Known Bugs in the GSD Software

These are the known bugs in the GSD software organized in order of severity. Before reporting a bug please make sure that it's not on this list. Also, please check the list of common problems first to make sure that it is, indeed, a bug. If you would like to report a bug that's not on either list please use the bug reporting program which comes with the GSD software immediately after the bug occurs.

If the bug reporting software does not work properly, you may submit your bug report to bugs@gsd.mit.edu. If you choose to submit your bug report like this, please include the file "log.txt" in your report as it contains critical debugging information.

Priority Bug Description Work Around

High Changing a directory inside of a file dialog causes the internal working directory to be changed and the software consequently stops working when it tries to access something that was in the old directory. This occurs whenever you are selecting a web browser, or whenever you are using mime attachments. This is a bug in Java. We are working on a replacement for the file dialog. In the mean time, the work around is to not change directories if you are handling mime attachments and to restart the software after you have selected a web browser.

High Network connections sometimes get cut off during extend periods of use. This bug has not been reproducable on our development computers but this is probably because we are on a very reliable network. This is most likely a bug in Java. There is no current work around other than re-connecting after you have been disconnected. Updating your network drivers to the latest versions may help this problem (please let us know if it does help as we are unable to reproduce this bug).

High Some users report having the bottom of their windows cut off, thus being unable to using anything at the bottom of a window. This is a problem with the window being too small because it doesn't realize that it has a title bar. We are currently investigating this bug to see how it can be fixed. Resizing the window sometimes helps - but now always.

Medium Mail sent to certain addresses outside of GSD (such as aol) does not get delivered correctly. This is a problem with certain sites which don't give their mail servers non-standard names. Use a different mail package to send mail to aol users. We are working on a fix for this.

Medium Your personal window is supposed to list everybody that is logged on to the Global School District, however it currently only lists people who log on after you open up your personal window. If you want to see a list of everybody logged on, open up your personal window immediately after you log on and leave it open. You will see everybody that logs on after that point.

Low When a mail message in a group is read by one user, that message is marked as read (the bullet disappears) for all users instead of just the first user. Don't count on bullets being there to tell you what messages are unread in group windows.

Priority	Bug Description	Work Around
High	Changing a directory inside of a file dialog causes the internal working directory to be changed and the software consequently stops working when it tries to access something that was in the old directory. This occurs whenever you are selecting a web browser, or whenever you are using mime attachments. This is a bug in Java.	We are working on a replacement for the file dialog. In the mean time, the work around is to not change directories if you are handling mime attachments and to restart the software after you have selected a web browser.
High	Network connections sometimes get cut off during extend periods of use. This bug has not been reproducable on our development computers but this is probably because we are on a very reliable network. This is most likely a bug in Java.	There is no current work around other than re-connecting after you have been disconnected. Updating your network drivers to the latest versions may help this problem (please let us know if it does help as we are unable to reproduce this bug).
High	Some users report having the bottom of their windows cut off, thus being unable to using anything at the bottom of a window. This is a problem with the window being too small because it doesn't realize that it has a title bar. We are currently investigating this bug to see how it can be fixed.	Resizing the window sometimes helps - but now always.
Medium	Mail sent to certain addresses outside of GSD (such as aol) does not get delivered correctly. This is a problem with certain sites which don't give their mail servers non-standard names.	Use a different mail package to send mail to aol users. We are working on a fix for this.
Medium	Your personal window is supposed to list everybody that is logged on to the Global School District, however it currently only lists people who log on after you open up your personal window.	If you want to see a list of everybody logged on, open up your personal window immediately after you log on and leave it open. You will see everybody that logs on after that point.
Low	When a mail message in a group is read by one user, that message is marked as read (the bullet disappears) for all users instead of just the first user.	Don't count on bullets being there to tell you what messages are unread in group windows.

Common Problems

The software doesn't work at all and when I try to use the bug report program it tells me that my network connection is not working.
After using the software for awhile, I frequently get messages that say my network is not working properly. What's wrong?
I can't read any mail messages.
The software used to work on my machine, but it no longer works.

The software doesn't work at all and when I try to use the bug report program it tells me that my network connection is not working.

This is most likely due to an incompatibility with your network driver. To quote JavaSoft, "[Java 1.0.2] only supports the Microsoft TCP/IP drivers included with Windows 95. If you are using third-party drivers (e.g., Trumpet Winsock), you'll need to change over to the native Microsoft TCP/IP drivers."

Please note, even if you can run Java inside a browser such as Netscape Navigator this does not necessarily mean that your network drivers are properly configured to run standalone Java applications (which the GSD software is). Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer both connect to the network in different ways than the standard Java distribution so it is possible for your browser to be able to run Java, but you to be unable to run Java otherwise. The solution is to upgrade your TCP/IP drivers.

After using the software for awhile, I frequently get messages that say my network is not working properly. What's wrong?

This is the software's way of letting you know that the network connection has been lost. There are several reasons that you could lose your network connection and an explanation of all of them is beyond the scope of this document. The most likely cause (other than forgetting to start your network) is that Java sometimes has problems maintaining long connections when your connection is slow to begin with. We have not been able to reproduce this problem ourselves because our connections are very stable.

You may ask, if your connection to the GSD server dies after an extended period of use, why do your other programs, like Netscape, still work? The reason is that other programs, such as web browsers, open up a new connection each time you look at a new page and they immediately close the connection once they are done downloading the page. The GSD software requires that you have a network connection open the entire time. This is more efficeint than the way web browsers work, however problems obviously arise if your connection dies. We are working on an option that will allow you to re-establish your connection after it dies without restarting the GSD software.

I can't read any mail messages.

If you picked your username before March 5th and you used any capital letters in your username there was a bug in the software that caused your username to be entered into the database in correctly. This bug has been fixed so that future users will be registered correctly, but you need to let us know if you can't read email and we will fix your account.

The software used to work on my machine, but it no longer works.

Are you using the self updating version of the GSD? If you downloaded the software before March 6th, there is an icon in your start bar which says "GSD (No Update)" - do not use this unless you know what it's for. You should be using the "GSD" icon, and if that's not working you should submit a bug report.