[Condor-users] RE: Condor & MB/other apps that need to launch GUIs‏

[Steve Shaw <steveshaw89@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

It turns out to be more of an impatience / suspend that was my problem.  Once I keyed down my suspend rules and set my image_size, the jobs started completing :).

So, no additional help needed here.

Steve

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From: steveshaw89@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: condor-users@xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:59:34 +0000
Subject: [Condor-users] Condor & MB/other apps that need to launch GUIs‏

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone out there has used Condor with MotionBuilder (and if so, maybe knows something about
the problem that I'm having) or another app that requires the GUI to launch (which MB, even when running from command line and launching a script, does). 
I'm currently trying to set up some MotionBuilder work via Condor.  I've been trying to run my scripts but now have dumbed it down to just trying to open the darn application with a simple script that prints out something and closes the app in a one-line .bat file.

Something along these lines:

executable=C:\run.bat
run_as_owner=True
getenv=True
(plus log, err, out, etc.)
queue

where run.bat would just have:
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MotionBuilder-7.5\bin\motionbuilder.exe -suspendMessages myscript.py"

Problem is that MB just looks to hang there and never open (i.e. never do the print, etc.).  I look at Process Explorer and I can see
that! MB is there (i.e. condor_exec.exe, or in other words python, ran my script and launched MB), but its 'Suspended'. 
When I set USE_VISIBLE_DESKTOP to True on my startd machines,then I can see the condor_exec window there but the
application never opens up.  The job just hangs indefinitely.

Its not just this app either.  Maya also has the same issue (where it won't open) -- though maya operations can all be done on command line without
having to open up the GUI so I doubt people would see this issue -- and nor will some wx apps that I've got.  However, if I do a launch Firefox
or Notepad.exe (which would be kind of silly because that will just hang the job ;)) or a bunch of other apps, it works a-ok (i.e. with USE_VISIBLE_DESKTOP
on, I can actually see the application opening up).
Does anybody know why some apps with GUIs would open up fine and work via Condor and others would not?

Couple other things:
- Using Condor 7! .0.4
- All the machines have MB and this bat file works fine when r un w/out MB
- All the MB messages are suspended on the command line (-suspendMessages) so its not the case where some
message is preventing the app from running.
- I've seen the threads on USE_VISIBLE_DESKTOP not working after a while, but that isn't the case when I try it
(I mean I eventually run into that issue and have to restart my machine, but it isn't a problem here).

I don't know if this would be a Condor thing, a Windows thing, or an MB/Maya thing, but hoping somebody has tried/done this before.
Appreciate any input.  Even just a 'I run MB with Condor and it works fine' response is some assurance that it can be done :).

Thanks,
Steve

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