If you are running a ‘Helix … for PowerPC’ program on an Intel-based Mac, do not send us the crash log. All those crash logs tell us is that ‘Rosetta’ crashed and they provide no useful data at all. (Sorry.)
If you are not sure which program you are running, check the ‘About…’ window in the application menu.
If you are experiencing repeated crashes when running a ‘Helix … for PowerPC’ on an Intel-based Mac, try the ‘Helix … for Intel’ version instead. Demo keys are available so you can test before buying, if desired.
One of the principal benefits of getting Helix to OS X is that it provides us with a better set of tools for determining the cause of a Helix crash than we’ve ever had before. When an OS X native Helix application crashes, a file is created that contains detailed information that can help us isolate the source of the crash. However, Apple’s built-in Crash Reporter (the window that comes up after a crash, asking you to describe the events preceding the crash) only sends the report to Apple and Apple does not forward them to us.
The purpose of this article is to explain how you can retrieve these crash logs and submit them to us in a way that allows us to efficiently deal with them. (Hint: it is not via email.)
As we identify bugs and provide explanations, workarounds, and/or fixes, we update our knowledgebase. You can see the current state of Helix 6 bugs by checking the Known Issues/Helix 6 Specific section of the knowledgebase.
Bug Reports
If we are to continue to improve the product and meet the needs of our customers, we need to know when you experience problems. Please contact technical support using one of the methods listed above when you discover something you believe to be a bug in Helix.
OS X Crash Logs
OS X provides enhanced tools for determining the cause of an application crash. If an OS X native Helix application crashes, a file is created in the User’s /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ directory. This file contains detailed information that can help us isolate the source of the crash. If you experience crashes with any OS X native Helix application, please use a current copy of Helix Client to visit our Helix Technical Support Server at techdb.qsatoolworks.com (log in with user name “Guest” — no password is required) and use the “Send Document” command to send the crash log to us. In the “Tech Support Ref#” field, enter your customer number, and enter any important information in the “Notes” field.
Please note that we do not ask you to submit crash logs via email. Why not? Because it is inefficient. If you email them to us, the person receiving the email must then turn around and load the crash log into the support database. At this point, the entry goes in without your customer number (unless you happened to provide it) and we have lost the ability to contact you, person who the crash actually affects, directly. By submitting the crash log yourself, you give us an efficient way to contact you if we need further information or we have a fix for the bug.
When an OS X native Helix application crashes, a file is created containing details about the crash that may help us isolate and fix it. How to locate this crash log varies depending on which version of OS X you are running:
- Tiger: Under Mac OS X 10.4, all of the crashes for a program are written into a single file. That file is in the User’s /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ directory. The file is named after the program, with .crash.log appended to the end. If you have never accessed this file before, it is probably filled with old, irrelevant information. If the file is more than a few kilobytes in size, please don’t send it. Discard it and try to reproduce the crash. The new crash log will contain just the information we need to see your current issue.
- Leopard: Under Mac OS X 10.5, crash logs are stored in the same location, but multiple crashes are no longer written to a single file. Each Leopard crash is written to a uniquely time stamped crash log file. On a Mac running OS X 10.5, a crash log is named e.g. “Helix Server_2008_10_22_123456_username.crash” to show the date, time and username of the crash. Be sure to get the right log file(s) when sending them to us. (You can — and should — also delete the old crash logs, as they are now irrelevant.)
- Snow Leopard: Under Mac OS X 10.6, each crash is written to a separate time stamped crash log file, just as they are in OS X 10.5 (Leopard). However, the crash log files are stored in the User’s /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ folder. (In Snow Leopard, the “CrashReporter” folder contains aliases to the actual files: be careful not to send us the aliases!)
- Lion: Under Mac OS X 10.7, crash logs are stored in the same location as Snow Leopard and Leopard, but the ‘Library’ folder is hidden from view. The easiest way to get there is to choose Go to Folder from the Finder’s Go menu and enter this:
~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/
If you want to make the Library folder permanently visible in Lion, this Terminal command will do the trick:
chflags nohidden ~/Library
Note that in both of those commands, the ~ is the tilde character, which is shorthand for the user’s home folder.
Feel free to read the crash log, but be very careful not to change anything in it. Double clicking it typically opens the Console application, but you can drag it onto any text editor. The important thing is that you have found the information we need to understand why your Helix OS X application is crashing.
Once you’ve found the crash log, drag it out to the desktop (or some other place that will make it easy to find). Crash logs accumulate data, so if you don’t remove it from the CrashReporter folder, later crashes will be added onto this file, and if you sent that file in later, we’ll end up with redundant data. And that will just slow us down, so please: after you’ve sent us the file, delete it so you don’t accidentally send it to us again.
With crash log in hand, you are ready to log into our technical support database (techdb) and send it to us. If you are not familiar with techdb, this page tells you how to access it.
Once you have logged in, you should file a Bug Report. The Bug Reports menu contains views you can use to search existing reports. You should take a moment to see if somebody else has already reported the same crash situation. If they have, you can attach your crash log via the Support Documents feature of the bug reporter. If not, then create a new bug report, describing the situation surrounding the crash, and attach your crash log to it.
When you click the Add Document button, a new form opens (see at left). Enter your customer number and password, then add any useful notes. When you tab (or click) into the Document field the Get Document button activates. Clicking it opens the OS X file browser (see at right) that you use to specify the document to send.
Navigate to the crash log and click the Copy File button. Helix will transfer the file into techdb and return you to the Add Document view, with your document showing in the Document field.
Once you are satisfied that the data is correct, click the Add Document button. The file transfer begins and when it is complete, the window closes automatically. You are now returned to the main bug report window, where you can add additional information. Otherwise, just close the form, because your work is done.
Final note: by default, any documents you upload are available for other Helix users to see. This is to encourage the free-flow of information. If you prefer that your document not be accessible to other Helix users, click the Private radio button. Only QSA ToolWorks (and you) will be able to access a private document.
Our staff reviews the submitted documents and searches for patterns that can be used to isolate and fix the bugs. We tend to focus on the bugs that are reported by the most people, which is why submitting crash logs this way is the best way to get your bug fixed.
If your bug is affecting a mission critical application, feel free to follow up with an email to our support department, letting us know about the document you uploaded. We’ll take a quick look and let you know if we have any insight into your particular issue.
But please understand: fixing bugs is typically a task that is measured in weeks, not days or hours. The chances of us being able to find the bug, fix the bug, test the fix, build a new version of Helix, and distribute that fix in time for your next business day are non-existent. This is the harsh reality of most of the bugs we have seen.
CrashReporter is a debugging facility in Mac OS X that logs information about all programs that crash. For more information about crash logs and CrashReporter, check out this technote from Apple.