Association of Shareware Professionals forum - bugs on users' computer which you cannot reproduce

Author

bugs on users' computer which you cannot reproduce

boss@bracket-trader.com

2008-04-18, 8:47 am

One of the biggest headaches is when some customers report a bug but
which I cannot reproduce in my test systems. Any suggestions on how
to handle this situation?

Thanks,

Larry

Dan@NoSpam.com

2008-04-18, 8:09 pm

<boss@bracket-trader.com> wrote in message
news:fu9jdt$1khf$1@news-asp.cifnet.net...
>
> One of the biggest headaches is when some customers report a bug but
> which I cannot reproduce in my test systems. Any suggestions on how
> to handle this situation?

When I have a problem like this I send the user a special build that creates
a VERY detailed log file. If the problem is an error that the application
can trap and report on this should help nail down what's happening (or at
least where it is happening).

steve@tropheus.demon.co.uk

2008-04-18, 8:09 pm

On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:41:17 -0500 (CDT), boss@bracket-trader.com
wrote:

>
>One of the biggest headaches is when some customers report a bug but
>which I cannot reproduce in my test systems. Any suggestions on how
>to handle this situation?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Larry

I was into finding that sort of problem by phoning the customer and
getting him/her to tell me exactly what they are doing to hit the bug.
Later versions of my software have tracing built in. That avoids long
expensive trans-atlantic phone calls.

Steve

--
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mtettmar@mjtnet.com

2008-04-18, 8:09 pm

"boss@bracket-trader.com" <boss@bracket-trader.com> wrote in message
news:fu9jdt$1khf$1@news-asp.cifnet.net:

> One of the biggest headaches is when some customers report a bug but
> which I cannot reproduce in my test systems. Any suggestions on how
> to handle this situation?
>

Usually what I do is call the customer up and use
BeamYourScreen/GoToMeeting or whatever and connect up to his desktop and
watch him produce the error. Often the reason you can't reproduce is
because you haven't properly understood what the user is doing (or he
hasn't explained it very well). Failing that ask for a screencast. But
I prefer to get on his desktop and run through it myself.

Often that's enough for you to then reproduce on your machine. If you
still can't repro on your machine then as Dan suggested, send a debug
version with lots of log output at that point in the app - that should
give you some clues.

If the bug is a crash, using something like MadExcept will usually find
the problem immediately.

--
Kind Regards,
Marcus Tettmar
http://www.mjtnet.com/
Tel: +44 208 099 3431 | Mob: +44 7872 666 256
MSN: mtettmar@mjtnet.com | Skype: marcustettmar
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