[PLUG-ANNOUNCE] SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT: September PLUG Meeting

[David Mandel]

                            MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

                       The Portland Linux/Unix Group
                                 will meet
                         7 PM Thursday Sep 3, 2009
                                     at
                         Portland State University
                                   in the
                              Fariborz Maseeh
             College of Engineering & Computer Science Building
                              Room FAB 86-01
                       (This is in the basement.)
          The building is on SW 4th across from SW College Street.
       See location H-10 on map at http://pdxLinux.org/campus_map.jpg

    *******************************************************************

                                PRESENTATION

              Crash Reporting: Mozilla's Open Source Solution

                                     by

                                K Lars Lohn

    Nothing exercises the limits of software like turning it
    over to the end users. While in-house testing is invaluable,
    the end users can often find the neglected edge cases or subtle
    race conditions in a more reliable manner. However, once the
    software is in the end user’s hands, postmortem crash information
    is usually lost.

    By taking the Google Breakpad project and enhancing it with
    Mozilla’s own Socorro project, Mozilla has a solution to this problem.
    When Firefox goes down, in a last ditch effort, it lobs a
    packet of crash information over the wall to Mozilla's Socorro
    servers.  Socorro Servers, written in Python, can handle millions
    of these crashes per day. Using Google Breakpad libraries to
    reconstitute useful stack traces, Socorro Server saves its
    work in a PostgreSQL database.  There statistics are gathered
    and displayed under the Socorro UI, a PHP web application.
    With this suite of tools, the Mozilla developers can track
    trends and even drill down to look at specific instances of
    Firefox crashes.

    WARNING: during this talk, Firefox will be intentionally
    crashed live on stage.  Those of delicate constitution may wish
    to retire to the lobby prior to the spectacle.

                                about Lars

    Trapped at the triple point between a geek, a hippie and
    a biker, Lars is a self proclaimed Cowboy Programmer at the
    Mozilla Corporation.  Unintentionally specializing in programming
    as performance art, Lars frequently jumps into projects on the
    Thursday prior to a Monday deadline. Lars is proud of being the
    only member of the Web Development team that does absolutely
    no Web development.

    Lars prefers Python, PostgreSQL and Harleys, but is versed in C++,
    MySQL and Subarus.

    *******************************************************************

        Agenda:

            7:00 - 7:30  Business
                 We will discuss the status of our ongoing projects
                 including PLUG's monthly Advanced Topics meetings,
                 PLUG's monthly hands on clinics, PLUG for Education,
                 etc.

            7:30 - 8:30  Presentation

                 See above

            9:00 - ...  Beer
                        The Lucky Lab Northwest Beerhall
                        1945 NW Quimby
                        Portland, Oregon

                                        David Mandel
                                        Chief Activist
                                        Portland Linux/Unix Group
                                        560 SE Alexander
                                        Corvallis, Oregon 97333
                                        (541) 730-5285 mobile
                                        dmandel at pdxLinux.org

        P.S.  The Mid Willamette Valley Linux Users Group meets
              every month.
              See http://www.lug.corvallis.or.us/ for details.

        P.S.  The Eugene Linux Users Group meets several times a month.
              See http://www.euglug.org for details.

======================================================================
David Mandel                        http://www.DavidMandel.com
Portland Linux/Unix Group           http://pdxLinux.org
LinuxFund                           http://LinuxFund.org
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