[ERROR, DEPLOYMENT FAILED]
It turns out one of the servers wasn't accepting my update request for whatever reason. Looking at the list of transfers, it was of course the Computer Science Department's system. In terms of staff and hardware, the CSE department hasn't changed anything since the 90s. My immediate thought is that the ftp daemon was down due to some minor manfunction, most likely some sysadmin screwing up their job.
Of course, this means I'd have to telnet into their systems remotely. It was almost midnight, I set my alarm for the morning so I could just pass out the minute I was done.
telnet open rhelp243@cse.psu.edu
>
I looked at the tools available. Their machines were standard red-hat boxes, but all the software was outdated. I had to use ksh88, a shell so old it can't even tell you its version. They didn't have a recursive grep, and they only had C89. In other words, these tools were 20 years out of date.
I tried to start the server after adding my deploy script to its path
/etc/init.d/vsftpd restart
and got the error message
ksh: deploy.ksh: not found [No such file or directory]
This happens in older versions when there's a syntax error, or an error in specifying the correct ksh in the shebang. Really, anything can cause that error message when using such an old version.
The obvious came to me: I should just build the newer tools on the system.
I moved the source for bash, python and their dependencies on this system. I then wrote a couple lines to build all of them. After 10 minutes the build finished successfully. Everything should work, but I diligently ran my tools again, just to see the success.
ksh: lfie.ksh: not found [No such file or directory]
Ok, cool, another file mismatch somewhere. I tried investigating /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf, but it didn't point to the file. I tried looking for the mystery file but couldn't find it. I either didn't have permissions to view it or it wasn't on the system. Probably a cached file that no longer exists. I flushed the system's DLLs and forced it to refresh all file descriptors and ran the command again.
ksh: lfie.ksh: not found [No such file or directory]
I couldn't handle the stupidity. This dumb assignment, this outdated server, my impending sleep deprivation, and even the ticking clock were all pissing me off. I was tired and wanted to be done.
I found it increasingly difficult to focus. The power seemed to fluctuate, the howling wind was almost distracting me when looking for obvious errors, I simply ran the command again.
ksh: lfie.ksh: ERROR NOT FOUND [No such file or directory]
That wasn't the usual error message.
Immediately after displaying it, the shell actually crashed, and forced my session to log out. I remotely logged in again, finding my tool builds removed, and saw one file present.
>ls
life.ksh
Wasn't that the file I was looking for? I decided to try opening it for editing, but as I typed the command the wind seemed to panic. The monitor's glow became eerie, almost otherworldly. I was in the zone, so I didn't process what was happening until I ran the command.
>vim life.ksh
.
.
.
The temperature around me plummeted.
All of a sudden, my computer freaked out. The monitor produced a horrid sound, filling the room with a distorted buzzing. My head felt like it was splitting. I tried turning it off but it wouldn't go away. The sound only grew, almost becoming a distorted scream. I tried ripping the power cords out, the HDMI, everything. At some point, I couldn't even think anymore.
Barely able to act, I smashed my monitor against the desk and pummeled it to bits. After a few frantic minutes, I was relieved. My hands were slightly bleeding, but the buzzing was gone, and only the clock filled the silence. After calming down, I thought of what I'd do about not deploying on the old boxes. I could ask for an extension, talk about unforeseen circumstances. I could also try pulling out a random excuse. Maybe I'd just explain the error and the absurd nature of being asked to port my code to unsupported platform.
I lay down and had nearly faded into sleep when it finally hit me
...
.........
all my clocks were digital
track: whimper
I became tense. I didn't want to open my eyes, but the ticking continually reeled in my focus. Maybe it'd go away if I was asleep, or maybe it was waiting for me to go to sleep. It could be an appliance I'd forgotten. Each tock seemed to get louder and louder, echoing throughout every corner of the room. I almost got up when I suddenly felt freezing hands locking around my throat, pushing me back into bed.
I couldn't breathe. My neck felt like it would break. I wanted opened my eyes but my eyelids wouldn't react. I couldn't get my limp arms to fight, I couldn't even scream.
----
I don't remember what happened after that. I might have fainted, because the next thing I remember was being late for my classes the next morning.
I explained what happened to everyone I could. My friends, parents, teachers. No one believed me, giving me lines like: "you're just imagining things, don't try to skip class" and "this is what you get for pulling so many all-nighters".
I got the same demeaning treatment when I finally talked to the professor in charge of my assignment. Luckily, he said he wouldn't hold it against me, and would take care of the issue personally, since many students had trouble with older legacy systems anyway.
I was packing my things to leave, satisfied that it wasn't a big deal.
"Oh and one more thing, " he said.
...
"If you work at a company that uses old software, don't force them to update everything, they usually have a reason for it."
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