Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence (RLAI)
	If publishing doesn't work

The ambition of this web page is to provide guidance in troubleshooting errors when publishing an open web page after editing using Mozilla.

If you get "Publishing Failed"

The last logged publish command from your IP address was not accepted because your copy of the file appears older than the public copy on the server. The most common reason for your copy being older is that someone else has made changes to the file since you started editing it.  You were not allowed to publish the page because that would have overwritten and thus destroyed the other person's changes.

To recover, you need to merge your edited version of the page with the version on the server. At present, this is done manually. You view the current page and your edited page side-by-side, then copy your changes to the current page, in essence re-making your changes, but also incorporating the other person's changes.  Because Mozilla will not let you open two editor windows on the same page, several steps are needed.  Specifically, you should:

1. If the little "publishing failed" window with the red X still exists, close it
2. Save your changes as a local file (Command-S instead of Shift-Command-S)
3. Close the editor window
4. Open the local file in a new Mozilla window
   
5. In the original window, browse to the original page and refresh (reload) it
6. Open a new editor window on it
7. You should now have your changes and the original page side-by-side and you can copy stuff from your version to the current version, thus remaking your edits without destroying the other person's
8. Publish the merged file from the editor window. If it fails again, then either there has been another change to the file while you were merging, or else something more unusual is wrong with your page
   

Success (replaced or created some other file):

If you were saving a file with images in it, and the "If publishing doesn't work" message shows success on the last image but publishing of the file failed, then select >File>Publish As, uncheck "Include images and files", and try again. Mozilla refuses to save the file if it has problems with any of the content (style.css often causes problems), so not including the problematic accompanying files allows successful uploading of the main web-page file.

 

Permission problem:

If you get this message, then you are trying to edit a web page that requires special permissions. Save your changes as a local file so you don't lose them.  Is it an image file that is causing the problem?  You may still be able to use the "Extend this page" feature to add an extension. But if that also fails, then you really can't change the page. Email with your complaint and attempted changes if you think the page should have been editable. 

Created over a directory:

How did you get a filename the same as an existent directory? Make sure that the filename has a valid extension.

In non-existent directory:

There is an unusual problem. The Open Web program automatically creates directories as required - please email

Not enough room:

Just how big was the file you are uploading? There are limits on the size. If the size is reasonable, then we have a problem - please email

Created an unknown error message:

Definitely email if you get this message, with your IP address and the file you were trying to save, if possible.

There are no recorded publish commands:

If you tried to publish, and the publishing failed but you get this message, the attempt did not even reach the server. Check your settings.