This is the README for MailCrashTrap.1.0.NIHS.bs.tar.gz [Download] [Browse] [Up]
MailCrashTrap bundle version 1.0 1999/01/10
====================
This is a plugin for Mail.app (3.3 and 4.x) that extends its error
handling in case of an application crash. It prints a stack backtrace
to the console, and puts up an alert box that offers you to continue
execution of Mail.app instead of just exiting. Use this feature at your
own risk!!!
Install the contents of `MailCrashTrap.pkg' anywhere in the mail bundle
path (~/Library/Mail, /LocalLibrary/Mail, /NextLibrary/Mail, and the Mail
application wrapper itself) and restart Mail. The recommended location
for system-wide installation is /LocalLibrary/Mail, for personal
installation ~/Library/Mail. Mail.app 3.3 expects all bundles in the
same folder--it crashes otherwise (yes, this is a bug in Mail.app 3.3)
The bundle itself is actually named `AAAMailCrashTrap.bundle' to force
Mail.app to load it as early as possible, so that it has a chance to
catch crashes during load of other bundles. (Mail.app loads its bundles
in alphabetical order.)
This is a quick hack I whipped up one evening around the existing
public-domain HKCrashTrap-1.0 code, slightly adapted so as not to lose
Mail.apps own signal handling. (After that I spent way too much time
re-hacking the CrashTrap handler itself :-/ It is now more robust,
informative and extensible (or so I'd like to tell myself...)) Stack
backtrace dump still only works for NeXT and Intel; HP-PA and Sparc may
be supported in the future. The crash _catching_ aspect at least now
should work for all architectures.
Enjoy!
Tom Hageman
Send suggestions, bugreports, etc. to
<mailapp-utilities@basil.icce.rug.nl>
Version history:
1.0 - first public release.
* finish support for localization.
* prepare for distribution.
0.2 - first beta version.
* localizable crash alert panel.
* lots of internal changes in CrashTrap, like:
- more informative/accurate stack dump (NeXT, Intel only).
- now works with HP-PA, Sparc (well, minus the stack dump.)
- user-configurable, handles the following dwrites:
CrashTrap_MaxFrameCount (unsigned number, default 50)
- max. number of frames shown in stack frame backtrace.
CrashTrap_FunctionArgCount (unsigned number, default 4)
- number of (long) arguments to show with a function.
CrashTrap_MaxArgDescriptionLength (unsigned number, default 256)
- maximum length of (string) arguments to show.
CrashTrap_DumpBacktrace (boolean, default YES)
- whether or not to show backtrace.
0.1 - first alpha version.
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.