Notepad++ File Status Auto-Detection not working

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

Curious, despite the autodetection function there is another function with similar functionality.
It is under View->menu and is called Monitoring (tail -f). (the eye icon on toolbar)
If you activate this and do some changes do you see the updates?

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

So, nothing happens.
In addition, after activating Monitoring (tail -f), it’s impossible to print anything in Notepad ++. The text does not print, as if the readonly mode is turned on.

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

The text does not print, as if the readonly mode is turned on.
That is correct and expected behavior. The function is the only one who can updated
the file content once it gets triggered that file content has changed,

So it looks like there is a general issue with file modified notification mechanism.

Ok, I have another old laptop and I will install windows xp and do retesting.
Will take some time.

Cheers
Claudia

[Кира Радионова]

Well, Thank You very much for your help! :)

[Claudia Frank]

@Кира-Радионова

ok - can confirm reported behavior.
Last working version seems to be 7.5.1.
I checked changes from 7.5.1 to 7.5.2 but couldn’t find any hint about the offending source part.
This leads to the assumption, that switch to VS2015/VS2017 might be the root cause.
As far as I know XP compatibility must be set explicitly in VS2015/VS2017 projects
and it looks like it isn’t. At least I don’t find any hint it is set.

Sorry, but that’s as far as I can go - without VS debugger I can only assume this is it.

Cheers
Claudia

[chcg]

See https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/master/PowerEditor/visual.net/notepadPlus.vcxproj

<PlatformToolset>v140_xp</PlatformToolset> is used, so build should still be compatible with Win XP SP3.

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

thank you for clarification - I was searching for v120_xp but in retrospect it makes sense
that it is called v140_xp if using a new toolset.

Any idea what might cause this behavior?

Cheers
Claudia

[guy038]

Hi, @claudia-frank, @chcg and All,

I just confirm the bug : the File Status Auto-Detection mechanism does not work, since the v7.5.2 version, on my Win XP SP3 platform ?!

Cheers,

guy038

[chcg]

Maybe we can bisect the problematic range, starting with testing te artifacts from:
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1635
to see if this also happens with the appveyor images.

And then maybe
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1582/

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

this is the last working one

Language menu and Style configurator sorted alphabetically and use the same language name in the Style configurator as the language menu.

https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1526

this is the first which breaks it

Switch to VS 2015

https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1530

There were no build from 1.0.1527 to 1.0.1529 due to errors.

Cheers
Claudia

[chcg]

But https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1526 is a Pull request #3726 build, so not a direct successor of Switch to VS 2015 (https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1530 )

That would be https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1521 ,

with
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1527
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/donho/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.1528

failing.

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

sorry, but I don’t get your point.
I would assume that a build with a lower build number is never a successor of a build
with a higher build number.

And what is your concern about the results I’ve posted?

Cheers
Claudia

[chcg]

@Claudia-Frank The builds at appveyor not just contain the trunk checkins, but also pull requests which might contain something totally different. Sorry, I meant predecessor.

I created a branch from the 7.5.1 tag and modified the appveyor config to build VS2013 vs. VS2015 on the appveyor image 2015. So this should reveal if already the switch to VS2015 is causing the trouble.

See https://ci.appveyor.com/project/chcg/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.114 , build from https://github.com/chcg/notepad-plus-plus/commits/winxp_autodectection_investigation2

Since the checkin of the json parser(https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/commit/b033d907b29f42f570c21b0bfc0ac60c257f08c4 ) it is no longer possible to build with VS2013 due to the lack of c++11/14 features needed.

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

Thx for clarification - I will give it a try later and let you know.

Cheers
Claudia

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

binary with PlatformToolset=v120_xp works
but binary with …=v140_xp does not.
Hmmm, I see the binaries are different in size
but I assume you just changed the toolset version
and the rest was kept the same, wasn’t it.

I already searched the web, and there are some reports that there are problems
on windows xp when using VS2015 onwards but it looks like all of them were solved
by setting the compatibility flag aka toolset. Strange.

Cheers
Claudia

[Vitaliy Dovgan]

To be fully compatible with Windows XP, the following compiler’s option may need to be specified:

/Zc:threadSafeInit-

This one relates to the “magic static” feature in C++ that depends on new TLS implementation available only from Windows Vista/7.
In case of Notepad++ plugin (i.e. a DLL file) the absence of this compiler’s option leads to crash (under Windows XP) while trying to use a static variable. In theory it should not have the same dramatic effect in an executable, but who knows? I think it’s worth trying to comile Notepad++ with this option specified.

[Claudia Frank]

@Vitaliy-Dovgan

thank you very much for the hint.

@chcg

If you wouldn’t mind to build one with this flag I would give it a try to see if it resolves the issue.

Cheers
Claudia

[chcg]

There were 3 changes in the appveyor config:

1. VM image, as Visual Studio 2013 doesn’t contain vs2015

2. calling Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat for vs2015 build

3. using notepadPlus.vs2015.vcxproj for building the vs2015 version.

4. couldn’t be avoided. The sourcecode itself is identical and either it is something with the vcxproj for vs2015 which causes the issue or the vcvarsall.bat + the toolset.

Maybe the build of scintilla could also have an influence.

I will do a rebuild with just the toolset changed and using the notepadPlus.vcxproj also for VS2015.

And another one with /Zc:threadSafeInit-

[chcg]

First test is available here:
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/chcg/notepad-plus-plus/build/1.0.117

VS2013 config with PlatformToolset=v140_xp

[Claudia Frank]

@chcg

v120 build works, v140 does not.

Cheers
Claudia