@@ -327,27 +327,42 @@
      mdb
      (conc "SELECT " selstr " FROM servers WHERE run_id=? AND state in ('available','running','dbprep') ORDER BY start_time DESC;")
      run-id)
     (vector header res)))
 
-(define (tasks:get-server mdb run-id #!key (retries 10))
+
+;; BB> bb opinion - want to push responsibility into api (encapsulation), like waiting if db is busy and finding the db handle in the first place.  why should the caller need to be concerned??  If my opinion carries, we'll remove the bb- and make other needful adjustments.
+(define (bb-mdb-inserter mdb-expecting-proc mdbless-args)
+  (let ((mdb (db:delay-if-busy (tasks:open-db))))
+    (apply mdb-expecting-proc (cons mdb args))))
+
+(define (tasks:bb-get-server-info . args)
+  (bb-mdb-inserter tasks:get-server-info args))
+
+(define (tasks:bb-num-in-available-state . args)
+  (bb-mdb-inserter tasks:num-in-available-state args))
+
+
+
+;; BB: renaming tasks:get-server to get-server-info to make clear we aren't creating servers here
+(define (tasks:get-server-info mdb run-id #!key (retries 10))
   (let ((res  #f)
 	(best #f))
     (handle-exceptions
      exn
      (begin
        (print-call-chain (current-error-port))
-       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "WARNING: tasks:get-server db access error.")
+       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "WARNING: tasks:get-server-info db access error.")
        (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* " message: " ((condition-property-accessor 'exn 'message) exn))
        (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* " for run " run-id)
        (print-call-chain (current-error-port))
        (if (> retries 0)
 	   (begin
-	     (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* " trying call to tasks:get-server again in 10 seconds")
+	     (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* " trying call to tasks:get-server-info again in 10 seconds")
 	     (thread-sleep! 10)
-	     (tasks:get-server mdb run-id retries: (- retries 0)))
-	   (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "10 tries of tasks:get-server all crashed and burned. Giving up and returning \"no server found\"")))
+	     (tasks:get-server-info mdb run-id retries: (- retries 0)))
+	   (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "10 tries of tasks:get-server-info all crashed and burned. Giving up and returning \"no server found\"")))
      (sqlite3:for-each-row
       (lambda (id interface port pubport transport pid hostname)
 	(set! res (vector id interface port pubport transport pid hostname)))
       mdb
       ;; removed:
@@ -394,21 +409,21 @@
 
 ;; try to start a server and wait for it to be available
 ;;
 (define (tasks:start-and-wait-for-server tdbdat run-id delay-max-tries)
   ;; ensure a server is running for this run
-  (let loop ((server-dat (tasks:get-server (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) run-id))
+  (let loop ((server-dat (tasks:get-server-info (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) run-id))
 	     (delay-time 0))
       (if (and (not server-dat)
 	       (< delay-time delay-max-tries))
 	  (begin
 	    (if (common:low-noise-print 60 "tasks:start-and-wait-for-server" run-id)
 		(debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Try starting server for run-id " run-id))
 	    (thread-sleep! (/ (random 2000) 1000))
 	    (server:kind-run run-id)
 	    (thread-sleep! (min delay-time 1))
-	    (loop (tasks:get-server (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) run-id)(+ delay-time 1))))))
+	    (loop (tasks:get-server-info (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) run-id)(+ delay-time 1))))))
 
 (define (tasks:get-all-servers mdb)
   (let ((res '()))
     (sqlite3:for-each-row
      (lambda (id pid hostname interface port pubport start-time priority state mt-version last-update transport run-id)
@@ -443,18 +458,18 @@
  
 ;; look up a server by run-id and send it a kill, also delete the record for that server
 ;;
 (define (tasks:kill-server-run-id run-id #!key (tag "default"))
   (let* ((tdbdat  (tasks:open-db))
-	 (sdat    (tasks:get-server (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) run-id)))
+	 (sdat    (tasks:get-server-info (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) run-id)))
     (if sdat
 	(let ((hostname (vector-ref sdat 6))
 	      (pid      (vector-ref sdat 5))
 	      (server-id (vector-ref sdat 0)))
 	  (tasks:server-set-state! (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) server-id "killed")
 	  (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Killing server " server-id " for run-id " run-id " on host " hostname " with pid " pid)
-	  (tasks:kill-server hostname pid)
+	  (tasks:kill-server hostname pid kill-switch: "-9") ;; BB: added -9, let's not be kind here.  we need it to die
 	  (tasks:server-delete-record (db:delay-if-busy tdbdat) server-id tag) )
 	(debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "No server found for run-id " run-id ", nothing to kill"))
     ;; (sqlite3:finalize! tdb)
     ))