Has FB 2 bugfixing stopped?

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Lawrence San

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Feb 17, 2015, 5:10:17 PM2/17/15
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Does the focus on developing the new Firebug 3 mean that there won't be any more work on bugfixes for FB 2.0.8?  For example, regarding breakpoints when FB 2.0.8 is used with Firefox 35? In other words, will there be a FB 2.0.9? Thanks.

Jan Honza Odvarko

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Feb 18, 2015, 5:34:32 AM2/18/15
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Yes, we are mostly focused on FB3, so there is less time for Firebug 2 maintenance.


> For example, regarding breakpoints when FB 2.0.8
What specific problem or reported issue do you have in mind?

Honza

Lawrence San

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Feb 18, 2015, 11:57:53 AM2/18/15
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> What specific problem or reported issue do you have in mind?

The one that, broadly speaking, three people reported in a previous thread. In my case, if I'm using Mac Firebug 2.0.8, the code stops at my first breakpoint and then I can't go on, because the Step Into / Step Over / Play buttons are disabled (kind of grayed out). Keyboard shortcuts for them don't work either. The problem usually happens, with any page (no particular code), but more likely if Firebug is in a separate window (not docked) and more likely with Firefox 35.  I don't see this problem at all with Firebug 2.0.7 with Mac Firefox 34, so I'm sticking with them for now as my main setup.

Lawrence


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Jan Honza Odvarko

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Feb 18, 2015, 2:19:08 PM2/18/15
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I need an issue report + simple test case + steps to reproduce the problem.
As soon as I have it I can fix it.

This usually helps a lot!

Honza


On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 5:57:53 PM UTC+1, San wrote:
> What specific problem or reported issue do you have in mind?

The one that, broadly speaking, three people reported in a previous thread. In my case, if I'm using Mac Firebug 2.0.8, the code stops at my first breakpoint and then I can't go on, because the Step Into / Step Over / Play buttons are disabled (kind of grayed out). Keyboard shortcuts for them don't work either. The problem usually happens, with any page (no particular code), but more likely if Firebug is in a separate window (not docked) and more likely with Firefox 35.  I don't see this problem at all with Firebug 2.0.7 with Mac Firefox 34, so I'm sticking with them for now as my main setup.

Lawrence

On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 5:34 AM, Jan Honza Odvarko <odv...@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes, we are mostly focused on FB3, so there is less time for Firebug 2 maintenance.

> For example, regarding breakpoints when FB 2.0.8
What specific problem or reported issue do you have in mind?

Honza


On Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 11:10:17 PM UTC+1, San wrote:
Does the focus on developing the new Firebug 3 mean that there won't be any more work on bugfixes for FB 2.0.8?  For example, regarding breakpoints when FB 2.0.8 is used with Firefox 35? In other words, will there be a FB 2.0.9? Thanks.

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Lawrence San

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Feb 18, 2015, 11:50:29 PM2/18/15
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I'm not even sure what an "issue report" is -- I thought that's what I just gave you -- but I know from experience how time-consuming tech writing is since I've done a lot of it. Sorry, I don't have time to put all that together. Also I don't see why it's needed -- as I said, I see the same result on _any_ web page, if using the combination of Firefox 35 and Firebug 2.0.8. You can try it yourself on any page you like. Are you (or anyone) using that combination seeing breakpoints work correctly?

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Sebastian Zartner

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Feb 19, 2015, 3:45:18 AM2/19/15
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On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 5:50:29 AM UTC+1, San wrote:
I'm not even sure what an "issue report" is -- I thought that's what I just gave you -- but I know from experience how time-consuming tech writing is since I've done a lot of it. Sorry, I don't have time to put all that together. Also I don't see why it's needed

A test case with steps to reproduce is always needed, no matter how trivial to reproduce you think the problem is.
 
-- as I said, I see the same result on _any_ web page, if using the combination of Firefox 35 and Firebug 2.0.8. You can try it yourself on any page you like. Are you (or anyone) using that combination seeing breakpoints work correctly?

I am using Firefox 35.0.1 + Firebug 2.0.8 on Win7 and I did not encounter this issue so far.


On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 5:57:53 PM UTC+1, San wrote:
What specific problem or reported issue do you have in mind?

The one that, broadly speaking, three people reported in a previous thread.

Can you post the link to that thread?

On Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 11:10:17 PM UTC+1, San wrote:
Does the focus on developing the new Firebug 3 mean that there won't be any more work on bugfixes for FB 2.0.8?

