26643 - maintain the console in the release builds

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 26103

(SeaMonkey :: Build Config, defect, P3)

Description

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

I'm not a coder and so I don't build mozilla myself or try to debug but there 
have been many times that I gained useful information (for reporting bugs or 
just understanding what was happening) from the console.  This is a request to 
maintain the console for at least a while longer.  If public perception of the 
console s the real problem then eliminate it for that one build that becomes the 
Milestone but leave it in the nightlies.  Thanks.

Asa

Comment 1

[Joseph Elwell]

could this be a command line switch?
mozilla --with-console
mozilla --without-console

Comment 2

[Ross Brackett]

For debugging, it's really important to be able to see what's going on somewhat 
behind the scenes, plus it's nice just to see what's going on when the browser 
is slow, especially at startup.  Unless there's some deep dark technical reason 
for getting rid of it, I'd like to see the console back as well.

Comment 3

[Sean Richardson]

Bug 25542, "[FEATURE] Remove Windows application console", P1, M14, [PDT+],
beta1, polish, is the bug that this one is worried about. In it 
[e-mail] includes a patch that would use a MOZ_WINCONSOLE environment
variable to control makefile.win to build with or without a console, so keeping
the console in some builds or a parallel set of builds should be technically 
possible, if that patch is applied.

Bug 26103, "[FEATURE] Add command line option to cause Windows console output 
to appear", M15, would create code to allow running "mozilla -console" from
the command line, which would be a viable alternative to providing builds
with and without a console for win32, if it gets done. Obviously, this would
be easier on the official build system, and no real trouble for anyone who
can make use of the console.

Comment 4

[Alan S. Jones]

I think this is a dupe of Bug 26103, "[FEATURE] Add command line option to cause 
Windows console output to appear".

The "average" user does not want the console stuff and thus the command line is 
the way to go.  I won't mark it as a dupe yet, but think we should.

Comment 5

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

Calling this a dupe.  It's not really, because I'd like to see the console 
turned on by default in the nightlies and only turned off for the Milestone 
releases. Since that probably isn't going to happen and the command line switch 
will satisfy me I'll go ahead and kill this bug.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 26103 ***

Comment 6

[Alan S. Jones]

yup verified dupe