Re: [Flightgear-devel] Info on windows CrashRpts...

[Alessandro M. <ale...@ho...>]

Il 04/05/2016 01:34, Geoff McLane ha scritto:
> Hi Alessandro,
> 
> Thanks for the reply, but using the James server link -
> 
> http://fgfs.goneabitbursar.com/crashreporter/crashrpt.php
> 
> I get a strange -
> 450 MD5 hash is missing.
That's normal - the address I gave you is the one where the error
reports are uploaded by CrashRpt itself (I should have specified that),
and the crashrpt.php script requires several parameters to be passed,
including an MD5 hash of the minidump (I think), hence the message.
There is currently no public interface to get crash reports.

> Of course, I am especially interested in my last report, well,
> probably the first report I filed... Does this HELP in this new feature
> CRASH?
It might help (at least it gives a backtrace).

I've also done some research about automating crash analysis - there are
the following solutions:
1) get them from James' server and process them manually (e.g. via the
   script I mentioned in my previous e-mail, altered as necessary):
   pros: no changes in existing libraries/infrastructure, dumps remain
         private and accessible only to trusted developers;
   cons: Windows-only, some manual steps and script editing are needed;
2) use an automated solution like Dr Dump [1], which can be configured
   to accept CrashRpt reports;
   pros: only a small code change is needed, the service automatically
         analyzes crash reports and groups them according to their
         stack traces (it is only needed to upload .pdb symbols);
   cons: Windows-only, possible privacy concerns (dumps might contain
         portions of memory storing personal data, and some people
         might not be comfortable with storing them on a third-party
         service);
3) change the crash reporter to Google Breakpad [2]/Crashpad [3] and
   use an already developed frontend, like Socorro [4] or the Mini
   Breakpad Server [5], or some custom scripting;
   pros: cross-platform bug reports;
   cons: integrating Breakpad is not trivial (as well as huge [6]);
         Socorro is heavyweight (at least in my opinion).

Cheers,
Alessandro Menti

[1] https://drdump.com/
[2] https://chromium.googlesource.com/breakpad/breakpad/
[3] https://crashpad.chromium.org/index.html
[4] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Socorro
[5] https://github.com/electron/mini-breakpad-server
[6] http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/31877484/