I need to say that I get the same impression. Issues in Firebug 2 don't even seem to get reviewed anymore. The only one doing so is me, and I am officially not part of the FWG anymore. You guys should at least review all those issues and point their reporters to Firebug 3, in case their issue will be solved there. It's a bad experience for users wanting to help by creating a bug report and taking the time to create a test case, but nobody cares about it.

As far as I can see the main issues people complain about are related to the Script panel (especially in regard of breakpoints):
For most of them I just found reproducible test cases yesterday.

Sebastian
 

Lawrence San

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Feb 19, 2015, 9:41:07 AM2/19/15
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On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 3:45 AM, Sebastian Zartner <sebastia...@gmail.com> wrote:
Can you post the link to that thread?

​Sorry, not easily, because I'm reading this in gmail. But I'm referring to the thread entitled "firebug 2.0.8 stops at no breakpoints in firefox 35.0.1 on Mac or PC" that was started (by somebody else) six days ago on February 13.

A test case with steps to reproduce...

...is something I'm not familiar with and don't have time for. When, years ago, I was a volunteer beta tester for a few major software products (programs that everyone is familiar with) nobody ever asked me to use a standard format or put together test cases. I just reported the problems, and their teams followed up from there. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, Firebug is a great tool and I'm getting it free. But if major hurdles are put up to users reporting bugs, if we have to create new accounts on GitHub, learn how to create Test Case Packages or whatever it is... most users will simply not participate in this process at all.


I am using Firefox 35.0.1 + Firebug 2.0.8 on Win7 and I did not encounter this issue so far.

Interesting. Are you running Firebug in a separate window? I've found the breakpoints problem in that case are more reproducible.


I need to say that I get the same impression. Issues in Firebug 2 don't even seem to get reviewed anymore.

That's another reason I'm not willing to put significant time into this.


Sebastian Zartner

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Feb 19, 2015, 4:07:17 PM2/19/15
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On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 3:41:07 PM UTC+1, San wrote:

On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 3:45 AM, Sebastian Zartner <sebastia...@gmail.com> wrote:
Can you post the link to that thread?

​Sorry, not easily, because I'm reading this in gmail. But I'm referring to the thread entitled "firebug 2.0.8 stops at no breakpoints in firefox 35.0.1 on Mac or PC" that was started (by somebody else) six days ago on February 13.

Found it. https://groups.google.com/d/topic/firebug/fS_Szmt6QZE/discussion. The first person describes another issue than you. You say that the stepping functionality doesn't work when you hit a breakpoint, while he says that he can't set any breakpoints and just sees a throbber where the breakpoint should be.

I am using Firefox 35.0.1 + Firebug 2.0.8 on Win7 and I did not encounter this issue so far.

Interesting. Are you running Firebug in a separate window? I've found the breakpoints problem in that case are more reproducible.

Yes, I tried it while Firebug was detached on several websites and it did not happen to me. The debugger buttons were always activated once the script execution was halted. My steps on one of the pages:
  1. Opened Firebug on https://getfirebug.com/tests/manual/console/joes-original/test.html
  2. Enabled and switched to the Script panel
  3. Set a breakpoint at line 23 of test.html (console.log("This is a call to log with multiple arguments.", document.body, 42);)
  4. Clicked the log button on the page

=> The execution halted at line 23 and the debugger buttons were active.

A test case with steps to reproduce...

...is something I'm not familiar with and don't have time for.

 A test case is what I did above. I.e. writing down the steps you did on a specific page where the problem can be reproduced. See https://getfirebug.com/wiki/index.php/Creating_a_Test_Case for more info.
If you don't have time to create a test case, you should follow the quick-fix steps described on the first aid page. Though if you want the bug to be fixed, you should follow the instructions to help the team understand the problem.

When, years ago, I was a volunteer beta tester for a few major software products (programs that everyone is familiar with) nobody ever asked me to use a standard format or put together test cases. I just reported the problems, and their teams followed up from there.

Then I wonder how they could fix issues, which were not obvious. Generally a programmer needs to be able to reproduce a bug in order to fix it.
 
