From: Daniel Berger <djberge@...55host11.interprise.com>
Date: 2002-08-14T23:30:39+09:00
Subject: Problems with Marshal

Hi all,

Ruby 1.6.7 on Solaris 9.

I've got a client/server app where the client sends a request to the 
server, and the server sends back a marshalled object to the client 
(using dump).  The client then deals with the marshalled object (using 
load).

The problem I'm having is that I'm getting inconsistent behavior with 
Marshalling.  In all cases, I am simply trying to return an array, 
usually an array of structs, but sometimes just a plain array.

In the case where I return an array of strings using Mike Hall's 
'filesystem' module, things work fine.

In the case where I return an array of ProcTable structs using my own 
Sys::ProcTable module, I get this error:

"incompatible marshal file format (can't be read) (TypeError)"

Some google searching indicated that this could be caused by using 
different versions of Ruby.  That is not the case here, as both client 
and server are (currently) just running on my local box.

In the case where I return a simple array (e.g. a = [1,2,3]), I get this 
error:

"marshal data too short (ArgumentError)"

Searching google revealed a few posts, but they were all in Japanese 
(which I can't read).

Any help on this topic will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Dan

PS - No, I haven't try XMarshal or AMarshal.  Should I?