         cb(undefined, db)  # HACK -- might not really be initialized yet!
         return db
     else
-        db = require('./smc-hub/rethink').rethinkdb(hosts:['db0'], pool:1, cb:cb)
+        db = require('./smc-hub/rethink').rethinkdb(hosts:db_hosts, pool:1, cb:cb)
         return db
 
 # get a connection to the db

The functiosns below in some cases return things, and in some cases set global variables!  Read docs.

###

start_time = new Date()
global.start = ->

# make the global variable s be the compute server
global.compute_server = () ->
    return require('smc-hub/compute-client').compute_server
        db_hosts:db_hosts
        cb:(e,s)->
            global.s=s
console.log("compute_server() -- sets global variable s to compute server")
