LC crashes on importing HyperCard stack

[mwieder]

This weekend I tried something I haven't tried in a long time: importing an old HyperCard stack into LiveCode.

I realize there have been discussions about the fact that importing HyperCard stacks no longer works, but I'm surprised and dismayed to find that attempting to do so crashes LiveCode 9.6.0 with a segfault. I did manage to import the stack using Revolution 4.6.4, after disabling errors and messages, then saving and fixing LotsOfThings, as expected when updating scripts that are decades old. But it doesn't seem right that selecting "Open stack" from the menubar and attempting to open a file of any type should cause the whole thing to come tumbling down.

[bogs]

I wonder whatever made you try to do that. Not that I think it is bad, but it sounds like something I would do, not like something I expect to see anyone else attempt

[kdjanz]

My rapidly failing memory is trying to remind me of a discussion I heard about this, although the details are pretty hazy...

I think the ability to open Hypercard directly went away with v7 and above. The solution seemed to be to open it with v6 and clean up before saving it now as a new LiveCode stack and then opening with the current version. Don't quote me on this, but I seem to remember it coming up in one of Elanor's Beginners Covid Q&A sessions.

Kelly

[mwieder]

Yeah, I know it can't be done with current versions, although I'm not sure of the technical details why not. I'm just surprised it crashes so dramatically. It shouldn't be possible to crash things from the IDE. IMO.

[kdjanz]

Agreed! Hope Mark and the team see this - or maybe you can send them this poison stack for testing.

[richmond62]

Personally I'd dig out an ancient computer (I have lots of them) and try to convert my HC stacks using
the earliest recension of LiveCode/Revolution I could manage and then work with that output in "the latest and greatest."

[mwieder]

Folks - to be clear, I'm not concerned here with converting HyperCard stacks.
I'm concerned about LiveCode crashing.

[richmond62]

But it doesn't seem right that selecting "Open stack" from the menubar and attempting to open a file of any type should cause the whole thing to come tumbling down.

Just toooooooooo lazy to read that far before my second cup of coffee. Sorry.

Well [MacOS 10.15.5 / LC 9.6.0 Community] I wrote a text file in BBEdit and saved it with the name 'cheese.livecode',
then opened it with LiveCode:
-

[bogs]

Um. Mark is pointing out that Lc hard crashes on opening an Hc stack, and you are pointing out...what, that livecode doesn't open text files, and displays a warning when you try?

[mwieder]

Right. That's what I'd expect.
What I got was a hard LC crash back to the system.

[richmond62]

Um. Mark is pointing out that Lc hard crashes on opening an Hc stack, and you are pointing out...what, that livecode doesn't open text files, and displays a warning when you try?

attempting to open a file of any type

Yes, I did know that: I'm not quite THAT stupid.

I also got a complete LiveCode 9.6.0 crash when I tried to open a HyperCard stack: no error message, no nuffin.

[bogs]

attempting to open a file of any type

Yes, I did know that: I'm not quite THAT stupid.

I don't think your 'stupid' at all, I just wonder sometimes about your interpretation of things. For instance, your quote from his post is really out of context, he isn't indicating it crashes when opening any file, but that it shouldn't crash no matter what type of file your opening.

But it doesn't seem right that selecting "Open stack" from the menubar and attempting to open a file of any type should cause the whole thing to come tumbling down.

i.e., attempting to open an old Hc stack should not make the IDE crash, nor should opening any other type of file, the IDE should give a warning and exit gracefully, as your example (a text file) did.

[richmond62]

I just wonder sometimes about your interpretation of things.

Well, as my Granny used to say, "Taste is allus i the gab." (Taste is always in the mouth).

decompress this (a HyperCard stack) and "have a go with it".

[jacque]

I keep an old copy of LC 6 around just for that reason, though I haven't had to do an HC conversion in a very long time.

[FourthWorld]

You'd think the old HC-parsing routines that crash could be stubbed out so it doesn't crash.

You'd think it would be possible to play a video on Linux too. Or a browser widget that doesn't freeze up Linux.

Clearly they're preoccupied. Can any of these paper cuts be handled by the community?