How to interpret a crash report ?

Question

Hi all,

I have got a crash report from one of my application's users, who found application to be freezing and then he has to force quit it.

I am having trouble to extract information from it which can help me to resolve its cause. Can some one help me to interpret it or can give me some initial push so that I can interpret it my self?

Crash report is as follow, (it is very long, so I have pasted a part of it):

Date/Time: 2010-06-23 12:07:53 -0700
OS Version: 10.6.4 (Build 10F569)
Architecture: x86_64
Report Version: 6

Command: XYZ
Path: /Applications/XYZ.app/Contents/MacOS/XYZ
Version: 1.5.6 build-0182 (1.5.6)
Parent: launchd [94]

PID: 463
Event: hang
Duration: 4.41s (sampling started after 2 seconds)
Steps: 24 (100ms sampling interval)

Pageins: 1
Pageouts: 0


Process: XYZ [463]
Path: /Applications/XYZ.app/Contents/MacOS/XYZ
UID: 501


Process: AirPort Base Station Agent [118]
Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Base Station Agent
UID: 501

Thread a0923d4 DispatchQueue 1
User stack:
24 ??? (in AirPort Base Station Agent + 5692) [0x10000163c]
24 NSApplicationMain + 364 (in AppKit) [0x7fff861115f8]
24 -[NSApplication run] + 395 (in AppKit) [0x7fff861188d3]
24 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 155 (in AppKit) [0x7fff86152bed]
24 _DPSNextEvent + 708 (in AppKit) [0x7fff8615329e]
24 BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode + 59 (in HIToolbox) [0x7fff8445f5d8]
24 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 310 (in HIToolbox) [0x7fff8445f71f]
24 RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 333 (in HIToolbox) [0x7fff8445f91a]
24 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff83a5484f]
24 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff83a553c2]
24 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff841fe2fa]
Kernel stack:
24 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210c2f]

Thread a119000 DispatchQueue 2
User stack:
24 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff84217f25]
24 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff84218088]
24 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 252 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8421875e]
24 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff84218c34]
24 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8421708a]
Kernel stack:
24 kevent + 97 [0x4701de]

Thread a0a13d4 
User stack:
24 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff84237309]
24 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff84237456]
24 select$DARWIN_EXTSN + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff84241dce]
Kernel stack:
24 sleep + 52 [0x486bac]

Binary Images:
0x100000000 - 0x100027fff com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent 1.5.5 (155.2) <00010203-0405-0607-0809-0A0B0C0D0E0F> /System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Base Station Agent
0x7fff83a09000 - 0x7fff83b7eff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.3 (550.29) <48810602-63C3-994D-E563-DD02B16E76E1> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation
0x7fff841fd000 - 0x7fff843bdfef libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <95E02DD0-ADEA-745B-E7FA-ABA064E4658C> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
0x7fff84431000 - 0x7fff8472ffe7 com.apple.HIToolbox 1.6.3 (???) <CF0C8524-FA82-3908-ACD0-A9176C704AED> /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/HIToolbox
0x7fff8610f000 - 0x7fff86b05fff com.apple.AppKit 6.6.6 (1038.29) <7BDD335D-5425-0354-5AD6-41C4F1B4A2F4> /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit


Process: aosnotifyd [141]
Path: /usr/sbin/aosnotifyd
UID: 501

Thread a744000 DispatchQueue 1
User stack:
24 start + 52 (in aosnotifyd) [0x100001070]
24 main + 806 (in aosnotifyd) [0x1000020e8]
24 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff83a545d6]
24 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff83a5484f]
24 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff83a553c2]
24 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff841fe2fa]
Kernel stack:
24 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210c2f]

Thanks in advance for any help!

Thanks,

Miraaj

Answer 1

When you post code-like things, use the Code formatter (the "101" button), not the blockquote formatter. It'll make it readable.

EDIT In my original post, I think I skipped over the non-existant stack for XYZ here. That's the only piece that matters, and indicates that whatever captured this didn't capture any useful stack information.

What you want to do is to ask the user to run Activity Monitor and hit "Sample Process" on your process when it beachballs. This usually will give you the information you need (though reading them can still be a bit of an art).