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Steve Sixty-Four edited this page Aug 8, 2016 · 5 revisions

Introduction

Table of Contents:

Some hints for reporting bugs. Updated 2015-05-08.

(The stable release of) GeoToad is supposed to work. If it doesn't, there's a variety of possible reasons. Please check the list below:

Are you using the stable version?

  • If NOT, please do NOT submit an issue report. Problems in Git may be transient.
  • Contact Steve8x8 at his GoogleMail account instead.
  • (See below for details which may help to isolate and reproduce the issue.)

Have you upgraded to the latest release?

  • Check the CurrentVersion wiki page.
  • It may take up to 3 days to notice, but GeoToad will tell you about available updates.

There is nothing available for my OS.

  • Although Windows, Linux, and MacOSX are covered, we cannot build for each platform.
  • There are no plans yet to support individual OSes in terms of packaging. Feel free to suggest additions.
  • As a workaround, you may install ruby yourself and pick up the .tar.gz file.

Yes, I've got the latest version. It used to work, but now it's dead, Jim.

Updates to the GC web site may cause certain patterns not to match any longer. And, of course, there are "real" bugs which slipped through despite heavy testing.

To make it work for you again, we therefore need some input to be able to identify the problem.

  • Always try to reproduce the problem, and allow us to reproduce it as well.
  • If possible, use another (supported) ruby series (1.9.3, 2.0.0, 2.1.5 are supposed to work).
  • As much as possible, isolate the problem, rinse, repeat. Heisenbugs happen.
  • Do you by any chance have multiple GC accounts? Keep them separate.

Some hints to narrow down issues yourself:

  • Toggle verbose output on (using "v" in the TUI, or "-v"/"--verbose" from the command line, 1-3 times), and write the (copious!) output to a file.
  • The last few lines might already give you (and us) an idea what could have happened.
  • Check for the last occurrence of "wid = " in the debugging output. A few lines before, there should be a line "cachefile: ...".
  • Rename that file in your cache as it might be corrupted. Do not remove it, we might need it later.
  • Rename the debug output file too, and run again.
  • If the problem can not be reproduced, the old cache file must be bad. Can you compare the two versions?

If the problem persists:

  • Don't be shy to show your command line. (Noone wants to see your password though.)
  • You're using the TUI? It writes out a command line too - right before running the query.
  • We also need the last output lines, starting with the "cachefile:" line, including the error thrown by Ruby.
  • Make sure you remove your credentials (password, perhaps username) and cookies from the command line and debug output.
  • Never ever submit videos. There are other means to capture console output.
  • Often, we'd like to know your language settings, both in the OS and on the GC site.
  • Anything else non-standard you have set on GC (like measurement units)?
  • Always keep a backup of the files involved (cachefile, output) for a few days!

Before reporting an issue, please:

  • Check the Issues list for similar reports.
  • Check the Git browser whether Git might already have a fix.
  • (You are welcome to review the changes, and leave your comments and suggestions.)

GeoToad seems to work, but the output file is rejected (by the device, or other software).

This seems to happen every now and then, unfortunately. You have no idea what people are putting into their cache descriptions, and log texts!

It was good practice to pass every GPX file through gpsbabel:

  #!/bin/bash
  # check a GPX file by passing through gpsbabel
  for inputfile in "$@"
  do
    echo -n "$inputfile: "
    gpsbabel -i gpx -o gpx -f "$inputfile" -F /dev/null >/tmp/$$.chk 2>&1
    ret=$?
    if [ $ret -eq 0 ]
    then
        echo " OK"
    else
        cat /tmp/$$.chk
        line=`grep "parse error at line " /tmp/$$.chk | sed -e 's~.*at line ~~' -e 's~ of.*~~'`
        sed -ne "${line}p" "$inputfile"
    fi
    rm -f /tmp/$$.chk
  done

This script (tested under Linux, to be invoked with a list of files) checks for the first error, and shows the corresponding line in the GPX file. If you don't understand the output, just make sure it's contained in your bug report.

In the near past, gpsbabel was observed to corrupt GPX files. GPS handhelds usually didn't notice, but c:geo did. Be cautious!

(to be extended)

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