LiveCode Server no longer works with IIS

[Ledigimate]

Dear LiveCoders,

The last version of LiveCode Server that works with IIS is version 6.7.11.
Can someone in the know please confirm if support for IIS has been discontinued?

Regards

Gerrie

[FourthWorld]

The most recent Release Notes, for v9dp6, include "Windows Server 2008" among its supported OSes:
http://livecodestatic.com/downloads/liv ... 0_dp_6.pdf

It doesn't mention IIS specifically, though I can't imagine any change which would prevent it from running there. Generally speaking, CGIs are CGIs, and as long as the engine can run on a system it should be able to be triggered on that system via CGI.

Are you able to get the engine to run via the command line? What exactly are you seeing?

[Ledigimate]

All of the LiveCode release notes since version 4.5.0 up to now include Windows Server 2008 among its supported OSes.
These notes do not specifically apply to the LiveCode Server edition.
Going through the release notes I noticed that they stopped releasing notes for the server edition since version 5.5.0.
Yes there are release notes included in the Server edition downloads, but it is the exact same release notes included with the other editions and it doesn't contain anything pertaining to the server edition.

Something changed in LiveCode Server version 7.0.0 which caused it, and all subsequent versions, to not work with IIS. Yes it works on Windows Server 2008... with Apache, not IIS.

Yes it runs OK via the command line and the correct output is shown there, but with IIS http error 502.2 is shown.
I examined the failed request trace logs and narrowed the error down to the livecode server executable not outputting any headers due to terminating prematurely.
This is the case with every version of LiveCode Server from version 7.0.0 up to now.

- Gerrie

[SparkOut]

I have not ever tried lc server on iis, but premature output errors suggest to me a whitespace issue. It might possibly be connected to line ending differences but perhaps try a small file with absolutely no whitespace between the tags:
<lc --first lc statement ?> nowhitespacehere <lc -- next lc statement ?>
Where the next statement is on a new line, check for spaces after the closing tag and before the return. Even try with the tags run together.
Otherwise, not sure. It could conceivably be a permissions issue for execution of script or engine. One day I might spin up a test iis environment and see what happens, but don't hold your breath.

[Ledigimate]

I think we can rule out a whitespace or permissions issue, because lc server version 6.7.11 and prior does work.
It's version 7.0.0 and later that doesn't work.
The engine is launched by CGI but terminates before it can output any http headers.

[FourthWorld]

When running from the command line do you see any error outputs in the console, such as unmet dependencies or script errors?

Anything in your server's error log?

[Ledigimate]

When running from the command line do you see any error outputs in the console, such as unmet dependencies or script errors?

No, when running from the command line, the correct output is shown without any error.

Anything in your server's error log?

Yes, here's an excerpt from the server's failed request trace log:

Code: Select all

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
 <System>
  <Provider Name="WWW Server" Guid="{3A2A4E84-4C21-4981-AE10-3FDA0D9B0F83}"/>
  <EventID>0</EventID>
  <Version>1</Version>
  <Level>4</Level>
  <Opcode>5</Opcode>
  <Keywords>0x20</Keywords>
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2017-03-25T14:05:45.213Z"/>
  <Correlation ActivityID="{80000040-0000-FD00-B63F-84710C7967BB}"/>
  <Execution ProcessID="7452" ThreadID="8164"/>
  <Computer>DEV8</Computer>
 </System>
 <EventData>
  <Data Name="ContextId">{80000040-0000-FD00-B63F-84710C7967BB}</Data>
  <Data Name="Headers">livecode-server exited due to fatal signal 11
</Data>
 </EventData>
 <RenderingInfo Culture="en-ZA">
  <Opcode>CGI_PREMATURE_TERMINATION</Opcode>
  <Keywords>
   <Keyword>CGI</Keyword>
  </Keywords>
 </RenderingInfo>
 <ExtendedTracingInfo xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/trace">
  <EventGuid>{E2E55403-0D2E-4609-A470-BE0DA04013C0}</EventGuid>
 </ExtendedTracingInfo>
</Event>
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
 <System>
  <Provider Name="WWW Server" Guid="{3A2A4E84-4C21-4981-AE10-3FDA0D9B0F83}"/>
  <EventID>0</EventID>
  <Version>1</Version>
  <Level>3</Level>
  <Opcode>18</Opcode>
  <Keywords>0x100</Keywords>
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2017-03-25T14:05:45.213Z"/>
  <Correlation ActivityID="{80000040-0000-FD00-B63F-84710C7967BB}"/>
  <Execution ProcessID="7452" ThreadID="8164"/>
  <Computer>DEV8</Computer>
 </System>
 <EventData>
  <Data Name="ContextId">{80000040-0000-FD00-B63F-84710C7967BB}</Data>
  <Data Name="ErrorDescription">The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers.  The headers it did return are "livecode-server exited due to fatal signal 11
".</Data>
 </EventData>
 <RenderingInfo Culture="en-ZA">
  <Opcode>SET_RESPONSE_ERROR_DESCRIPTION</Opcode>
  <Keywords>
   <Keyword>RequestNotifications</Keyword>
  </Keywords>
 </RenderingInfo>
 <ExtendedTracingInfo xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/trace">
  <EventGuid>{002E91E3-E7AE-44AB-8E07-99230FFA6ADE}</EventGuid>
 </ExtendedTracingInfo>
</Event>

The livecode CGI engine fails with fatal signal 11. I have no idea what that means.

- Gerrie

[FourthWorld]

Since this seems consistent and I can think of no reason for a fatal error, I'd suggest filing a bug report:
http://quality.livecode.com/

The team will either be able to fix it, or offer advisement on how to change the configuration to avoid the crash.

[Ledigimate]

Bug report filed: http://quality.livecode.com/show_bug.cgi?id=19475