Status report

Thought I'd give a quick "status report" for LUV and Hivebits/HBIT (and Wusang).

The bots are still down. Yesterday I spent some time trying things:

• The error seems to suggest a socket connection snag that appears in a library, so I tried a couple of workarounds suggested, no luck.
• I though perhaps an update was needed, so I updated some things, no luck.
• I thought perhaps an update may have caused the snag. So, I tried to backdate some things to earlier versions, no luck.
• This was all done using scripts built off of the open source pizza-bot script. When LUV first started, it used used the open source "distribubot" script. So, I tried that, no luck. Oddly, it did give the same error (sock.connect). That was only a half-hearted try, so, maybe that could be tried again.
• I thought the snag might be with the VPS. I use Privex.io, which I really like because you can pay for it in HIVE! I reinstalled the server...wipes everything back to a starting point. Then I set up the LUVbot again...same result, no luck.
• I tried to run the LUVbot off of two machines locally. On my linux laptop, I was just unsuccessful, getting errors of various kinds. (Thinking back, I'm not sure if I ever did run the bot off my laptop, but failed yesterday.) I also tried on a Windows 10 machine, using Linux WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Never tried that before, also got errors, no luck.
• I would really like to try the LUVbot on a different VPS, just a test. But, I really don't want to sign up with my credit card for a "free" trial. I'd used Amazon AWS at the start with LUV, it worked great, but once they've got your credit card number...it was unimaginably hard to get the auto payment process to stop. (If any one little process on the VPS was still running, boom, charged another month. It literally took me about a year to stop it. And now that I write this...I wouldn't be surprised if it strikes again.)
• I set up the open source Alivebot (fork of pizza-bot) and messed with it a bit. I got it "half running", I'd say.

At that point, I was out of time allotted for messing around on things. Actually, I was feeling rather discouraged. Stepping outside, some flowers I'd planted had bloomed and were shining in the sun. That helped a lot. It's the little things!

Going forward...

I see these options:

1. get the LUVbot figured out and running on Privex (preferred)
2. use a different VPS (not preferred)
3. revert back to distribubot (not preferred...too many alterations made while using LUVbot/pizza-bot)
4. switch to Alivebot (possibility, since it also is based on pizza)

Wrap up:

• Honestly, part of me says, "It's been a good run, I've learned some things, hang it up." But, being kind of stubborn, it just annoys me that it's broken.
• My gut tells me it's a small thing, a simple fix. I've simply got to find it.
• It's been very encouraging, the kind words and help offered by Hivers. 🙂
• So, I plan to keep messing around with it.

That said, it'll be a week before I get back to things. Monday through Saturday I've got to do a fair bit of traveling (life stuff) and I'm committed to traveling very light, leaving the laptop at home with the desktop.

This passage came to mind yesterday and I put it out on D.buzz:

2 Cor 4:8-9 - We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Edit: I get back on Saturday, not Friday