[Scummvm-devel] Windows console

Willem Jan Palenstijn wjp at usecode.org
Thu Oct 28 12:11:00 CEST 2010


On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 03:44:34PM +1100, Travis Howell wrote:
> I'm basing my opinion, more on what would be best for the project. 
> Windows continues to be one of our main platforms, and we are relying 
> even more on release versions for feedback, due to reduced testing 
> during release cycles. The console can provide useful information for 
> feedback on bugs/issues, and even useful information for users (no 
> matter how un/experienced) at times.

This is getting rather repetitive; you've raised these points on the wiki
too. IMO this is mixing several issues and claiming that a console is somehow
the best solution for all of these instead of looking at each issue
separately and determining what would be the best way to address it.


Looking at the wiki which has mostly converged by now, the main points for
which a console are potentially useful are:


* Detailed information for bug reports

Log files would seem to be better than the console here since they're easier to
attach to bug reports, have no arbitrary limit on size, and no weird copy-paste
semantics.

* User feedback for bugs

This is the one that most confuses me. I think we need _concrete_ examples of
such things before deciding. If a single AGOS timeout issue is the only one, I
don't think it warrants all that much consideration, to be honest.

* User feedback for detection

If it's important enough to show to users, we should consider GUI dialog boxes.
I can imagine that failed detection in a directory would qualify.  If a user
says "add a game" and scummvm replies "sorry, can't find anything", more
immediately available info would be useful.

 
> Actually this whole discussion has focused on changing the Windows 
> builds to no console by default, rather than previously showing a 
> console window by default. While the few requests in the past, have been 
> only to add an manual option for no console window. Which I would be 
> more agreeable to, even if the implementation can't be perfect.

Of course the discussion is focused on that. Given that mature GUI programs
_don't_ have a console as a rule, it seems clear that we should aspire to the
same. If there are reasons we need a console, we should _address_ those
reasons, rather than single-mindedly sticking to a console.

(And if a user request an option to disable it, that would seem to me to
reflect a desire to _use_ that option and disable it.)


-Willem Jan




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