Fault tolerance & chat

Today we have seen some improvements in two different parts of GGS. I have extended the GGSChat program a bit, it now features nicknames stored in GGS via Mnesia (ggs_db), a list to show the nicks, and some other cosmetics.

This is interesting because this is the first usage of ggs_db, and I can conclude that it works nicely.

I have also added some fault tolerance to the ggs_coordinator. Now clients are unaffected by crashes in ggs_coordinator. This was mostly accomplished by adding a backup server which ggs_coordinator can restore it's old state from when it crashes, but also by changing the startup routine of new tables.

Previously we created new tables using gen_server:start_link, but this didn't work very well. ggs_coordinator becomes the parent process of all tables, and when ggs_coordinator goes down, it brought all the tables down with it. I solved this by using gen:server:start instead, and also I enable trap_exit to catch any exit messages.

Many features of GGS have now been tested using GGSChat, and next in line is the room creation feature. Currently all clients join the same room when GGSChat starts, I want to be able to specify a room. This makes the chat a bit more IRC-like.

Oh, here's how the chat looks now: