Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 13:04:11 -0800 (PST) From: Nate Lawson <nate@root.org> To: Mike Barcroft <mike@FreeBSD.org> Cc: current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Searching for users of netncp and nwfs to help debug 5.0 problems Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0211231300170.77310-100000@root.org> In-Reply-To: <20021123101218.A99548@espresso.q9media.com>
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On Sat, 23 Nov 2002, Mike Barcroft wrote: > Nate Lawson <nate@root.org> writes: > > On Sat, 23 Nov 2002, Brad Knowles wrote: > > > At 2:31 PM -0800 2002/11/22, Terry Lambert wrote: > > > > > > > A "bug-filing wizard" would be useful. The "send-pr" system > > > > doesn't cut it, and most people are unaware of how to file a > > > > decent bug report. It doesn't help when the process involves > > > > another computer, a serial cable, recompiling a kernel to use > > > > a serial console and turn DDB support on, special configuration > > > > for system dump images, and changing the size of your swap > > > > partition to support the amount of RAM you have put into the > > > > machine. > > > > > > Speaking as someone who is about to step off the deep end and > > > start trying to actually run and test -CURRENT on my system here at > > > home, I believe that this kind of resource would be vitally important. > > > > > > In contrast, I've had a few crashes this past week from other > > > programs here on my PowerBook G4 running MacOS X (primarily Chimera, > > > based on the Mozilla Gecko engine with native Aqua interface), and > > > they have made it very easy for me to report crashes. They have > > > integrated tools to extract the maximum amount of information from > > > the system as to exactly what other programs were running, what the > > > program stack was, and a whole host of other things. All I have to > > > do is type in my e-mail address, optionally describe what I was > > > trying to do at the time, and have a functioning Internet connection > > > so that they can upload the reports. I'd share some examples with > > > you, but they are *huge*. > > > > For a while, there was a discussion about starting this capability with > > panic() reporting a stack trace. I believe someone even did some > > implementation work. Any ideas where this stands? > > John Baldwin implemented something like this, but you need DDB > compiled in for it to work. And if you have DDB compiled in, how hard > is it to type `trace'? Yes, I thought it was John. I think the idea was that the code necessary to generate a stacktrace would be under an option separate from DDB and be on by default, giving a more detailed panic message for people to report instead of now where we get a one line panic string or a (mostly useless) trap message also. I'd like to see this on in 5.0 for a while, given the number of new users and problem reports we are already getting and will soon get even more of. If it's too hard to complete this work, could we add DDB in by default in GENERIC? (I shudder to think at the amount of debate such a request would cause but I'm making it nevertheless). -Nate To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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