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Known Bugs in NeXTSTEP
Purpose
Establishing a centralised database of bugs in NeXTSTEP, meant to be consulted by users to steer clear of trouble and by NeXT for cleaning up NeXTSTEP. The source of the information: NeXTSTEP's users (NeXT has abstained so far). Just check whether any bug you discover has been included already, and send a report to me if it hasn't; for items that are included as open-ended for a previous release, tell me whether they are now cured or not. The purpose: to help you avoid trouble, make it unnecessary to waste much time trying to identify a bug or finding out whether it has already been identified, and to share workarounds. This is a personal and purely voluntary effort (I must be crazy or something).
It has been reconfirmed several times that NeXT is not interested in this initiative, neither to divulge knowledge about bugs (maybe they don't want to kill the Ask_NeXT with the golden eggs, why else would they not try this to filter out most of the doubles?), nor to use its results (you are therefore invited/urged to relay any item in here that you find of interest to you and that you can reproduce (to be fair) in the latest release, to Bug_NeXT@NeXT.com).
Coverage
The following is limited to the official NeXTSTEP distribution, and excludes facts included in /NextLibrary/Documentation/ReleaseNotes.
A selection of bugs known to me (almost all, really), and not already included in the ReleaseNotes.
A selection of suggestions I want to make (many, but far from all), sort of compensation for maintaining this file¼
A selection of ``refereed'' reproducible bugs reported to me (indicated are: who discovered (by default the reporter), who reported, who verified).
Notices of fixes by NeXT's programmers wanted!
Some rumours and input from other sources (indicated as such).
This file incorporates all my reports to Bug_NeXT(ec) that are still valid (i.e., 1358, 1446, 1897 (not second item: cured), 1899, 2028, 2064, 2100, 2101 on Bug_NeXTec, none on Bug_NeXT) and replaces various submissions (among them earlier versions of this compilation), e.g., Bug_NeXT.48688 is KBNS.11.0.
Identification
A system has been introduced in version 10.1 (10.0 was only known as 8.0 together with 9.1) as follows, and has gone through some changes. KBNS.xx.y.zzz is an item that has been added to this collection (Known Bugs in NS) since version xx.y with a tag zzz. Missing tags mean that a preliminary item was revoked/revised before release. xx.y.zzz is the constant here, and can be used to identify an item. xx.y can be used to quickly scan new items (this will replace the rather clumsy colour scheme previously used).
After an underscore, information about the lifetime of an item is included: after an underscore comes one version or a range (with a ±), where the boundaries are either o (for open: the actual validity range may extend further than indicated), or c (for closed, the actual validity is known not to extend past this boundary, at the end this may be read as the c for cured). By default, all entries here have been marked _o3.0o. A letter may be omitted if it would make no sense.
Limitation: I didn't provide a revision tag.
Copyright
Permission to reproduce anything from this file is given, provided that this source is mentioned (so that it can work as a central repository). A notification is appreciated in case of large distribution.
I have quoted literally from a few sources (NeXT documentation, Developer mailings) with reference to their origin, to avoid introducing mistakes.
I invite you
to submit your own reproducible NeXTSTEP_3.0 bugs that are not yet included here to me, for inclusion in the next version, as well as comments, high acclaim and¼ bugs in this file! Please only NeXTSTEP_3.0. And only reproducible bugs (I don't want to get swamped, this is a voluntary effort, and I reserve the other categories to myself here, kinda like compensation; suggestions to fix obvious shortcomings are a border case). Try to classify them somewhat like this file does, and collect them together. It would be very helpful to include testimony that someone else could reproduce the bug from a concise description: I could then include that almost literally and without having to test it myself.
NeXT programmers are urged to send reports of bug fixes.
Please no big files: first Build a project with option clean, no big .snd or .tiff files, and check if it's not already sufficiently covered here¼
To submit material,
Edit one of the following messages (only the parts in italics). Don't send several messages: collect your items.
Remember:
· Format: NeXT Mail when the triangle is not visible in the deliver button (i.e., not uuencoded) can cause trouble for some sites (mostly non-Internet), such as mine, so click once or twice (or more) until you have Non-NeXT, or make sure you force uuencoded mail (include and delete an ellipsis=alt-period, for instance). See category Mail.
