1. Google.
2. The only useful result is a Google cache with a pastebin with a stack trace similar to mine.
3. Examine the pastebin stack trace.
4. Find an embedded userid.
5. Google userid, find github account.
6. Msg user via github.
7. Get response, user doesn't remember solution but remembers they got it from IRC.
8. Search IRC logs.
9. Find response with a link to a commit.
10. Apply the change locally.
11. Profit!
I did that once. I had a problem with upgrading Eclipse on Mac, a quick googling of the error found no solution. So I investigated the problem, found the solution and wrote a blog post with that error message. That blog post now has several hundred comments thanking me for fixing their very issue.
> 2. The only useful result is a Google cache with a pastebin with a stack trace similar to mine.
I work on a product with a public bug tracker [1]. It's amusing how often the only useful hit for a problem I'm looking into will be the actual bug in my product that I'm working on.
I imagine the same thing must happen with open source projects all the time, but this is the first place I've worked where it's been the case with commercial software.
What defines profit in this case? I realize that this post was likely tongue-in-cheek, but I think my question is still valid. I'm trying to explore the answer to that question myself: http://blog.fogus.me/2011/02/28/the-keepers-of-answers/
But I'm not sure if I've hit on it yet. Maybe I should try Quora. ;-)
Valid question. The result in this case was getting a patch that was already committed into the development branch, just not yet released.
I actually did debug it (i.e. I found the cause of the bug, just didn't know whether fixing it in the most obvious place wouldn't break anything elsewhere - it occurs it might) but my fix would probably be suboptimal and I'd probably waste the developers' time with a superfluous bug report (and maybe the suboptimal patch too).
profit: From Middle English profit < Old French profit (French: profit). < Latin profectus (“advance, progress, growth, increase, profit”) < proficere (“to go forward, advance, make progress, be profitable or useful”); see proficient. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/profit
Similar use in French means something like "I took advantage [of it]".
...or it could just be a reference to the Underpants Gnomes...
1. Google. 2. The only useful result is a Google cache with a pastebin with a stack trace similar to mine. 3. Examine the pastebin stack trace. 4. Find an embedded userid. 5. Google userid, find github account. 6. Msg user via github. 7. Get response, user doesn't remember solution but remembers they got it from IRC. 8. Search IRC logs. 9. Find response with a link to a commit. 10. Apply the change locally. 11. Profit!