buggy timers

[6502]

Hi there,

Problem:
I tried to use the SYS.DBMS_LOCK.SLEEP procedure for longer periods of inactivity. In the spec the parameter is seconds number, with no limit given. If started with 30000-40000 seconds, it sleeps only a few minutes.

I tried DBMS_ALERT.WAITONE also, which has 17 minutes delay every 12 hours.

Questions:
Is the sleep-bug a known one ?
May the waitone-delay vary on different machines ?
Which timers are used by oracle ?
Is there any really exact timer pl/sql can work with ?

Commit;
6502

[jmodic]

I wouldn't know about the DBMS_ALERT as I never realy used it. But it seems that DBMS_LOCK.SLEEP really gets confused if you use large number in a paramater. I tried it on WinNT, Ora 8.1.5 and observed the same outcome as you described. Which platform and Oracle release are you on? Maybe it is only platform-specific bug....

I've searched Metalink Bug-database and haven't found this behaviour described. There were some simmilar bugs reported regarding DBMS_LOCK.SLEEP, but they were all platform-specific and all of them covered some different unexpected behaviours. I think you should report this as a new bug.