Re: trashing Netscape (was Netscape 4.71 Is Rock Solid & Fast!)
> From: Pann McCuaig <pann@ourmanpann.com>
> On Fri, Oct 22, 1999 at 21:28, Daniel Barclay wrote:
> >
> > No, no, no. Netscape can be just as horribly unstable on glibc 2.0
> > systems. I know. I suffer from it every day.
>
> I hate to rain on your parade, but LOTS of people run Netscape 4.5 and
> 4.6 with libc 2.0 systems without difficulty.
Wait a second.
How does that conflict with anything I said?
I didn't say Netscape was unstable. I said Netscape can be unstable.
> ...
> Obviously, YMMV, but I think it's something other than Netscape giving
> you fits, even though the symptoms are Netscape crashes.
If it is, I'd sure like to find it.
Why do you think it's something other than Netscape? Is there anything
in particular that you're thinking of, or any particular symptom that
makes you think that?
(Note that the difference between failures on my system (and others) and
success on your system (and others) is not just our systems, it's also
our usage patterns.
You might not be using Netscape extensively enough to trigger the bugs.
Maybe usage pattern differences are something to explore.
Do you (and others):
- - have Java enabled?
- - have Javascript enabled?
- - typically open just one or two windows or open many?
- - have just a few bookmarks or a big, messy pile (like, say, 2000 of them)
you'll never quite get sorted?
- - open a lot of windows using "open in new window" (middle mouse button)?
)
Please check this one for me (I don't see how this can be anything other
than a Netscape bug, but if it is something else, I'd like to know):
On any Unix (X11) version of Communicator:
- - open the bookmarks window
- - click on a bookmark to select it
- - open the bookmark properties window (via the right-click menu)
- - leaving the bookmark properties window open,
- - click on a separator in the bookmarks window
- - click on some other bookmark window entry
Does Communicator crash with a bus error??
(This has crashed on every version I've tried.
I've tried Linux glibc versions of 4.7, 4.6x, 4.5x, and several 4.0x
releases. I'm sure I checked some libc5 versions of 4.xx, though I
can't swear to it. (I'm downloading the libc5 version of 4.7 as I
type this.)
I tried a 4.xx version on _Solaris_.
In my tests, this has never failed to crash.
>From the consistency of failure, and from the particular UI actions
involved, I don't see how that can be anything other than a programming
error in Netscape (trying to update bookmark entry strings from the
properties dialog box when the selection changes in the bookmarks window,
but forgetting to check whether the old selected object is a separator,
which doesn't have strings to update).
That doesn't prove that any other errors are Netscape bugs, but it does
prove that Netscape is not bug-free.
(By the way, I reported that bug to Netscape when I isolated it several
months ago in 4.6x. The fact that the bug remains in 4.7 shows that
Netscape's quality control system definitely leaves something to be
desired.)
)
Daniel
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