6.2.1 .xsession-errors

With other linux distros, I usually peruse /var/log files to see if
my system is complaining about anything. In my copy of Knoppix 6.2.1
/var/log is almost bare, except for Xorg.0.log and a puny pm... file.
Nothing very surprising there. But there is another (hidden) file I'd
never been aware of before in /home/knoppix, that is .xsession-errors.

In my case, this little gem, had accumulated two megs of notes over
a week or so of many, many boot-ups (probably over a hundred boots).
For the most part, I had thought my 6.2.1 system was behaving pretty
well, before I began examining this file. But, there is a lot to
learn here. By studying this file line-by-line and doing some
googling you can discover by yourself many tweaks that may reduce
these 'errors'.

I suspect many of these 'errors' are harmless; however, there if this
file gets out-of-hand, it could conceivably become a memory problem.
And, it could also be the case that hidden in this clutter of harmless
'error' indications are some real problems. For this reason, it is
well to clear these up and get rid of them, if possible.

It might also be useful to establish a FAQ relating to frequently-found
.xsession-errors and their solutions, assuming it's not here already
and I've missed it.

I am using 6.2 and I have to major trouble makers - adobe flash and alsa when a game is played. I tackled the problem with flash by starting iceweasel using a small script.
nohup iceweasel 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
I made my desktop file to point to shell script containing the above command and I no longer have error messages.
Another frequent error in xssession-errors is atk-bridge-WARNING
I fixed that by disabling accessibility in gconf,
gconftool-2 -s --type=bool /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility false

If anyone has a solution to the alsa errors during game play, I will be very thankful

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mecho

I am using 6.2 and I have to major trouble makers - adobe flash and alsa when a game is played. I tackled the problem with flash by starting iceweasel using a small script.
nohup iceweasel 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
I made my desktop file to point to shell script containing the above command and I no longer have error messages.
Another frequent error in xssession-errors is atk-bridge-WARNING
I fixed that by disabling accessibility in gconf,
gconftool-2 -s --type=bool /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility false

If anyone has a solution to the alsa errors during game play, I will be very thankful

---

I had a similar problem with a netbook - turns out that almost all the HD audio drivers out there are stuffed into one (hda_intel, I think), which needs to be customized in a lot of cases. You should see what hardware you have and what driver is being used, google that stuff and see what tweaks you can find.

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by utu

With other linux distros, I usually peruse /var/log files to see if
my system is complaining about anything. In my copy of Knoppix 6.2.1
/var/log is almost bare, except for Xorg.0.log and a puny pm... file.
Nothing very surprising there. But there is another (hidden) file I'd
never been aware of before in /home/knoppix, that is .xsession-errors.

In my case, this little gem, had accumulated two megs of notes over
a week or so of many, many boot-ups (probably over a hundred boots).
For the most part, I had thought my 6.2.1 system was behaving pretty
well, before I began examining this file. But, there is a lot to
learn here. By studying this file line-by-line and doing some
googling you can discover by yourself many tweaks that may reduce
these 'errors'.

I suspect many of these 'errors' are harmless; however, there if this
file gets out-of-hand, it could conceivably become a memory problem.
And, it could also be the case that hidden in this clutter of harmless
'error' indications are some real problems. For this reason, it is
well to clear these up and get rid of them, if possible.

It might also be useful to establish a FAQ relating to frequently-found
.xsession-errors and their solutions, assuming it's not here already
and I've missed it.

---

Sounds like a good idea!

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

@ mecho

Nice response. Sorry I can't help out on alsa, I'm not up on that.
I like your solution with gconftool-2, since it solves the problem.
I'm not in favor of trashing the errors altogether, and have run across an altertative which saves the
latest info, just not the whole history. It goes as follows:

Knoppix 6.2.1 keeps a running log of .xsession-errors.
Current era Ubuntus only keep current and one old session of these.
The difference (in the current log) is only character in /etc/X11/Xsessions.

Quoting from https://bugs.launchpad.net/+source/gdm/+bug60448

(concerning how to revert FROM (keeping all previous .xsession-errors
and adding that from the current boot) TO (just keeping the
.xsession-errors for the current boot).

Look very closely. The _only_ edit is the deletion of one '>';
that is '>' instead of '>>' at line 94 (or nearby, anyway).

QUOTE ***********

Lea GRIS wrote on 2006-09-21: #3

* Revert to previous overwrite behaviour (310 bytes, text/plain)

The offending code is in /etc/X11/Xsession

Some updates ago, code was changed to increment .xsession-errors instead of overwrite it.

