Difference between revisions of "DSDP/TML/TmL FAQ"

Revision as of 08:58, 30 October 2007

Introduction

How do I contribute to this FAQ?

Simply edit this page and add content. You can now use your bugzilla username and password to gain access.

How can I get notified of additions to that FAQ?

Log in to the Wiki. On your personal Preferences page, enable E-Mail notification. Then, click the watch tab of this page.

Is it really that easy?

Yes!

General

What is the Tools of mobile Linux?

• For a more official answer, see the

Tools for mobile Linux Project Homepage.

• For an excellent document we prepared when the project was started on the terminology we choose and the whole list of use cases we want to address in the long term, see the TmL Use Cases Document.

• The EclipseCon 2007 Short Talk slides give a good quick overview of the project. PPT slides include comments with additional explanations.

Which components are part of TmL?

• Emulator Framework (Deprecated)

• Device Framework

• VNC Viewer

How is TmL licensed?

The software produced by the TmL team is licensed under the Eclipse Public License (EPL). The software designed by third parties is made available under their respective licenses. Refer to the about.html file in the root directory of every TmL plugin for specific licensing information.

How do I find out about future releases of TmL?

See the TmL Project Plan (official plan) and the TmL Future Planning page (unofficial).

If you wish to contribute to the development of TmL, we welcome the opportunity to work with you. The plans will be updated to reflect the commitments made by contributors to this projects. See #Working on TmL for information on how to get started.

Download, Installation and Bug Reports

Which TmL build should I download?

The latest stable release version is available from the TmL downloads page.

Where can I find TmL using the Install/Update Manager from the Europa Discovery Site?

All components of TmL are available for download under Remote Access and Device Development in the Install/Update manager. The specific downloads from TM under this category are:

• Emulator Framework 0.1(Deprecated)
• Emulator Framework 0.2(Deprecated)
• Device Framework 0.1
• VNC Viewer 0.1
• VNC Viewer 0.2
• VNC Viewer 0.3

Which operating systems does TmL support?

The TmL Framework is platform independent. It will run where Eclipse will run. According to the TmL Project Plan, we are testing on a set of Reference Platforms including Windows and Linux.

How do I ask questions?

Tools for mobile Linux related questions that are not answered in this FAQ or the documentation should be posted to the TM newsgroup. You will need a newsreader and a password. You can also use this simple web interface or this more advanced web interface to browse the newsgroup. General Questions about the Eclipse SDK which includes the Eclipse Platform, JDT (Java Development Tools), or PDE (Plugin Development Environment) should be posted to the Eclipse newsgroup.

Keep in mind that these newsgroups are public, so do not include any confidential information in your questions. You should also read "How to ask questions the smart way" by Eric Raymond before participating in the newsgroups. NOTE: Please submit bugs to bugzilla, not to the newsgroups. #How do I report a bug or request a feature? section of this document.

People will still come into a newsgroup asking questions that have been answered before and often will not provide any information about what versions they have installed, and what the problem is. You will be much more likely to get help if you provide enough information to reproduce the problem. The section on #How do I report a bug or request a feature? gives a list of some information which could be useful.

How do I report a bug or request a feature?

The Tools for mobile Linux Project (like the Eclipse Project) uses bugzilla as its bug and feature tracking system. Around, this, we have developed some queries and best practices on the TmL Bug Process Page.

Entering a bug/feature report is as simple as filling in a web form on the eclipse bugzilla page. The first time you enter a bug you will need to create a new bugzilla account for yourself by providing an email address and choosing a password.

Entering a bug report or enhancement request is really simple, and we encourage users to just go ahead and do it so the request gets tracked. If, on the other hand, you prefer to first search if a similar bug has been reported before, just use the bugzilla search form. The TmL Bug Process Page also has some pre-defined queries that you can modify (just press the "Edit this search" link after running the query). If you find a bug report that outlines the problem you are seeing, you can simply annotate it with your comments to let the developers know that you have also hit the bug. Also you can add yourself to the CC list of the bug so that you will notified when the status of the bug changes or someone adds comments.

Once you have searched bugzilla and not found anything, you can go ahead and enter a new bug report. Don't let yourself be constrained too much by the bug writing guidelines. Following these is helpful for us but not an absolute must. Fill in what's easily accessible for you from the following:

Environmental settings:

1. The build level of Eclipse that you are using. For example, "Eclipse 3.2.1"

2. The component name and build level of TmL that you are using. For example, "TmL Device 1.0 build I20071104"

3. Your computer's specifications (OS version + patch level, memory, other pertinent info)

4. The contents of your .log file (or lack thereof). This is especially important if you get a dialog that reports an internal error. See #Where is this .log file I hear so much about? for information on finding your .log file.

5. The Java runtime or development kit you are using to run eclipse (use java -version or java -fullversion)

Problem Description:

1. A description of what you were doing,

2. A description of what behavior that you observed, and

3. An explanation of how the observed behavior differs from the expected behavior

Note that once you have filled in your environmental settings in one bug report, you can "Remember values as bookmarkable template" in bugzilla to easily file your next bug report on the same computer the next time.

Where is this .log file that I hear so much about?

The .log file is located in the workspace/.metadata directory.

The .log file is used by the Eclipse Platform to log runtime errors. It is useful to include it in bug reports because it contains stack traces that occur in plug-ins.

You can also see the .log file in Eclipse from Help > About > Configuration Details > View Error Log or, if you have installed eclipse-SDK (with JDT and PDE) from Window > Show View > Other > PDE Runtime > Error Log.

When you report a bug, including backtraces or error info from your .log is tremendously helpful! If you see multiple backtraces that seem to be related to your problem, it's best to just go and attach your entire .log file to the bug.