Golly ios crashes forever with invalid icons

[Redstoneboi]

This has happened to me twice, with valuable and irrecoverable data lost.
I've tried powering my device off and on, still a black screen with no sign of recovery.
It runs like an application designed to show a black screen, so I can still close it and do anything to the app, but not in it.

HOW TO REPLICATE (don't do this if you have valuable data)
1: make a rule
2: specify an @ICONS
3: put invalid XPM data
4: open the rule
5: exit golly
6: next time you open golly, there will be a black screen and you're stuck at that forever, until you reinstall.

this works with this rule:

Code: Select all

@RULE Crash

@TABLE
n_states:2
neighborhood:Moore
symmetries:none

@ICONS
XPM
"i sure hope i dont lose all my golly files"
"please fix i don't wanna lose them again"

it's just frustrating.

[PkmnQ]

I've got nothing to aay but YA GOT IOS GOLLY TOO?!

[fluffykitty]

My iOS Golly is permanently crashed for a different reason, but it's also due to an invalid rule. If it detects any problems with the current rule, instead of crashing or whatever, it should just switch to a default rule like desktop Golly.

[dvgrn]

My iOS Golly is permanently crashed for a different reason, but it's also due to an invalid rule. If it detects any problems with the current rule, instead of crashing or whatever, it should just switch to a default rule like desktop Golly.

Hm, I guess I'd better try this on an iPad, and see if there's some way to move or rename the GollyPrefs file. Golly saves the most recently used rule, and restores it on startup -- so any way of temporarily interrupting that storage and retrieval process ought to be enough to get Golly back in working order again.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

[Andrew]

Sorry for the late reply -- I've been overseas for the last few weeks with only occasional access to the internet.

The XPM bug has been fixed in the code on sourceforge, so if you have access to a Mac with Xcode then you could build a fixed version of Golly. It will probably be a few months before I release a new update (Apple don't make this a simple task).

This has happened to me twice, with valuable and irrecoverable data lost....

I'd question the wisdom of using an iPad to store valuable data, but as mentioned in Help > Open Tab, Golly does support the transfer of pattern files and rule files from your iPad to a Mac/Windows desktop computer (and vice versa) using iTunes file sharing. Details here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094