff - DONE
calculating new coordinates...
calculating x and lh - 1...
calculating x and lh - 2...
calculating x and lh - 3...

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out what's the real cause of the issue. I'll try a bit more, but can't promise anything. Hopefully these logs help you figure out what's wrong.

[Wojciechem]

@hananelroe @bheadmaster I suspect your php installations don't have pcntl extension enabled and configuration prevents you from seeing the error.

Please check for confirmation: php -m | grep pcntl php -i | grep error

[nadrad]

Thanks a lot, and well done figuring out that the extra echo's are lost in the alternate buffer. I got busy with something else and just got back to start setting up an Ubuntu machine. Where your logs have stopped are very unexpected! It may be a good idea to try this: create a file with a few lines of text and open it with h-m-m, to change those calculations and see if something changes.

[bheadmaster]

@Wojciechem Probably. I have zero experience in PHP, so I'm just throwing stuff at the wall until it sticks here :)

Here's the output you asked for:

$ php -m | grep pcntl
pcntl
$ php -i | grep error
display_errors => Off => Off
display_startup_errors => Off => Off
error_append_string => no value => no value
error_log => no value => no value
error_prepend_string => no value => no value
error_reporting => 22527 => 22527
html_errors => Off => Off
ignore_repeated_errors => Off => Off
log_errors => On => On
log_errors_max_len => 1024 => 1024
track_errors => Off => Off
xmlrpc_error_number => 0 => 0
xmlrpc_errors => Off => Off
opcache.error_log => no value => no value

Please do tell if there's anything that this output tells you.

@nadrad What do you mean by "open it with h-m-m"? Does "h-m-m" accept command line argument?

Something like ./h-m-m $FILENAME?

---

Anyways, I've investigated further - it was suspicious to me that the line calculating x and lh - 3... is printed, but not calculating x and lh - 3.1... nor calculating x and lh - 3.5... - as if the program didn't enter the if/else condition at all. That would mean that the computation inside the if was failing.

And it was!

For some reason, calling mb_strlen($node['title']) crashes the script. Here's the line: https://github.com/bheadmaster/h-m-m/blob/17b5d8f661e81788b9060e73efe16ad91e98eb6d/h-m-m#L446

Here's the log I get when I execute the above linked script:

Setting up screen...
Calling stty...
Disabling text cursor and getting rid of mouse...
Setting up screen - DONE
Loading settings...
Clearing...
Loading file...
Collapsing all...
calling foreach...
calling foreach - DONE
building map...
resetting the global values...
resetting the global values - DONE
executing foreach...
executing foreach - DONE
setting up some node stuff...
setting up some node stuff - DONE
calculating new coordinates...
calculating x and lh - 1...
calculating x and lh - 2...
calculating x and lh - 3...
evaluating node title...
evaluating node title - DONE
evaluating width tolerance times max width...
evaluating width tolerance times max width - DONE
getting type of node title...
string
getting type of node title - DONE
evaluating mb strlen of node title...

So mb_strlen($node['title']) fails. Anyone have any idea why?

I've checked the type of variable - gettype($node['title']) returns string.

Weird. But that's all I have.

[Wojciechem]

@bheadmaster Oh, so you do have pcntl, but lack mbstring! On Ubuntu, that'll probably be apt install php-mbstring :)

Errors are probably somewhere in /var/log/php7.4-cli.error.log

[bheadmaster]

I've installed php-mbstring and the original script works now. Thanks @Wojciechem !

Thanks @nadrad ! You might want to add a section in README.md that says that php-mbstring is a dependency. That'd probably prevent any further bug reports on this topic :)

[saltzm]

I had the same issue and after installing php-mbstring it at least opens and shows 'root', but as soon as I press 'o' or 'enter' it exits

[nadrad]

Someone has left this comment in Hacker News:

sudo apt install php7.4-mbstring # Fixed it. There's also package php-mbstring

It's compatible with what @bheadmaster has traced. Can you check and let us know?

[bheadmaster]

@saltzm Try to comment out line 164:

// system('stty cbreak -echo -crterase intr undef && tput smcup');      // production

And the content of the function clear on line 173:

function clear()       { /* echo "\033[2J"; */ }

Then re-run the script. You will most likely get a stack trace or an error.

[saltzm]

I had php 7.2, upgrading to 7.4 fixed it. Thanks!

[nadrad]

@bheadmaster , @Wojciechem , and everyone else, thanks a lot :) I'll add it to the readme for others.

And, by the way, @bheadmaster , yes, you can run h-m-m filename to open an existing file.