[documentation] Draft (please comment): Can't open file: 'TABLE.MYI' (errno: 145)

[Gary Feldman]

Anisa wrote:
> ...
>
>     > errno: 145 is a MySQL error.
>     >
>     I think there needs to be some context around this.  How did the user
>     get to this FAQ item?  Searching for "errno: 145"?  Or searching for
>     "user error: Can't open file"?  The reason is that people are often
>     intimidated by error messages, so some help in just reading this (as
>     in:  If you see "(errno: nnn)", where "nnn" is some number, then
>     this is
>     a MySQL error).  But I don't think that sort of help belongs here.
>
>
> But I feel very relieved when I look in the troubleshooting faq, or 
> indeed, anywhere in the handbook, when there is something with just 
> the right title.  :)
So do I.  The problem is that the right title for you may not be the 
same as the right title for me. 
> What I did with the duplicate error faq was to have a short and long 
> explanation.  Would that do?
I think I'm not explaining myself well, because I don't see how that 
would address the point I'm raising.

One difference between this and the duplicate entry FAQ is that there 
are a variety of errors that can occur with regard to being unable to 
open a file.  Suppose there's more than one FAQ on this subject.  How 
will the user find the right one?

Or suppose the user starts looking in the FAQ under "user error" (since 
that's the first part of the message), can't find it, and gives up?

The current FAQ is thoroughly unorganized.  A handful of them have 
actual fragments from error messages in their titles.  By putting this 
into context, I was thinking more along the lines of having a section of 
the FAQ dealing just with error messages, with perhaps the first entry 
being how to figure out whether the message came from MySql, PHP, or 
Drupal. 
>
>     ...
>     I think there should be some more information, for people who know
>     nothing about databases.  Something like "Databases store
>     information in
>     tables, which are kept in files.  Do you see 'accesslog.MYI ' in the
>     message? This file is used for the table named 'accesslog'
>     (without the
>     .MYI).  This is the table that has a problem.  Fortunately, MySQL
>     has an
>     operation to repair tables.  You can invoke it with phpmyadmin as
>     follows:...
>
>     ...
>
>
> I think anyone who is USING drupal should know what the heck a 
> database table is. 
I suppose, though from some of the questions that get asked in the 
forums, I'm not so sure.  But at a minimum, I think it should say that 
the filename 'accesslog.MYI' corresponds to the MySql table named 
accesslog. 
>
> When is this useful or possible?  I get the impression it's only for 
> when certain tables are corrupted.
>
I would think that's it's only for corruption at the MySql level (which 
I've never had happen), as opposed to being perfectly good as far as 
MySql is concerned, but having bad data as far as Drupal is concerned.

Gary