/etc/X11/Xsession line 94:
exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

Change it back to:
exec >"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

I think reverting to the previous overwrite behaviour would be a good enough choice.

This bug affect any Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu
Offending package:
xinit

UNQUOTE ************

This might be timely advice even now for Knoppix 6.2.1;
I do not favor dumping _all_ the evidence in the trash, because these
errors indicate something's not right.
Hopefully it doesn't matter, but who knows?

quoted link should be:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...gdm/+bug/60448

my bad.

Thanks a lot utu - very good tip. I don't really need to have the errors from my previous sessions. I found exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1 at line 77 in knoppix 6.2. I was thinking of making a small script to delete xsession-errors at shut down since it's automatically recreated at boot, but this is much more elegant solution. Perfect

@mecho

Most welcome. There are some other ideas in the Bug 60448 thread you may enjoy.

Relative to the Bug 60448 mentioned earlier, the whole thread there is interesting, and still open.
I especially enjoyed posts there #'s 40, 41, 47 and 49.

So here's one type, representing 3/4 of my .xsession-errors:

(firefox-bin:####): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

The four digits #### are not always the same.

This occurs using iceweasel 3.5.6-1 with Shockwave Flash Plug-in 10.1r53.

Disabling this plug-in makes these errors stop. Re-enabling and going to
nytimes site, for example makes the errors begin again.

I'm unaware of what, if any performance is not correct.

Disabling compiz and/or java have no effect I'm aware of.

Constructive comments welcome here.
Also, would like to confirm version numbers are standard for Knoppix 6.2.1.

FWIW, Knoppix is at its' roots a LiveCD that, historically anyway, always had a brand-new home directory, and .xsesssion-errors would automatically be dumped at the end of any given session. This gave a behavior that allowed following up on errors without filling up home (or /var on a separate partition, which is where logs used to be confined, to prevent over-running important stuff, like mail-dirs.) I like the 1-character-edit approach to give somewhat the same performance, without having to partition or get rid of logging altogether.

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by utu

So here's one type, representing 3/4 of my .xsession-errors:

(firefox-bin:####): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

The four digits #### are not always the same.

This occurs using iceweasel 3.5.6-1 with Shockwave Flash Plug-in 10.1r53.

Disabling this plug-in makes these errors stop. Re-enabling and going to
nytimes site, for example makes the errors begin again.

I'm unaware of what, if any performance is not correct.

Disabling compiz and/or java have no effect I'm aware of.

Constructive comments welcome here.
Also, would like to confirm version numbers are standard for Knoppix 6.2.1.

---

[rant]This basically was what Steve Jobs was talking about re: Adobe Flash being "the number one reason Macs crash." Well, at least it's just error messages going into a logfile that can be handled (variously, as others have described) without a crash at all. I've tried Gnash, the open-source replacement for Flash, and it's bad - really bad. Now that HTML-5 native video is on the horizon, perhaps we can all move on to a future without mucn need for Flash as such, except perhaps in transcoding to the new format.[/rant]

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

@utu

I wrote in my first message a workaround of the problem (Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead)
I made a small shell script containig:

nohup iceweasel 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &

and then modify your iceweasel.desktop in /usr/share/applications

The line Exec=
should be
Exec=sh path-to-shell/filename.sh

You will not get anymore error messages from iceweasel including XID collision error. You should know though, when you update iceweasel you will have to edit iceweasel.desktop again, or you can just copy it before you update and restore it after the update.

This also apply to google-chrome, chromium browsers. It can be tackled the same way. It is strange though - I did not see so many XID collision errors when using midori browser which is also based on webkit - the xid collision error is there, but not as many as when using firefox or chromium based browsers

@krishna.

I enjoy my 200 shares of Apple stock, but I don't own any of their products.
My shock wave seems to work ok; shows You Tube here just fine. No crashes.
It just fills .xsession-errors up in the process.
Some folks think it's a security hazard, and I wouldn't be surprised.
It doesn't sound right letting a hidden file fill up with undiagnosed
complaints.

@mecho

I hadn't ignored your first post, mecho. I just don't prefer to adress the
problem that way. I prefer to keep the error messages to remind me to look
for a more fundamental work-around. One of the posts on the 60448 threads
ought to appeal to you; it takes each complaint one-by-one from
/etc/X11/Xsession and trashes it. It does this with a simple link, which can
be undone if you change your mind. Now thats elegant. Just not my taste.

