[daip] AIPS 1: TASK ACTIVE problem

[Eric Greisen]

Philip Lah wrote:
> Hello Eric,
> 
>   I am repeatedly encountering a problem with AIPS not completing a task 
> with the error message
> 
> AIPS 1: TASK ACTIVE
> 
>   being given.  This usually happens with FITLD or FITTP but does not 
> occur everytime these tasks are run.  Every so often for reasons unknown 
> to me AIPS just chooses to stop.  Do you have any idea on the possible 
> causes of this problem and how to stop this from happening?
> 

The message above is given when AIPS attempts to start a task and the 
operating system tells it that a previous task by that name is still 
running.  When you get one of these, there are several things to do:

I will use FITTP for the example:

1. ps -elf | grep FITTP

2. ls -l /tmp/FITTP*

The /tmp area gets files named e.g. FITTP1.nnnnn where nnnnn is the 
process number.  The are you active routine looks at /tmp and then asks 
the OS if nnnnn is still running.  If /tmp has a FITTP file then do
     ps -elf | grep nnnnn


I do not know what you mean "AIPS just chooses to stop".  Be aware that 
GO has adverbs - most especially DOWAIT.  If that is TRUE (> 0) then the 
task will not resume AIPS until it finishes more or less normally or 
disappears (AIPS detects that and resumes itself).

I guess I need a more complete description of what is going on in order 
to answer the question properly.

Eric Greisen