rewrote longpolling, trying to avoid duplication

does not work though. stupid JS

static/longpolling.js

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// Uses long-polling to update a div with a specified id,
+// by polling an url, which should return a new div, with the same id.
+
+connfails=0;
+
+connfailed=
+  '<div id="modal" class="modal fade">' +
+  '  <div class="modal-header">' +
+  '    <h3>git-annex has shut down</h3>' +
+  '  </div>' +
+  '  <div class="modal-body">' +
+  '    You can now close this browser window.' +
+  '  </div>' +
+  '</div>' ;
+
+function longpoll(url, divid) {
+	(function( $ ) {
+		$.ajax({
+			'url': url,
+			'dataType': 'html',
+			'success': function(data, status, jqxhr) {
+				$('#' + divid).replaceWith(data);
+				connfails=0;
+				return 1;
+			},
+			'error': function(jqxhr, msg, e) {
+				connfails=connfails+1;
+				if (connfails > 3) {
+					// blocked by many browsers
+					window.close();
+					$('#modal').replaceWith(connfailed);
+					$('#modal').modal('show');
+					return 0;
+				}
+				else {
+					return 1;
+				}
+			}
+		});
+	})( jQuery );
+}