@both

You may recall I've been waiting to observe a crash I can call my own?
Looking for what tips my 2Gb Flash Knoppix over? Well, my ship just
arrived. I thought I'd see what Chromium might do for me. Tried Synaptic
and, you guessed it, no Chromium here, just a crippled system. Menu panel
and bottom icons give me enough tools to write this, but I'll have to
shut this rig down and start over again from the CD.

My suspicion all along was that these crashes were self-induced. All the
Gigabyte .xsession-errors I've read about never happened here. Like Frank,
I did it _my way_.

See you later, with a clean .xsession-errors.

I've learned a few things since my post #1 on .xsession-errors:

1. This topic has an enormous history I wasn't aware of.

2. I was surprised to discover this 'gem' in Knoppix; I'm even
more surprised now that I discover my old reliable Lucid has some
of the same surprises hidden there.

3. From some of my googling I came to believe or expect that
the build-up of these errors might explain an occasional crash
I have from time-to-time with my 2Gb Flash Knoppix set-up. I
no longer think that is the most likely cause in my case.
I've never seen huge errors like some report. I'm fairly sure
my crashes are more likely self-induced results of attempting
operations that require more resources than I've provided.


Similarly on my post #5, I note on closer inspection of Lucid:

1. .xsession-errors for Lucid is as described 'typical of current-
day Ubuntus', the errors are only those for the current boot session;
but,

2. .xsession-errors.old for Lucid is a _cumulative_ record of past
errors. I can't tell if this record is edited or truncated. And,

3. A lot of the exact same type of .xsession-errors are logged for
Lucid as for Knoppix. Perhaps its the Debian dna.


I still think it is useful to bring these errors out in the open
and try to make sure they are indeed harmless rather than leave
them hidden and ignored.

I have recently upgraded IceWeasel from 3.5.6 to 3.5.10-1. These .xsession-errors, many related to Flash video are at least much reduced, if not gone. My Knoppix 6.2.1 has, at present libgtk2.0-0 version 2.18.6-1. I'm interested in similar or different experiences on this,

Upgrading IceWeasel from 3.5.6 to 3.5.10 has reduced most of the flash-video-induced .xsession errors here. I have codified a remaining six types of non-flash-related .xsession errors that I observed. Five of these now represent a minor, but puzzling continuing affliction. I have no reason to believe any of these non-flash-related .xsession-errors represent a performance problem, just an interesting puzzlement.

******************************** First type of error (polkit) **************************************************
(polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3419): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: cannot register existing type `_PolkitError'
(polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3405): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: cannot register existing type `_PolkitError'
(polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3405): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3419): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
******************************** Second type of error (polkit/nm-applet) ************************************ **
(polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3405): WARNING **: Unable to register authentication agent: Remote Exception invoking org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority.RegisterAuthe nticationAgent() on /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/Authority at name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1: org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: An authentication agent already exists for session Cannot register authentication agent: Remote Exception invoking org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority.RegisterAuthe nticationAgent() on /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/Authority at name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1: org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: An authentication agent already exists for session ** (lxpanel:3373): DEBUG: cache file_name = /home/knoppix/.cache/menus/361db3b2db5a0a00114ba4be48c3a0f3 ** (nm-applet:3421): WARNING **: get_all_cb: couldn't retrieve system settings properties: (2) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerSystemSettings was not provided by any .service files. ** (nm-applet:3421): WARNING **: fetch_connections_done: error fetching system connections: (2) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerSystemSettings was not provided by any .service files.

******************************* Third type of error (gtk/Clearlooks) **********************************************
(gtk-window-decorator:3529): GConf-CRITICAL **: gconf_client_set_string: assertion `val != NULL' failed Window manager warning: Failed to load theme "Clearlooks": Failed to find a valid file for theme Clearlooks

****************** Fourth type of error (compiz/themes: there is no /usr/share/gdm/ in Knoppix 6.2.1) ******************

/usr/bin/compiz.real (cube) - Warn: Failed to load slide: /usr/share/gdm/themes/Human/ubuntu.png /usr/bin/compiz.real (cube) - Warn: Failed to load slide: /usr/share/gdm/themes/Human/ubuntu.png /usr/bin/compiz.real (video) - Warn: No 8 bit GLX pixmap format, disabling YV12 image format

************************** Fifth type of error (lxpanel BadWindow) **************************************************
xpanel : X error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) lxpanel : X e
rror: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)

******* Sixth type of error (atk-bridge: solved by setting /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility to false)
************
(firefox-bin:3624): atk-bridge-WARNING **: AT_SPI_REGISTRY was not started at session startup.
(firefox-bin:3624): atk-bridge-WARNING **: IOR not set. (firefox-bin:3624): atk-bridge-WARNING **: Could not locate registry

The second error you are getting - the polkit one is because there are 2 instances of polkit in your autostart. Look in /etx/xdg/autostart and ~/.config/autostart and the last place could be /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart - open the file and check if there is a line for polkit.
You should have only one autostart link for polkit, otherwise this error occurs.
The clearlooks error could be fixed as well. Just look if you have the gtkrc file in /usr/share/themes/Clearlooks/gtk-2.0
Regarding errors 1 and 5 I am still getting them as well. Still no solution for them

@Mecho

Thanks for your reply.
Here's what I get for the polkit suggestion.

