September 08, 2005
Smart Crash Reports: Beta 5

Following the original post about Smart Crash Reports, and the release of beta 3, I am proudly presenting the new beta. The cow ate 1.0b4 (never got around to releasing it to public), so here are the release notes for both versions:

Version 1.0b5 (September 8, 2005)

  • Improved detection of match specifiers registered for crashed CFM applications.
  • Added a tiny URL to the bottom of the Crash Reporter window so user has a clue what is happening ("Enhanced with Smart Crash Reports").
  • Added "Your personal information is not sent with this report. You will not be contacted in response to this report." back to the static text in the Crash Reporter window, and made static text resizable so all text fits nicely.
  • SDK: Now it's possible to register Smart Crash Reports by simply adding a couple of keys into your application's Info.plist.
  • SDK: Fixed an issue when it was not possible to write to the plist file in the /Library/Preferences from the API SDK.
  • SDK: Also performs matching on the crashed process bundle ID, if no matching specifiers were found in the crashed thread.

Version 1.0b4 (September 7, 2005)

  • Added a lot more safety checks to make absolutely sure Smart Crash Reports won't mess things up if CrashReporter.app changes drastically in future versions of Mac OS X.
  • SDK: Added the Install library allowing developers to check for Smart Crash Reports existance and install it on user's systems from within their products (optional).

The most important points are probably the Install API so you can install SCR directly from within your application, and the ability to simply add a few keys to your application's Info.plist to make Smart Crash Reports read them in if the app crashes and do what it's instructed to. This makes the use of the registration API unnecessary for most cases (plugins such as Browser Plugins, Contextual Menu Modules, or APEs would still require the API to register).

Download here: http://www.unsanity.com/smartcrashreports

Feedback is appreciated!

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 Posted by slava at September 08, 2005 01:54 AM

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Comments

It works!

I can now get Crash Reports for my CFM app. Great work!

Now, some suggestions :-)

1. Can you localize the strings? They are only in English right now.

2. Can you add a third button "Send to MyCompany" in between "Send to Apple" and "Send to Apple & MyCompany"? It would be very useful for repeated testing...

3. Any plans for an Intel (universal binary) version?

Cheers!

Posted by: Philippe Casgrain on September 8, 2005 6:29 AM

1. Yes, it can be localized. We just haven't localized it (we're still working on the "perfect" strings to use. The Localizable.strings file in the SCR inputmanager bundle is what is used.

2. We thought about this, but decided against it. If we take away the ability for Apple to get the crash logs, they may not get a lot of crash logs that could be real bugs in Mac OS X or could be from a misunderstanding of API use. And it isn't like getting all these crash logs is going to harm Apple in any way. We're just afraid Apple not getting crash logs would harm end users in the long run.

3. It's coded so it can easily be made a Universal Binary, however since end users don't have MacTels yet coupled with the fact that a Universal Binary that runs on the DevKit now may not run on the final MacTel, we've decided against releasing a universal binary version. However, if you *really* want one, that could be arranged.

Posted by: Rosyna on September 8, 2005 6:38 AM

Regarding 1 and 3, I just wanted to be reassured that these things are on your to-do list. I also would not localize a product before it is "final", as some of it may be wasted effort.

Thanks!

Posted by: Philippe Casgrain on September 8, 2005 6:56 AM
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