Description Martin Oberhuber 2010-08-16 09:55:12 EDT

CQ:WIND00201302
Build ID: Any Eclipse 3.5.x, as well as Helios (3.6.0)

As an Eclipse end user, I am confused when a fatal error dialog refers me to "the .log file" but I don't know what or where that .log file is or what I'm supposed to do with it. I want the dialog to give me access to more information about the error, or allow me to save the errorlog in a place where I can send it to my vendor's support department. Note that in many cases, more than just the .log file will be relevant for a vendor's support department (eg Workspace state, configuration, ...)

Consider the Microsoft Fatal Error reporting mechanism for example - it provides a button where I can show the error report, and allows me to send that error report to support. Or, consider the Apple Fatal Error reporting mechanism.

I understand that when a fatal error has occurred, any additional work for providing more error reporting is at risk of further destabilizing the system. But on the other hand I believe that with a good reporting framework in place for such fatal errors, it's much likely that fatal errors can be fixed so I think that it's an important request. Perhaps the minimal request can be considered for 3.7 or even 3.6.x, with more work moving forward?

Minimal Acceptance Criteria:
----------------------------
- Show to the absolute pathname where the .log is stored

Nice to have:
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- Provide a button for saving the .log in a different place
- Provide a button to open a subdialog with more information about the
  fatal error
- Provide an infrastructure for vendors to plug-in log collectors that 
  handle fatal errors (maybe out-of-process)

Implementation Info:
--------------------
The error handler seems to reside in the "org.eclipse.ui.ide" plug-in, externalized Strings for the dialog are in 
   org.eclipse.ui.internal.ide/messages.properties
and are named "InternalError*" and "FatalError" - basically any text that refers to "the .log file".