#### Regarding /etc/xdg/autostart:
knoppix@Microknoppix:/$ ls -l /etc/xdg/autostart gives
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4831 Jan 26 23:53 nm-applet.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2531 Jan 15 23:40 polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop

#### Regarding ~/.config/autostart:
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ ls -l ./.config/autostart gives
total 12
-rw-r--r-- 1 knoppix knoppix 4832 Jul 7 09:05 nm-applet.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 knoppix knoppix 2532 Jul 7 09:05 polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop

#### Regarding /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart:
knoppix@Microknoppix:/etc/xdg/autostart$ ls -l /etc/xdg/autostart gives
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4831 Jan 26 23:53 nm-applet.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2531 Jan 15 23:40 polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop

Does this tell you anything?
I have no idea what this means.

Yor second command has a typo: ls -l ./.config/autostart should be ls -l ~/.config/autostart
And your 3rd command is wrong.

Do it the following way:
ls -l ~/.config/autostart
ls -l /etc/xdg/autostart
cat -n /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

The 3rd one is lxsession autostart file which probably contains 1 instance of polkit and I can see that you already have one in /etc/xdg/autostart/
If cat -n /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart prints polkit line, then it is safe to delete
/etc/xdg/autostart/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop
and
/home/knoppix/.config/autostart/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop
Only leave the starting line in /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart and you will be fine

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ ls -l ~/.config/autostart
total 12
-rw-r--r-- 1 knoppix knoppix 4832 Jul 7 09:05 nm-applet.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 knoppix knoppix 2532 Jul 7 09:05 polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ ls -l /etc/xdg/autostart
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4831 Jan 26 23:53 nm-applet.desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2531 Jan 15 23:40 polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ cat -n /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart
1 @xscreensaver -no-splash
2 @lxpanel --profile LXDE
3 @pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE
4 @/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1

Desktop Session Settings gui has two boxes checked:
Policy Authentication Agent; and Network Manager.
Perhaps the first box shouldn't be checked? Might that be the problem?

You can safely delete both .desktop files and just leave the line in /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart
This way you have 3 instances of polkit not 2 :)
This will fix the error.

@mecho

Thanks again, mecho.

Concerning my .xsession-errors, 'types one and two':
I'm not having much luck deleting the .desktop entries. Anyway,
I'd like to understand this PolicyKit stuff a little better before
just deleting these entries. These came with the distro;
I didn't invent them (at least knowingly).

**************

Concerning my .xsession-errors, 'types three & four', Compiz 0.8.2-6
in Knoppix 6.2.1 does not look in the right places for theme material.
Clearlooks is part of gtk2-engines 1:2; Ubuntu Human would also be
available if gtk2-engines-ubuntulooks 0.9 were added to the basic
Knoppix 6.2.1.

Hi Utu. One more time - you can safely delete the 2 .desktop files. If you want to know where all they come frrom - the starting link in /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart came with your last update of lxsession and is in conformance with the new pcmanfm2. The original starting .desktop file for polkit is /etc/xdg/autostart/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1, I am not sure about the one that you have in your home folder, but it was not originally there. One thing is certain, that is you should only have 1 starting link for policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 otherwise errors occur

Summary regarding observed .xsession-errors in Knoppix 6.2.1, Flash/usb version:

By far, the greatest number of .xsession errors were due to 'XID collision warning's
due to Flash-content. The amount of errors logged per unit time at varied greatly
with the site. Results for a number of sites are summarized in 'Flash-content errors'.
Adobe, Hulu and Newegg sites showed the highest rates of these errors.

A smaller, but more persistent set of six error types were also consistently noted.
These are summarized in 'Non-Flash-content errors'. The first two of these types seem
both to be related to PolicyKit problems associated with the Desktop Session Setting gui.
The third and fourth of these types of errors seem both to be related to Compiz
and/or another program not finding Clearlooks and Ubuntu Human theme material where it
expects to find it. The Sixth of these types of errors is due to an unset gnome
interface setting.

