A big +1 to all of this. VNC is a poor substitute for command line server management in some cases, and I think it would make Squeak a *much* easier sell to my operations people. I've been wishing for something like this. 

On Jan 20, 2011, at 1:05 PM, Chris Muller <asqueaker at gmail.com> wrote:

> The Ma stack does something similar, although not crippling the system
> to the same extent.
> 
> How do you determine you're running headless?  I attached my
> implementation of #maIsHeadless for determining whether the VM was
> launched headless.  Perhaps we should integrate this functionality
> into Squeak and Pharo (or a variant without the prefix, of course).
> 
> Then, I use MaCommandLineProcessor which is concerned with handling
> the command-line Squeak was launched with:
> 
> Then, I write my .st scripts like:
> 
>    MaCommandLineProcessor do:
>        [ : arg1 : arg2 : arg3 : etc |
>        "my batch code script..."
>        "args come in as Strings."
>        "... you can have a variable number of args." ]
> 
> as well as a uniform error-handler for all scripts, to redirect to
> stdout and stderr, thusly:
> 
> MaCommandLineProcessor class>>#do: aBlock
>    | stdOut stdErr |
>    self ensureStartedUp.
>    stdOut := StandardFileStream stdout.
>    stdErr := StandardFileStream stderr.
>    [ aBlock valueWithAllArguments: self args ]
>        on: Notification , Warning
>        do:
>            [ : noti | stdOut
>                 nextPutAll: DateAndTime now asString ; space ;
>                 nextPutAll: noti description ;
>                 perform: MultiByteFileStream lineEndDefault.
>            noti resume ]
>        on: SyntaxErrorNotification
>        do:
>            [ : err | stdOut
>                 nextPutAll: err errorCode ;
>                 perform: MultiByteFileStream lineEndDefault.
>            self haltOrQuit ]
>        on: Error
>        do:
>            [ : err | stdErr
>                 nextPutAll: 'ERROR:  ' ;
>                 nextPutAll: DateAndTime now asString ; space ;
>                 perform: MultiByteFileStream lineEndDefault ;
>                 nextPutAll: err description ;
>                 perform: MultiByteFileStream lineEndDefault.
>            err isMaUserError ifFalse:
>                [ stdErr nextPutAll:
>                    (err signalerContext longStack
>                        copyReplaceAll: Character cr asString
>                        with: (String perform: MultiByteFileStream lineEndDefault)) ].
>            self haltOrQuit ]
> 
> #haltOrQuit is where it checks #maIsHeadless to determine whether to
> halt or quit.
> 
> MaCommandLineProcessor is part of "Ma base additions" package, so any
> of the "Ma" softwares (Magma, Maui, Ma client server, etc.) will have
> it.  But I think it would be useful to put this (or, a variant)
> directly into a future Squeak.
> 
> - Chris
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 2:39 PM, Igor Stasenko <siguctua at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello folks.
>> 
>> I'd like to ask, if there any 'standartized' instruments for headless
>> images (or alike).
>> 
>> I need a simple things:
>>  - redirect all  ToolSet/UIManager messages to Transcript
>>  - redirect Transcript logging to file or stdout
>> 
>> in short, these tools should serve a simple, yet important purpose:
>>  - if image runs in headless mode, it should suppress anything which
>> expecting user interaction (like showing warnings with 'continue'
>> button) and either log such messages to file
>> or simply quit image with error message.
>> 
>> Without such tool it is quite difficult to monitor, what happens with
>> your headless image.. unless you have RFB installed.. but that is
>> different and unrelated story.
>> 
>> 
>> I did a prototype once for Hydra (you can check it at
>> SqS/HydraVM/HydraVM.mcz package)
>> there are two subclasses:
>> - MorphicUIManager subclass: #HydraUIManager
>> - StandardToolSet subclass: #HydraDebugToolSet
>> 
>> and
>> - WriteStream subclass: #HydraTranscript
>> 
>> which can be installed as a Transcript.
>> 
>> And in order to prepare image to run in headless mode, i issued:
>>        ToolSet unregister: StandardToolSet.
>>        ToolSet register: HydraDebugToolSet.
>>        UIManager default: HydraUIManager new.
>> 
>> Also, HydraTranscript
>> startUp does something like:
>> 
>>        TranscriptStream
>>                newTranscript: (self basicNew initialize
>>                                on: (String new: 1000))
>> 
>> 
>> With that i could run the image in headless mode, knowing that in case
>> of error or warning etc, all will be redirected to transcript,
>> moreover i even stopped the UI process, so it never run on headless images.
>> 
>> I wonder if there are other work, which can offer similar,
>> and is there any way to detect that image are running in headless mode?
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Best regards,
>> Igor Stasenko AKA sig.
>> 
>> 
> <SmalltalkImage-maIsHeadless.st.gz>
>