I'll post this reminder every month to help people use the xcode-users list better.
The most important part of a mailing list posting is precision. We deal with computer programming here, and APIs and compilers are intolerant of imprecision. If something is not working the way you expect, try to be as complete, detailed, and precise as you can about what you did, what the result is, and how it differs from your expectation.
An email titled “Xcode Problem” saying “I tried to add a file to my project and it didn't work. What's wrong?” will not get a useful response. If you rephrase it “File added to the project doesn’t get built” and specify that you dragged a .cp file from the Finder into a project window, unchecked all the checkboxes in the sheet, and when you clicked the Build button in the toolbar, the Build Results transcript (here's the excerpt) showed that in your target two other files were compiled but the file you added was not compiled. That's the kind of detail that will get a question answered.
Try documentation and searches first
Many questions have straightforward answers already posted on the list, in Apple documentation, or elsewhere on the Internet. Pick a couple key words from your question and try these Google searches:
site:developer.apple.com Xcode <your keywords> site:lists.apple.com xcode-users <your keywords>
You can even try just writing your question in email, selecting its text, and choosing Mail > Services > Search with Google. It's always worth a try.
Things to Remember when Posting a Question
These are always helpful to have in a post:
• State what version of Xcode you're using (1.2, 1.5, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.3, or 2.4) Questions about Xcode 3.0 Leopard Preview should go to email@hidden or be filed at http://bugreporter.apple.com. The particular Mac OS version is useful, but rarely critical; the model of Mac you're using is rarely material.
• Let us know whether you're using native Xcode targets or JAM-base targets; JAM-based targets are Java projects or older ProjectBuilder projects that have not been upgraded in Xcode 1.0 or later.
• Are you trying to build for Universal? Are you using the 10.4u SDK?
• If something is failing to build, choose Build Results from the Build menu, open the full build transcript (use the text-like button in the set of four in the middle of the left side). Then copy the build step that got an error, and the error message itself, and paste those in your message to xcode-users.
• If you're having trouble debugging, let us know whether you're using STABS or Dwarf debug format. In Terminal, enter: $ defaults write com.apple.Xcode PBXGDBDebuggerLogToFile YES $ defaults write com.apple.Xcode PBXGDBDebuggerLogFileName /tmp/IncludeInBug.log and excerpt the interesting parts of the log file.
• If Xcode crashes (you get the "Uncaught Exception" dialog box) please go to Console.app and look for the crash log for Xcode, and copy and paste enough of it in your message if possible.
One more thing...
The C language is case-sensitive. Compilers are case-sensitive. The Unix command line, ufs, and nfs file systems are case-sensitive. I'm case-sensitive too, especially about product names. The IDE is called Xcode. Big X, little c. Not XCode or xCode or X-Code. Remember that now.
Chris Espinosa Manager, Xcode Core IDE, Apple |