In response to these observations we have done the following.
1. Changed our /etc/X11/Xsession script to keep only the current .xsession-errors,
rather than concatenate each new session with all the previous;
2. Added SQLite Manager to IceWeasel and instituted an occasional compaction
of the urlclassifier3 cache;
3. Set /desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility to false (unchecked the box);
4. Reported the notes concerning Non-Flash-content error types one thru' four
to Klaus Knopper; and
5. Reported the notes concerning Non-Flash-content error types three & four
also to the Compiz forum.

The 'XID collision warning' problem has been reported everywhere for most every distro.
It seems to lie somewhere between Adobe and gtk as a responsibility to fix. In my
case, I see no performance penalty or crashes to worry about, and I've cut back on
the overhead to record all these otherwise meaningless (to me) .xsession-error reports.

There is a new flash player available for Linux which will supposedly solve all our problems. It is called lightspark. It is still in alpha stage, but it has very promising future. Unlike Gnash, it is build on the official documentation released by Adobe. Hopefully soon Linux community will enjoy quality hardware accelerated flash content, because like it or not flash is not going away any time soon

I have a better idea regarding .xsession-errors, or at least sounds better to me.
Edit /etc/X11/xsession line61
ERRFILE=$HOME/.xsession-errors to ERRFILE=/var/log/xsession-errors
then create symlink ln -s /var/log/xsession-errors ~/.xsession-errors

/var/log uses tmpfs in Knoppix and exist only in RAM, This way you will save unnecessary writes to the flash drive. And since it exist only in RAM there is no need for changing the survival option
exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

The gain is longer flash drive life expectancy

@mecho

I think this idea has some elegance.

However, If X dies, won't we want a log to refer to
on next boot to a command line to see what went wrong?

:) By now I only use xsession-errors to troubleshoot applications. Knock on wood X did no die on me :) and if it dies I doubt you will find anything in xsession-errors

@mecho, re your post #27

Is there any way to know how many writes have been made
to a flash card? Or how many are left?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by utu

@mecho, re your post #27

Is there any way to know how many writes have been made
to a flash card? Or how many are left?

---

FWIW - I found an article online a while back (ZDnet) that referenced a study of flash memory durability, stating that "cheap" flash didn't do well, but "name brand" device wear not only exceeded the usual life expectancy (100,000 cycles), but in fact showed no signs of wear - even far beyond that point. Those quality devices have built in anti-wear write algorithms and will seemingly live forever (almost.)

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

@krishna

Hi, Krishna.

I was hoping one of you smart folks knew some magic command
that would tell me how many write cycles I have left before
my SD Card self-destructs.

On HDD's there is some 'smart' logic that gives you some idea
of the health of an HDD. I was hoping something like that
applies to flash as well.

My SD Cards cost $7 each, so it's not a crucial item. I just
like to be prepared.

mecho is working hard to conserve his write cycles. That makes
me think perhaps I should worry too.

There is no way really to find out the write cycles of usb flash drives. For this to be possibles they should have some kind of s.m.a.r.t capability built in similar to the hard drives. As Krishna said there are flash drives that can withstand even more then 1 000 000 cycles, but I doubt mine is one of them :-D. There 2 types of flash memory MLC and SLC - SLC being much faster and having longer life, but more expensive. I can not find what type I have :) And because my laptop has very bad hard drive I use flash 100% of the time - my OS is on it, and I use the HDD only for back-ups and permanent storage

@ utu:

Hopefully you got a name-brand; AFAIK, they put their effort into making the SMARTs on the flash keep the flash chip going - and going, and going...

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

The attachment, if all goes well shows SanDisk examples
of Flash Card lifetimes in decades, centuries and millenia.

Cheers

@mecho & krishna

Oops, my bad.
File too big for upload.
Go to SanDisk site and look for WPaperWearLevel1.0-1.pdf.
This is a 138k pdf file.

Some neat equations, too.

19.5k is a pretty stingy limit for pdf files.
Who do we know in management we can complain to?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by utu

@mecho & krishna

Oops, my bad.
File too big for upload.
Go to SanDisk site and look for WPaperWearLevel1.0-1.pdf.
This is a 138k pdf file.

Some neat equations, too.

---

I don't see anything with that name, anywhere on the web (except in this post!) Perhaps you could send the link.

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:
Edit/p.s. I eventually found it here, for the reading pleasure of all.

Enter 'sandisk wear level' in google search box.
It's the first return entry.
URL is too long to contend with.