Please help me diagnose this crazy VMWare/FreeBSD 8.x crash

Doug Barton dougb at FreeBSD.org
Tue Apr 3 18:51:45 UTC 2012


On 4/2/2012 3:59 PM, Joe Greco wrote:
>> On 4/2/2012 11:43 AM, Joe Greco wrote:
>>> As a user, you can't win.  If you don't report
>>> a problem, you get criticized.  If you report a problem but can't figure
>>> out how to reproduce it, you get criticized.  If you can reproduce it
>>> but you don't submit a workaround, you get criticized.  If you submit a
>>> workaround but you don't submit a patch, you get criticized.  If you
>>> submit a patch but it's not in the preferred format, you get criticized.
>>
>> I'm still not sure what you're taking as criticism. Nothing I've said
>> was intended that way, nor should it be read that way. If you feel that
>> you've been criticized by others in the manner you describe, you should
>> probably take it up with them on an individual basis.
> 
> It certainly seemed to me that
> 
>> As much as I'm sensitive to your production requirements, realistically
>> it's not likely that you'll get a helpful result without testing a newer
>> version. 8.2 came out over a year ago, many many things have changed
>> since then.
> 
> was an unwarranted criticism for reasons that I've already explained.

Everything in that paragraph is a fact. If you feel criticized when
people state facts, I'm not sure how much I can help you.

Please note, I didn't say, "You're an idiot for running old stuff." I
even explicitly stated that I understood *why* the OP is running an old
version. Nevertheless, the facts are what they are. The only way we can
deal rationally with the world is to acknowledge reality and deal with
it. Wishing it were otherwise isn't really useful. :)

> Or perhaps this:
> 
>> And since you can't reliably reproduce the problem, how do you expect us
>> to? I understand that these sorts of bugs are difficult/annoying, etc.
>> Been there, done that.
> 
> Which would appear to be suggesting that either (or possibly both):
> 
> 1) The reporter has a duty to be able to "reliably reproduce the problem"
>    prior to reporting, and/or
> 
> 2) That there was some unreasonable expectation on the reporter's part
>    that you were expected to reproduce it.

Quite the contrary, I was responding to your implication that there is
some other answer that we should be able to give the OP, other than "Try
a newer version."

Various people have chimed in on the thread, all have offered
suggestions, none of which (AFAICS) have helped. I continue to maintain
that the best course of action for the OP would be to try the latest
8-stable.

And BTW, there are (at least) 2 reasons for that. First, the bug may
actually be fixed. But second, we're in the middle of a release cycle
for 8.3 right now. If the bug persists in the latest code it will be
easier to get the right eyes onto the problem. That benefits both the OP
and the community at large.

Doug


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