Sebastian

Lawrence San

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Feb 19, 2015, 4:51:29 PM2/19/15
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Hmm... playing around more with either combination (FF 35.0.1 and Firebug 2.0.8 running inside my Win7 VM; or FF 34.0 and Firebug 2.0.8 directly on my Mac) ... I'm seeing behavior that I don't understand. I have an illustration page (in my Apache devel server, not online) where that HTML page loads a few different external JavaScript files (all from within the same domain and server). In Firebug I can see the dropdown list of all the JS files. If I choose the main JS file (the one that all my pages load), and I'm in the Script panel, I can set a breakpoint and it works fine. (A minor thing I just noticed -- once I click a debugger button there,  all the other JS scripts disappear from the dropdown menu. Is that normal?)

So I reload the page, but this time I choose a different, secondary JS script file (one that I only use with my illustration pages) from the list, and set a breakpoint there. No matter on what line (with a green line number) I set it, the breakpoint doesn't work, as I described; execution stops at the breakpoint but then all three Firebug buttons are disabled and I can't advance. Yet (if I don't set a breakpoint) the script works perfectly with that page and doesn't throw any errors.

Yet the breakpoints were working with that secondary JS file before (Mac Firefox 34 + Firebug 2.0.7) -- in fact I was debugging that JS file for many, many days before. The only difference I can think of now is that I was running Firebug 2.0.7 then and have since upgraded it to 2.0.8.

Is there some way (short of wrestling with my backup programs) that I could downgrade Mac Firebug 2.0.8 to 2.0.7 and see whether the problem goes away? Thanks.

Lawrence San

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Feb 19, 2015, 5:03:40 PM2/19/15
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Now
​breakpoints have suddenly stopped working in the main JS file too; when I try to set one I'm just getting the throbber, as the other people here described. Overall the behavior is so erratic that I don't see how I could set up a repeatable "test case" even if I tried.

JP Charrier

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Feb 19, 2015, 5:31:23 PM2/19/15
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Perhaps this would be better resolved if the developers were to set up their own test cases using the issues described by many many people as a guide to follow.
As a developer myself, I am rarely presented with a ‘problem on a plate’ all packaged up nicely so i can just get to work. 99% of the time, I have to go find the problem, figure out how to reproduce it in a stable repeatable manner, and then start to work on the fix. I realise this does take time, but sometimes it is the ONLY way to find a solution to a problem.

With FireBug being so vastly important to 99% of the world wide developers I am truly surprised that there is not more finance and action behind this project, as that would make this app truly come alive. 

Whilst I can sympathise with the dev’s in regards to wanting the issues presented in the most beautiful manner complete with repeatable steps and a live test case - I just don’t see how this is effective bug squashing if the dev’s aren’t willing to go and investigate and at least attempt to reproduce the issue themselves.

Regards,
JP

On 20/02/2015, at 11:02 am, Lawrence San <lawre...@gmail.com> wrote:

Now
​breakpoints have suddenly stopped working in the main JS file too; when I try to set one I'm just getting the throbber, as the other people here described. Overall the behavior is so erratic that I don't see how I could set up a repeatable "test case" even if I tried.


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Erik Krause

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Feb 19, 2015, 5:44:36 PM2/19/15
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Am 19.02.2015 um 23:31 schrieb JP Charrier:

> With FireBug being so vastly important to 99% of the world wide
> developers I am truly surprised that there is not more finance and
> action behind this project, as that would make this app truly come
> alive.

Me too. However, looking at the firefox dev tools you can see what a
team with finance and action behind it delivers compared to a project
supported mainly by a community. I guess it's those world wide
developers out there who provided feature requests, good issue reports
and test cases which made firebug the tool all other dev tools copied from.

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Sebastian Zartner

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Feb 19, 2015, 6:26:39 PM2/19/15
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If just 1% of the millions of people would actually contribute code to it, I'd be the happiest man alive. Unfortunately the group of people maintaining it is way too small to keep it competitive as an independent tool. That's one major reason why Firebug 3 will integrate into the Firefox DevTools instead of staying a stand-alone tool.


I just don’t see how this is effective bug squashing if the dev’s aren’t willing to go and investigate and at least attempt to reproduce the issue themselves.

They do try to reproduce the issues. Though as the resources are very limited, it is impossible to spend several hours on every bug report trying to find a reproducible test case while at the same time working on the new version, answering questions in this forum, keep the website and the documentation up-to-date, etc.

@Lawrence: Instead of wasting your time writing long descriptions of what problems you currently face, which may not be easily reproducible, I suggest you follow the steps described in the first aid page I linked to before.
In case you (or someone else here) finds clear steps for the seen bugs, report issues for them and create a test cases as I did in issue 7760.

Sebastian
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