Technical Breeding Tips and Advice

[Nynaveve Wirefly]

(09-17-2012 04:51 PM)Tad Carlucci Wrote:  This isn't a "breeding tip" but it's a tip all breeders SHOULD know. I'm sure, by know, you all know I LOVE the Cattery. This just came up in another thread, so I'll be brief:

You can use the Cattery and the Dock to correct many causes of failure and avoid having to await a CSR's response to a ticket.

If you have a cat or box showing some odd behavior, and you can still send it into the Cattery, do so.

When you bring the cat back in-world using the Dock, it's a completely fresh version of the cat created from the Dock's internal "generic" template. Crashed scripts are restarted. Missing internal parts are replaced.

I recommend filing tickets anyway .. just make it clear how you fixed the problem. They can't fix problems if they're never told about them!

This can also be accomplished by simply putting the cat into any low prim mode and back out, as it has the exact same result of creating a new object in world.

[Tad Carlucci]

Yes, I mentioned that in the other thread. The major difference: when you do it with the existing cat you're using the versions in that cat .. which stem either from the parent which produced the box (and up the chain .. back to a starter purchase, or Updater), or from the Dock or a CSR. By using the Dock you're using known-good copies, with a know inception date; and, if you have any reason to doubt those copies, you can get a new Dock any time at the Main Store.

Plus, if this were my product, I'd be slipstreaming minor fixes into the Dock Vendor rather than waiting for major update cycles. This would allow me to distribute minor fixes on an as-needed basis without the pressure the mad rush of pushing a major update causes. It doesn't sound like KR does that, but it's surely an option and the temptation would be high. In addition, it's good for customer satisfaction .. someone, like those in the other thread, would see their minor issues addressed, and corrected quickly and completely, instead of being handed a work-around they can easily forget to follow.

[anna Acanthus]

Toggling prim mode or docking seem to me to have the same effect.
In the case of an object in a cat's inventory switching to no copy, both methods reset scripts but docking doesn't send one back a fresh new version with the bug fixed ; in both cases the item will be re-installed in the inventory but will remain no copy.

[Tad Carlucci]

But KR can fix the no-copy permission in the Dock Vendor in a few minutes .. he can't fix your cats without an updater.

I'm not looking at the specific case, I'm looking at the general case.

One of the core principles of systems security is the idea of "trusted sources". You obtained the Dock from the Dock Vender, yourself. The only parties involved in the trust matrix are you, and KR or his helpers. When you're switching modes using the cat, you're also adding everyone who owned that cat, it's box, or any of it's ancestors, or their boxes, back to a Dock, Starter or an Updater. So, for cats and boxes, while the trust matrix always starters with KR and ends with you, there are an unknown number of untrusted participants.

For this reason, while, yes, there are a number of alternatives which appear to produce the same result, using the Dock is the only trusted, secure method and so I recommend it over all others.

[anna Acanthus]

(09-19-2012 07:05 AM)Tad Carlucci Wrote:  But KR can fix the no-copy permission in the Dock Vendor in a few minutes .. he can't fix your cats without an updater.

I'm not looking at the specific case, I'm looking at the general case.

One of the core principles of systems security is the idea of "trusted sources". You obtained the Dock from the Dock Vender, yourself. The only parties involved in the trust matrix are you, and KR or his helpers. When you're switching modes using the cat, you're also adding everyone who owned that cat, it's box, or any of it's ancestors, or their boxes, back to a Dock, Starter or an Updater. So, for cats and boxes, while the trust matrix always starters with KR and ends with you, there are an unknown number of untrusted participants.

For this reason, while, yes, there are a number of alternatives which appear to produce the same result, using the Dock is the only trusted, secure method and so I recommend it over all others.

Huh ?

[Devilness Chant]

(09-20-2012 08:27 AM)anna acanthus Wrote:  

(09-19-2012 07:05 AM)Tad Carlucci Wrote:  But KR can fix the no-copy permission in the Dock Vendor in a few minutes .. he can't fix your cats without an updater.

I'm not looking at the specific case, I'm looking at the general case.

One of the core principles of systems security is the idea of "trusted sources". You obtained the Dock from the Dock Vender, yourself. The only parties involved in the trust matrix are you, and KR or his helpers. When you're switching modes using the cat, you're also adding everyone who owned that cat, it's box, or any of it's ancestors, or their boxes, back to a Dock, Starter or an Updater. So, for cats and boxes, while the trust matrix always starters with KR and ends with you, there are an unknown number of untrusted participants.

For this reason, while, yes, there are a number of alternatives which appear to produce the same result, using the Dock is the only trusted, secure method and so I recommend it over all others.

Huh ?

I think he means you don't have to wear your lucky pants when you use the dock. That is my blond definition.
There have been a few times I used to dock to fix a kitty and ended up losing the kitty along the way.
But using the dock can be a good idea before doing a ticket, so if it works we can save the wonderful KC staff some work.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

(09-20-2012 08:41 AM)devilness chant Wrote:  I think he means you don't have to wear your lucky pants when you use the dock. That is my blond definition.
...

ROARING ! I almost pee in my lucky pants here!

[anna Acanthus]

" I think he means you don't have to wear your lucky pants when you use the dock. That is my blond definition.
There have been a few times I used to dock to fix a kitty and ended up losing the kitty along the way.
But using the dock can be a good idea before doing a ticket, so if it works we can save the wonderful KC staff some work. "


Tyvm Dev

[Tad Carlucci]

I'll see if I can rephrase it.

Inside every box, and every live cat, are the templates to create boxes and live cats.

When a box is created, one of the cats (forget which, doesn't matter), uses its internal template to make it and the parent cat hands the box copies of each of the templates within that cat.

When a cat is birthed, the box uses its internal templates to create that cat and hands the cat copies of each of its internal templates.

When a box or cat creates a low-prim, or high-prim, version of itself, it uses its internal templates to create that new box or cat and hands copies of each of its internal template to that new box or cat.

Starter boxes, updaters, and the Dock work in the exact same way: they create a new cat and hand it copies of their internal templates to each new cat they create.

There is a chance that the reason your cat is exhibiting strange behaviors because of either inadvertent, or malicious, acts by previous owners. When you use one of the various low-prim modes in an attempt to correct the problem, you're still using resources which may have been effected by those.

But starter boxes, updaters, and the Dock, come directly to you from KittyCatS. This eliminates any chance of accidental, or malicious, action by previous owners upon those cats or boxes, or any of their ancestors.

Of those, the Dock is the only one available at any time, at no cost. So, if you ever have any reason to believe that your dock has been modified or compromised, you can obtain a new one, at no cost, at any time.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

but what can a previous owner do exactly with a cat or box which is harmful?