file_to_map periodically failing

[bordemstirs]

I have a file that is checked quite a few times a day, that never has anything removed from it, but has 2 elements added every day.

File type is int[string] and it's usually fine, but for some reason random elements will fail to load when nothing else has changed.

Usually it's just one element a day. Today I noticed that there were quite a few errors, and a rather generous debug log had formed itself.

I'm not really sure what is going wrong, any help would be appreciated.

Below, only two pieces of code that modify the file:

void checkLotto(){
 int[string] books;
 file_to_map("books.txt",books);
 int event=0;
 int time=minutesToRollover();
 if (time<books["Event1"]) event=1;
 if (time<books["Event2"]) event=2;
 if (time<books["Event3"]) event=3;
 if (event<1) return;
 books["Event"+event.to_string()]=0;
 books["nextLotto"]+=1;
 books["thisLotto"]+=5;
 boolean[string] inClan=who_clan();
 remove inClan["Ominous Buffer"];
 remove inClan["MesaChat"];
 string[int] clannies;
 foreach name in inClan clannies[count(clannies)]=name;
 int num=count(clannies);
 if (num<1){
  map_to_file(books,"books.txt");
  return;
 }
 float perc=1+(num/5)*0.4;
 int d=ceil((100/perc)*num);
 print("Event @ "+now_to_string("HH:mm")+" for "+books["thisLotto"].to_string());
 print(num.to_string()+"players: Rolling D"+d.to_string());
 chat_clan("Time for the Lotto! Right now it's for "+books["thisLotto"].to_string()+",000 meat! We have "+num.to_string()+(num!=1?" players":" player")+" now (d"+d.to_string()+"). Good luck!");
 d=random(d);
 print("Rolled: "+d.to_string());
 waitq(20);
 chat_clan("/em rolls a "+to_string(d+1)+".");
 waitq(7);
 if (d<num){
  print("Winner:"+clannies[d]);
  chat_clan("A winner!");
  waitq(7);
  file_to_map("userdata.txt",userdata);
  for i from 5 downto 2 userdata["*"].buffpacks["winner"+i.to_string()]=userdata["*"].buffpacks["winner"+to_string(i-1)];
  userdata["*"].buffpacks["winner1"]=clannies[d]+": "+books["thisLotto"].to_string()+",000";
  string buf="account.php?action=Update&tab=profile&pwd="+my_hash()+"&actions[]=quote&quote=Black Mesa Buffbot.";
  buf+="\n\nCheck DC for casts remaining of limited use skills.\n\nLast Five Lotto Winners:";
  for i from 1 to 5 if (userdata["*"].buffpacks["winner"+i.to_string()]!="") buf+="\n"+userdata["*"].buffpacks["winner"+i.to_string()];
  visit_url(buf);
  chat_clan(clannies[d]+" wins the lotto and takes home "+books["thisLotto"].to_string()+",000 meat! See you again soon!");
  sendMeat(clannies[d],books["thisLotto"]);
  books["thisLotto"]=books["nextLotto"]-1;
  books["nextLotto"]=1;
 }else{
  print("No winner.");
  chat_clan("Sorry, folks, no winners today. Better luck next time. See you again soon!");
 }
 map_to_file(books,"books.txt");
}

void handleMeat(){
 cli_execute("use 0 warm subject gift certificate");
 cli_execute("autosell 0 thin black candle, 0 heavy d, 0 original g, 0 disturbing fanfic, 0 furry fur, 0 awful poetry journal, 0 chaos butterfly, 0 plot hole, 0 probability potion, 0 procrastination potion, 0 angry farmer candy, 0 mick's icyvapohotness rub");
 int tw=item_amount($item[twinkly wad]);
 cli_execute("csend 0 wolf mask, 0 rave whistle, 0 giant needle, 0 twinkly nugget to smashbot || wads");
 int totalDMS=floor(my_meat()/1000)-500;
 if (totalDMS>0){
  string exe="make "+to_string(totalDMS)+" dense meat stack";
  cli_execute(exe);
  cli_execute("/closet "+totalDMS.to_string()+" dense meat stack");
//  put_closet(totalDMS,$item[dense meat stack]);
 }
 int[string] books;
 file_to_map("books.txt",books);
 books["Meat"+now_to_string("yDDD")]=totalDMS-18;
 books["Wads"+now_to_string("yDDD")]=tw;
 int eventTimeCap=minutesToRollover();
 int event1=random(eventTimeCap-45)+35;
 int event2=random(eventTimeCap-45)+35;
 int event3=random(eventTimeCap-45)+35;
 while ((event2-event1<60)&&(event1-event2<60))event2=random(eventTimeCap-45)+35;
 while (((event3-event1<60)&&(event1-event3<60))||((event3-event2<60)&&(event2-event3<60)))event3=random(eventTimeCap-45)+35;
 books["Event1"]=event1;
 books["Event2"]=event2;
 books["Event3"]=event3;
 map_to_file(books,"books.txt");
}

 

[fronobulax]

I'll dig deeper but the first question to ask is whether there is any tool that modified the file besides the scriptlets noted above? My first five minutes suggests that the file in question might not be pure tab delimited ASCII. Just a guess, though. The number of times the person who spends six minutes can prove me wrong is pretty high.

 

[bordemstirs]

I occasionally open the file in pn (for instance, when my brain says "What do you mean invalid line in data file?") but I only view, I don't modify it or save it on exit.
Also, when viewing it this way, the lines in question always appear to be of the form
string-tab-int-linefeed.

Further curious, upon -future- executions of the script, previously "invalid" lines are still present and without any modification on my part (and the script itself certainly doesn't attempt anything fancy) are suddenly valid again. I was never quite sure of this before (thought maybe it just wouldn't give me the same error twice) until it started happening to the EventX lines, which if were truly invalid would be noticeable.

tl;dr: Even if mafia says a line is Invalid, it appears to place it right back in the file properly on the next invocation of map_to_file()

 

[xKiv]

Your debug log shows exceptions inside java's TreeMap. That looks like something that shouldn't happen unless you have buggy java ..
(at least according to the sources that came with jdk1.6.22 - and there are several safeguards agains null values passed both in mafia and java there)

 

[bordemstirs]

Convenient that a java update is available; I'll install that tonight at rollover and pray.