5 ms·

When you need to report errors from offline product, you create a dump file, zip it, and ask user to send it if he wants the problem investigated File creation

by dgan 5y ago

When you need to report errors from offline product, you create a dump file, zip it, and ask user to send it if he wants the problem investigated File creation can be done automatically as a segfault handler for example

yarcob 5y ago
I have some experience developing desktop apps. Less than 1% of crashes are reported by users. And only around 50% of users who do report a bug will provide follow up info such as crash reports or diagnostic information. Before I had automatic crash reporting, I was blissfully unaware how bad my app was.
- dgan 5y ago
  Well what you said is correct, but there is a difference between a commercial product, and free software I would expect users to care more about the latter. For example, I am specifically talking about open source games, where often users report errors with zipped stacktrace attached
  - duckmysick 5y ago
    In my experience it's the other way around - but the difference is not that big anyway. Commercial programs typically imply paid support, which can tease out more details when the user contacts them. The users themselves are also more invested, as they already committed their money. Open source software faces the same problems about a lack of bug reports. Check out this article and the related HN discussion: https://pointersgonewild.com/2019/11/02/they-might-never-tell-you-its-broken/ https://pointersgonewild.com/2019/11/02/they-might-never-tel... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21427996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21427996
  - yarcob 5y ago
    Yes, there are some users that are really helpful. I also thought that my users are great at reporting bugs. But when I added an automatic crash reporter, I was shocked how many crashes happened that nobody bothered to report. Maybe 1 in 10 crashing bugs was reported at all. A serious bug that made the app all but unusable was reported by 2 or 3 people (out of at least 100 people who were affected before I pulled the broken update).
duckmysick 5y ago
Why should users go out of their way to fix something that wasn't their fault?
- dgan 5y ago
  Because they actually care about a program?
  - skybrian 5y ago
    Often they don’t because they are running hundreds of programs and don’t particularly care about this one. Not everything is a high-profile app that a lot of people pay attention to.
  - duckmysick 5y ago
    Most users actually don't care about the particular program itself. They care about the problem said program claims to solve. If the program gets in the way, they get frustrated and they may even move on. Only a fraction of users will voluntarily report bugs. Even less will do it in a meaningful and detailed way.
  - Griffinsauce 5y ago
    This is truly the core problem here. Nearly all users are about solving a problem, not about the method. So we can philosophize all we want here about the "correct" way but if it simply does not manifest that way in practice it's all moot.

by dgan 5y ago

yarcob 5y ago

I have some experience developing desktop apps. Less than 1% of crashes are reported by users. And only around 50% of users who do report a bug will provide follow up info such as crash reports or diagnostic information. Before I had automatic crash reporting, I was blissfully unaware how bad my app was.

dgan 5y ago
Well what you said is correct, but there is a difference between a commercial product, and free software I would expect users to care more about the latter. For example, I am specifically talking about open source games, where often users report errors with zipped stacktrace attached
- duckmysick 5y ago
  In my experience it's the other way around - but the difference is not that big anyway. Commercial programs typically imply paid support, which can tease out more details when the user contacts them. The users themselves are also more invested, as they already committed their money. Open source software faces the same problems about a lack of bug reports. Check out this article and the related HN discussion: https://pointersgonewild.com/2019/11/02/they-might-never-tell-you-its-broken/ https://pointersgonewild.com/2019/11/02/they-might-never-tel... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21427996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21427996
- yarcob 5y ago
  Yes, there are some users that are really helpful. I also thought that my users are great at reporting bugs. But when I added an automatic crash reporter, I was shocked how many crashes happened that nobody bothered to report. Maybe 1 in 10 crashing bugs was reported at all. A serious bug that made the app all but unusable was reported by 2 or 3 people (out of at least 100 people who were affected before I pulled the broken update).

duckmysick 5y ago

Why should users go out of their way to fix something that wasn't their fault?

dgan 5y ago
Because they actually care about a program?
- skybrian 5y ago
  Often they don’t because they are running hundreds of programs and don’t particularly care about this one. Not everything is a high-profile app that a lot of people pay attention to.
- duckmysick 5y ago
  Most users actually don't care about the particular program itself. They care about the problem said program claims to solve. If the program gets in the way, they get frustrated and they may even move on. Only a fraction of users will voluntarily report bugs. Even less will do it in a meaningful and detailed way.
- Griffinsauce 5y ago
  This is truly the core problem here. Nearly all users are about solving a problem, not about the method. So we can philosophize all we want here about the "correct" way but if it simply does not manifest that way in practice it's all moot.