Bugs bugs, Finder bugs, yummy bugs
Bugs bugs, Finder bugs, yummy bugs
- Subject: Bugs bugs, Finder bugs, yummy bugs
- From: Matt Deatherage <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 23:56:29 -0500
So, yeah. Hi.
Since the Finder-tornado started a few days ago, people like Emilé and Shane and others have posted descriptions of some interesting, confounding, and amusing-if-it's-happening-to-someone-else Finder scripting bugs to the list, some of which have apparently been around for years. It's fun to read, and I know it does some good.
Yet there is approximately a 0.0001% chance that *any* of these bugs will ever get fixed unless they have been entered into Radar, Apple's bug reporting system. Posting them to the list or griping with friends does not count.
*You must file bugs.* File *every* bug you find. File bugs that other people filed if they're interfering with your work as well. File file file file file.
I only found two bugs in Panther. One related to OpenType fonts and glyph identity. I filed that one, and sure enough, it got fixed in Tiger, from the second developer build onward. The other, an AppleScript-related bug with "call xmlrpc" that I first noticed after installing Mac OS X 10.3.7, I did not file. I was able to work around it by using the debug version of WebServicesCore, so I didn't bother.
Sure enough, it's not fixed in Tiger, and now the "debug" version has the same problem. I filed it tonight (rdar://4227625), so hopefully it'll get fixed for Leopard, and if I'm really lucky, maybe sooner. Maybe not, because Apple engineers have made it clear that most bugs that don't involve crashes or major loss of functionality have to wait until the next major OS version. Had I filed it back in December 2004, it would probably be fixed right now.
If you can describe the bug, provide a sample script, and save an Apple System Profiler file describing your system, your bug can go into Radar. When Apple engineers are deciding what to do next, they don't look at this or any other external mailing list - they look in Radar.
*Put your bugs in Radar and they get fixed.* Put them on mailing lists and you get sympathy.
File them all. If Apple tells you to stop because you're filing too many separate, distinct bugs, I will personally mail you a cookie. Homemade, too, not that stuff you can buy at gas stations that tastes like it's made of sweetened Soylent Green.
There is *nothing* more important that you can do to improve the future of AppleScript than filing bugs in Radar. They may not all get fixed, but if you don't report them, they certainly won't get fixed. Misery loves company, but filed bugs get fixed.
Thanks.
--Matt
--
Matt Deatherage <email@hidden>
GCSF, Incorporated <http://www.macjournals.com>
"They can make me do it, but they can't make me do it with dignity."
-- Calvin
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