1Debugging problems 2================== 3 4Check it's still a problem with latest lws 5------------------------------------------ 6 7Older versions of lws don't attract any new work after they are released 8(see [the release policy](https://libwebsockets.org/git/libwebsockets/tree/READMEs/README.release-policy.md) for details); 9for a while they will get backported bugfixes but that's it. 10 11All new work and bugfixes happen on `main` branch. 12 13Old, old versions may be convenient for you to use for some reason. But unless 14you pay for support or have contributed work to lws so we feel we owe you some 15consideration, nobody else has any reason to particularly care about solving 16issues on ancient versions. Whereas if the problem exists on `main`, and can be 17reproduced by developers, it usually gets attention, often immediately. 18 19If the problem doesn't exist on `main`, you can either use `main` or check also 20the -stable branch of the last released version to see if it was already solved 21there. 22 23Library is a component 24---------------------- 25 26As a library, lws is always just a component in a bigger application. 27 28When users have a problem involving lws, what is happening in the bigger 29application is usually critical to understand what is going on (and where the 30solution lies). Sometimes access to the remote peer like server or client is also 31necessary to provoke the symptom. Sometimes, the problem is in lws, but 32sometimes the problem is not in lws but in these other pieces. 33 34Many users are able to share their sources, but others decide not to, for 35presumed "commercial advantage" or whatever. (In any event, it can be painful 36looking through large chunks of someone else's sources for problems when that 37is not the library author's responsibility.) 38 39This makes answering questions like "what is wrong with my code I am not 40going to show you?" or even "what is wrong with my code?" very difficult. 41 42Even if it's clear there is a problem somewhere, it cannot be understood or 43reproduced by anyone else if it needs user code that isn't provided. 44 45The biggest question is, "is this an lws problem actually"? To solve that 46the best solution is to strip out all or as much user code as possible, 47and see if the problem is still coming. 48 49 50Use the test apps / minimal examples as sanity checks 51----------------------------------------------------- 52 53The test server and client, and any more specifically relevant minimal example 54 are extremely useful for sanity checks and debugging guidance. 55 56 - **test apps work on your platform**, then either 57 - your user code is broken, align it to how the test apps work, or, 58 - something from your code is required to show an lws problem, provide a 59 minimal patch on a test app so it can be reproduced 60 61 - **test apps break on your platform**, but work on, eg, x86_64, either 62 - toolchain or platform-specific (eg, OS) issue, or 63 - lws platform support issue 64 65 - **test apps break everywhere** 66 - sounds like lws problem, info to reproduce and / or a patch is appreciated 67