Closed Bug 3519 Opened 25 years ago Closed 23 years ago

headings are inconsistent, scrambled and poorly documented

Categories

(Webtools Graveyard :: Tinderbox, defect, P3)

x86
Linux

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: newt, Assigned: mcafee)

References

()

Details

The Tinderbox column headings are not very consistent and are getting worse as
new machines are added; the table-width is also expanding rapidly, and various
of the header items are unexplained.  I assume the small font size is just "how
it is," but it could be mitigated by extracting the main info to an explanatory
table/key in the "crap" zone (i.e., visible only without "&nocrap=1" or maybe at
nocrap settings below 2).  The image given in the URL above is a screenshot that
illustrates the current problem; note that the columnar order is Mac, Mac,
Win32, Win32, Win32 (NT? 95/98??), FreeBSD, SunOS, Linux, Linux, Linux, SunOS,
SunOS, Linux, Linux, Linux.

My suggestion:  pick a single, 8-char or less keyword to use in the headers,
perhaps the hostname or a truncated variant.  Extract a consistent set of info
for the key:  hostname, chip/hardware, OS name, OS version, compiler name,
compiler version, clobber/depend, testing target (or whatever "mailnews",
"apprunner" and "viewer" refer to).  Group OS types together (no more
SunOS/Linux/SunOS/Linux) and add a COLSPAN super-header listing the OS.
Preferably also add a thin (one-pixel? purple?) column separating the OS types.
Add another copy of the header line(s) as the footer.  [You would not BELIEVE
how incredibly slow large tables are with Navigator 4.0x on a 100 MHz
Pentium--scrolling is damn near impossible, and it takes 15 seconds to get back
to the top of the table, thanks to the multiple repaints.]  Explain what "Opt"
or "OPT" or the lack thereof is supposed to mean.  Explain what "DepKLINZHAI"
is.  Explain the significance of "apprunner" and "viewer"--don't both get built
by default?  (Is that just what gets tested after the build??) And definitely
include the compiler name and version in all cases!

Background:  I had a problem on Sunday (3/7) at 7am.  ALL platforms were happy
green over multiple builds with no checkins in sight.  I suspected an
incompatibility in gcc 2.7.2.3 that didn't exist in 2.8.1, but there was no way
to check.  (There's also no way to know what version of libc the Linux boxes are
using; that may be relevant, too, though not in my case yesterday.)  Subsequent
discussions with Leaf w.r.t. the Unix Builds help page led to this bug report.
I realize getting compiler info would require changes in your user scripts, but
anyone who installs one could do a one-time edit to include the name ("MSVC")
and version info ("5.0").  Ditto for OS versions ("WinNT 4.0").

FWIW, a longer-range feature request would be a way to filter the table
according to OS type or other key values--for example, "include=all" or
"include=linux+sunos".  This would help speed up the display for those of us on
under-powered table-renderers who don't need to know about everything, just
those things most like our own systems.

Regards,
  Greg Roelofs (PNG owner, just trying to get one working build...)
Assignee: terry → slamm
As owner of Tinderbox, slamm gets ownership of these bugs.  Lucky slamm!
way-post beta.  We are aware of the space/readability problem.
Tinderbox sources are in mozilla/webtools/tinderbox, you are
welcome to send patches to slamm or myself.  m18, this is
orthagonal to the mozilla release schedule.

Target Milestone: M18
slamm no longer owns tinderbox and is no longer at netscape. Reassigning
to mcafee till a more permenant owner is found so these bugs won't be
ownerless.
Assignee: slamm → mcafee
Milestone 0.8 has been released. We should either resolve this bug or update its
milestone.
Target Milestone: M18 → ---
I think what we have is working, and has been good enough since
this bug was filed almost 2 years ago.  Yes it's not perfect,
new constructive nits like this should happen in the tinderbox2
project, and we need specific problems addressed.  Marking won't fix.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 23 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Product: Webtools → Webtools Graveyard
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.