Index: tcp-transportmod.scm
==================================================================
--- tcp-transportmod.scm
+++ tcp-transportmod.scm
@@ -478,37 +478,68 @@
 ;;
 ;; Server viability is checked in keep-running. Blindly start and run here.
 ;;
 (define (tt:start-server areapath run-id dbfname-in handler keys)
   (assert areapath "FATAL: areapath not provided for tt:start-server")
-  ;; is there already a server for this dbfile? Then exit.
-  (debug:print 2 *default-log-port* "tt:start-server: " dbfname-in)
   (let* ((ttdat   (make-tt areapath: areapath))
-	 (dbfname (or dbfname-in (dbmod:run-id->dbfname run-id)))
-	 (servers (tt:find-server areapath dbfname))) ;; should use tt:get-current-server-info instead
-         (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Found " (length servers) " already running for " dbfname)
-    (if (> (length servers) 0)
-	(begin
-	  (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: found server(s) already running for db "dbfname", "(string-intersperse servers ",")" Exiting.")
-	  (exit))
-	(let* ((dbstruct   (dbmod:open-dbmoddb areapath run-id dbfname (dbfile:db-init-proc) keys)))
-	  (tt-handler-set! ttdat (handler dbstruct))
-	  (let* ((tcp-thread (make-thread
-			      (lambda ()
-				(tt:start-tcp-server ttdat)) ;; start the tcp-server which applies handler to incoming data
-			      "tcp-server-thread"))
-		 (run-thread (make-thread
-			      (lambda ()
-				(tt:keep-running ttdat dbfname dbstruct)))))
-	    (thread-start! tcp-thread)
-	    (thread-start! run-thread)
-
-	    (let* ((areapath     (tt-areapath ttdat))
-		   (nosyncdbpath (conc areapath"/.mtdb")))
-	      ;; this didn't seem to work, is port not available yet?
-	      (let loop ((count 0))
-		(if (tt-port ttdat)
+	 (dbfname (or dbfname-in (dbmod:run-id->dbfname run-id))))
+    (let* ((dbstruct   (dbmod:open-dbmoddb areapath run-id dbfname (dbfile:db-init-proc) keys)))
+      (tt-handler-set! ttdat (handler dbstruct))
+      (let* ((tcp-thread (make-thread
+			  (lambda ()
+			    (tt:start-tcp-server ttdat)) ;; start the tcp-server which applies handler to incoming data
+			  "tcp-server-thread"))
+	     (run-thread (make-thread
+			  (lambda ()
+			    (tt:keep-running ttdat dbfname dbstruct)))))
+	(thread-start! tcp-thread)
+	(thread-start! run-thread)
+
+	(let* ((areapath     (tt-areapath ttdat))
+	       (nosyncdbpath (conc areapath"/.mtdb"))
+	       (servers      ;; (tt:find-server areapath dbfname)))
+		             (tt:get-server-info-sorted ttdat dbfname))) ;; (host port startseconds server-id servinfofile)
+	  ;; contact servers via ping, if no response remove the .servinfo file
+	  (for-each (lambda (servdat)
+		      (match servdat
+			((host port startseconds server-id servinfofile)
+
+			 ;; ping
+
+			 ;; remove servinfofile if no response from ping
+
+
+			 ;; copied from keep-running
+			 
+			(debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "I'm not the lead server: "servers)
+			(let* ((leadsrv (car servers)))
+			  (match leadsrv
+			    ((host port startseconds server-id pid dbfname servinfofile)
+			     (let* ((result  (tt:timed-ping host port server-id))
+				    (res     (car result))
+				    (ping    (cdr result)))
+			       (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Ping to "host":"port", with server-id "server-id
+						 ", and file "servinfofile" returned "res)
+			       (if res
+				   #f ;; not the server, but all good, want to exit
+				   (if (and (file-exists? servinfofile)
+					  (> (- (current-seconds)(file-modification-time servinfofile)) 30))
+				     (begin
+				       ;; can't ping and file has been on disk 15 seconds, go ahead and try to remove it
+				       (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Removing apparently dead server info file: "servinfofile)
+                                       (handle-exceptions
+                                        exn
+                                        (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Error removing server info file: "servinfofile)
+				        (delete-file* servinfofile)
+                                       )
+				       #t) ;; not the server but the server is not reachable
+
+	  ;; 
+
+	  ;; this didn't seem to work, is port not available yet?
+	  (let loop ((count 0))
+	    (if (tt-port ttdat)
 		    (begin
 		      (procinf-port-set! *procinf* (tt-port ttdat))
 		      (procinf-dbname-set! *procinf* dbfname)
 		      (dbfile:with-no-sync-db
 		       nosyncdbpath