Nasty bug

February 2nd, 2006

Crap! I found a nasty bug in the windows installer today. By default, zdt installs its database (chinese.script) in the C:\Documents and Settings\user\zdt directory. If the chinese.script file already exists, then it should just leave it and create a new file called chinese.new that contains the “latest” database. Unfortunately, the installer was creating the new file and also overwriting the old one. Which of course means all your word lists, etc are lost. Doh!

I’ve deleted the existing files off of sourceforge and I’m in the process of re-uploading zdt 0.4.5 with a fix. While I’m at it, I’ve also made the new cedict database file the default one with this latest distribution.

Update:
I tested on my windows desktop machine and it doesn’t overwrite the file. Only on my laptop. Very weird especially since nobody ever complained before. I’m now confused.

Update #2:
Ok, mystery solved. It had to do with the timestamps on the file. If the date of the existing file was older than the one in the installer, it would overwrite the file. It works on accident because if you’re actually using the chinese.script file, the timestamp on it gets updated after each use. Anyway, the new build of 0.4.5 is on SourceForge now and it fixes this problem.

Entry Filed under: ZDT