Kodi Community Forum

How can we make getting Stack Traces (Backtraces) Crash Reports and XBMC logs easier for our users?
...and for those users to optionally submit those crash reports and debug logs to Team-XBMC somehow?

I just read about GNOME Bug Report Tool called "Bug Buddy" (GPLv2 licensed) which they use order to make it easier for their users to collect a Stack Trace (Backtrace).
http://directory.fsf.org/project/bugbuddy/
https://launchpad.net/bug-buddy
http://live.gnome.org/GettingTraces
http://live.gnome.org/GettingTraces/Details

Is this something that we could and should think about including with XBMC for Linux and/or XBMC Live?

...or is there some other similar tool available that will collect Stack Traces (Backtraces) for crash reports?

In the long run it would be probably best if we could integrate a cross-platform bug reporting tool into XBMC, like for example Google's Breakpad, or maybe better the MDC (Mozilla Crash Reporter) client/server combination?

MDC (Mozilla Crash Reporter, MDC), which is open source and cross-platform, is a combination of Google Breakpad client and server libraries, Socorro Collection and reporting server, and Mozilla-specific crash reporting user interface and bootstrap code) but I meant that it would great if we could also make it easier for the end-users to collect and submit both a XBMC debug log an Stack Trace (Backtrace) crash report. Make it submit those automatically to a mailing-list (hosted by SourceForge or somewhere else).
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Crash_reporting
http://code.google.com/p/socorro/
http://code.google.com/p/google-breakpad/
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Talk:Breakpad

Note! If we integrate a such bug reporting tool into XBMC then it should be an installation option to disable during setup, then users that do not want it can deselect it during the initial installation, (and still enable it later from within the GUI if needed).

PS! Speaking of Stack Traces (Backtraces), would you guys mind putting some 'HOW-TO' information in the wiki on how-to collect a Stack Trace (Backtrace) for XBMC running under Linux manually today? See here => http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO_Submi...cktrace.29

Breakpad is probably the best bet as we can get useful and comparable data on all platforms. It was discussed earlier but has been tabled since the feature freeze.

it's likely that breakpad will provide backtraces in the logs it collects for users to submit. we should have the feature for the next release.

http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/5027

Is MDC (Mozilla Crash Reporter) not better package than Breakpad alone to cover both the (XBMC) client frontend and the (Web) server backend?
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/Crash_reporting

Quote:Beginning with Firefox 3 alpha 5, Firefox and the Mozilla platform ship with an open-source crash reporting system. This system is combination of projects:

• Google Breakpad client and server libraries
  
• Mozilla-specific crash reporting user interface and bootstrap code
  
• Socorro Collection and reporting server

The new system replaces the older proprietary crash reporting system called Talkback, or Quality Feedback Agent (QFA). The crashes reported with Talkback can be viewed at talkback-public.mozilla.org.

It would also be great if we could make XBMC submit those crash reports automatically together with the XBMC debug log on the end-users demand (like a pop-up, where the user can preferably also add a comment), either to a simple mailing-list (hosted by SourceForge or somewhere else) or we could run a server (similar to socorro) that receive and catalog the reports.

What do you guys think?

FYI; Plex has introduced a crash/problem reporter which they call "Plex System Reporter":
http://james.plexapp.com/2009/02/02/intr...-reporter/

Quote:Introducing Plex System Reporter

One issue when using Plex, especially for new users, is how tricky it can be to diagnose problems when things go wrong or aren’t behaving as they should. The team are always happy to help out when we can, and there are plenty of helpful & experienced forum members ready to lend a hand, but there are so many features & configuration options now that it can sometimes take a long time to identify exactly what’s not working properly. Well, hopefully that’s now a thing of the past with the all-new Plex System Reporter!



Plex System Reporter is a simple application that gathers all the relevant information we need about your Plex configuration and allows you to easily send it to the team - it can’t get any easier than clicking one button, right? The report contains copies of your Plex settings, any custom settings you’ve added to the advanced settings file, a list of all your media sources and any content settings you’ve applied. It also includes information about all the files & folders contained in your video sources (currently supporting local folders, network volumes mounted using the Finder or Plex-only SMB shares). This allows us to reproduce your folder structure to help resolve media scanning problems.

If you’re concerned about privacy, don’t worry - the only personal information we gather is your forum username (so we can connect the reports to specific issues you’re having), your OS X username and your computer’s hostname (simply for labelling the reports). All passwords stored in your sources and settings are removed prior to sending the report. The reports will never be viewed by anyone other than members of the Plex team, and will only be used to help solve your problems.

You need to be a registered member of our forums to submit online reports. The forums are a great place for detailed discussion of problems, and are very helpful for the developers - we can easily see what problems are affecting users and try to identify any common causes. After sending us a report, we’ll be able to link it with your forum username and track down the cause of problems a lot quicker than before. If you’re already a member, you can download Plex System Reporter here (HTTP).

It seem to be a separate application similar to the XBMC Helper EventClient running as a background service/deamon.

It also sounds as if they are using it to report crash problems, but like the end-user can also use it to submit a report for any other problems they might have.

If we could have something similar for XBMC then I guess we would want them to enter not use their forum username but also the trac ticket number so that this could somehow be linked to a specific trac ticket bug report, right?

CrashX's Crash Dump patch for Windows (http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/6728) made me remember this so bumping.

The MDC (Mozilla Crash Reporter) solution with Breakpad has the benefit of cross-platform support which be best for us?

Maybe it would be a good idea to try to setup Socorro Collection and reporting server to test this?

...I bet we could get help from Boxee with this one as I am sure that this is something that they too would want(?)