· Size: Don't send more data than absolutely necessary. First Build a project with option clean, no big .snd or .tiff files, and check whether the subject is not already sufficiently covered in a version that you got from sonata at most a few days before¼ Most bugs can be perfectly described in only a few lines of text (which is all that will be included here anyway).
Please include your name in alias style (John_Doe) and Internet style (jdoe@foo.bar.com: I can't reach you if your address contains characters other than @, period and alphanumerics, so if you have something with ! or % ask someone else to submit for you).
(NeXT can be contacted at Bug_NeXT@NeXT.com in America and at Bug_NeXTec@NeXT.com in Europe, but you can be almost sure they won't return anything else than an automated log notice with their reference number. They prefer one item per message only. BTW, you're invited to submit copies of items herein, maybe statistics will guide them to fulfill our desires¼ Unless of course we can be persuaded that they will follow this file closely.)
If you want to submit a known-bug report.
To: Raf_Schietekat
Subject: KBNS.XX.X.rtf submission
The version of this compilation that I have is: Version 10.
Category: Hardware (a category is the thing with the largest font in this file)
Subcategory: Pizza Box
NeXTSTEP version: o2.1±3.0o (it applies to everything from 2.1 to 3.0, I didn't yet test outside of that range)
Real name (first and last name linked with an underscore): John_Doe
E-mail: jdoe@foo.bar.com (NeXT Mail preferred), my old address john@next.dee.com is now invalid
Severity: (hardware reset required/NMI reboot required/login window appears/application crash/data corruption/display mishap¼) none of these: unrecoverable hardware damage
References: Bug_NeXTec knows this as #8764349872 (just kidding) and I posted it to comp.sys.next.bugs on 1993-01-15.
Verified: X_Y (x@z.com) has tried it too and roughly confirms my findings
Description: A NeXT computer won't always start up again after it has been dropped to the floor. I think there's a specific pattern here, but I've been unable to obtain cooperation from other labs to complete my analysis.
Documentation: A statistical analysis is documented in foo.bar.com:~ftp/next/bugs/droppings.rtfd
Workaround: Covering the floor with mattresses often helps, but this is a rather awkward solution.
General comments: I think your bugs collection stinks. I never use it. It has never saved me any time. Why don't you just quit.
If you want to contest or clarify anything, answer any question, provide a workaround, or wish to notify me that the item is fixed (NeXT¼).
To: Raf_Schietekat
Subject: KBNS.XX.X.rtf comment
The version of this compilation that I have is: Version 10.
Real name (first and last name linked with an underscore): John_Doe
E-mail: jdoe@foo.bar.com
Identification: KBNS.00.0.000_o3.0o
Comment: Isn't that a very naughty number! I have tested this in 3.1 and it is not solved!
General comments: I think your bugs collection stinks. I never use it. It has never saved me any time. Why don't you just quit.
``Warning''
Grave dangers and lowly suggestions, from NeRDy to nerdy, are mixed together here, and only some indication of severity has been provided; but until NeXT develops an application that lets one easily develop a fully specified (in the dimensions of application, reproducibility, severity, estimated effort for repair etc.) standard report that can be easily routed, letting it be submitted by e-mail, automatically returning known bugs in that area, and requesting a confirmation before having the engineers look at it (automatically selecting from life threatening to silly comment in the engineer's own area of expertise together with a count of the users that confirmed this item, still allowing him to choose something of lesser priority if he is getting depressed or something) instead of the present human filter NeXT(ec)@NeXT.com that is apparently very loath to accept anything of much detail or other, and automatically confirming a fix and adding it to the list ``is fixed for the next release'', ``will be fixed'', ``we're not sure if this is a bug we should spend time on let's see who else complains'', ``we disagree'' or something else (blabla), sending it to the submitter so that his part of the application can keep this in a to-check list to see if it has indeed been fixed to satisfaction (still allowing him to reconsider if he sees that he made a mistake), also including this program suite in NeXTSTEP for use by developers of third-party applications (!), that's all that can be expected (these were two sentences, but I thought one would be clearer).
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.