Release Notes

Welcome to Komodo, ActiveState's Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This document accompanies Komodo version 3.1. See the Revision History for details about previous Komodo releases.

New in This Release: Komodo 3.1 (February, 2005)

Key Features

  • Subversion support has been added to the Source Code Control system. Support for Subversion is limited to the same features and capabilities available for CVS and Perforce. For more information, see Source Code Control
  • Perl AutoComplete and CallTips support is available in this release. See AutoComplete and CallTips for more information.
  • The Python debugger has been rewritten into a regular Python package, and now includes an extension written in C to provide performance boosts for large applications, or applications using various GUI toolsets (eg. wxPython).
  • PDK 6 support is now built into the distribution and does not require a separate step to enable.

Infrastructure Updates

Komodo 3.1 consists of infrastructure updates and various bug fixes. These include:

  • Upgrade to Mozilla 1.7.3
  • Upgrade to Python 2.3.4
  • Upgrade to Scintilla 1.61
  • Upgrade to GTK 2.2 on Linux

As a result of these infrastructure updates, the following features and enhancements are available:

  • Syntax coloring for many new languages, including APDL, Asn1, AutoIt, Asm, Avenue, Bash, CLW, EScript, Erlang, Forth, Gui4Cli, Kix, Lout, Metapost, MMIXAL, Lot, MSSQL, Nsis, PowerBasic, PostScript, POV-Ray, Scriptol, Specman, TeX, Verilog, and YAML.
  • Unicode and locale support has been enhanced.
  • Performance of the UI components has been improved.
  • Markers that show line wrapping when the editor is in wrap mode
  • Better column select support. Use 'Shift'+'Alt'+ arrow keys for selection.
  • TrueType fonts are available on Linux.
  • Anti-aliased fonts are available on Linux.
  • Support for copying, pasting as well as dragging and dropping has been improved on Linux.

To view a complete list of bugs fixed in this release, see http://bugs.activestate.com.

Known Issues

To view the status of outstanding Komodo issues, including those that have been fixed in this release, or to add comments or additional issues, please visit the Komodo Bug Database.

Installation Issues

  • Windows NT users may need to manually move their license file from \WINNT\Profiles\[username]\ActiveState to \WINNT\Profiles\[username]\Application Data\ActiveState.
  • If you upgraded your system from Win9x/WinME to WinNT/2K, ensure that your ComSpec environment variable is configured to %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe (for example, C:\system32\cmd.exe). There was a bug in the Microsoft Windows installer that did not update the variable from its original value of command.com.
  • The Komodo installer requires up to 230 MB in your TMP directory (as indicated by the value of your 'TMP' environment variable) during installation, even if you plan to install Komodo to another drive. If you do not have the required space on this drive, manually set the 'TMP' environment variable to another directory with sufficient space. Ensure that you have enough space, temporarily, for installation.
  • If you try to install Komodo on Windows and the MSI install fails with error 2355, your MSI file is corrupt. Please download Komodo again and re-run the MSI install.
  • There are known issues regarding the installation of PHP on Windows Millennium systems; please refer to the PHP site for installation information.

 

Startup Issues

  • When Komodo 3.1 is first launched on Solaris, Mozilla runs a utility to confirm the presence of required operating system patches. A Mozilla dialog box containing the results of this test is displayed. The data is also recorded in the file ~/.mozilla/solaris_patchchecker_keys.txt, which lists patches that are not installed as well as existing patches that need upgrading. It is recommended that you install the necessary patches, although Komodo may operate correctly without them. These patches are available from the Sun Microsystems Patch Support Portal.
  • The first time Komodo is run after installation, it must register a number of components with the operating system. This causes the first launch to be considerably slower than subsequent launches.
  • Certain programs may cause problems launching Komodo. For example, server programs such as SQL Server are known to be problematic. Also, Norton Anti-Virus (NAV), or more specifically, the File System Realtime Protection feature is problematic. If Komodo fails to load, examine the applications you are running, and try stopping those that might be conflicting with Komodo.

 

Editing Issues

  • The macro recorder will record events that it cannot handle, such as the opening of dialogs. The only dialog that can be opened via a macro is the Find dialog; other dialogs will cause the macro to stop.
  • Application Data redirection on Windows: When you install Komodo, if you redirect the files that Komodo expects to have permissions to install in your Application Data folder, Komodo and Mozilla can close unexpectedly.
  • Languages that are read right-to-left and Asian languages are not supported. All Latin and Cyrillic languages are fully supported.
  • Cheyenne Antivirus Realtime Monitor and Komodo on Windows 9x - When RealMon is set to monitor outgoing files (or both incoming and outgoing files) Komodo's syntax checking doesn't function.
  • On slow networks, users may notice performance degradation when editing files on network machines. Performance can be improved by disabling the Komodo function that checks if files on disk have changed. Use the Editor Preferences to disable this feature.
  • Interpolation shortcuts in snippets are not executed when the snippet is inserted in the Editor Pane via dragging and dropping.

 

Debugging Issues

  • If the debug listener (Debug|Listen for Remote Debugger) is off, multithreaded applications may not run or debug as expected. Only the main thread operates through the debugger. To debug multithreaded applications, turn on debug listening prior to debugging. (Debug listening is turned on by default.)
  • PHP configurations that use Zend Extensions (such as PHP Accelerator) are not compatible with the Komodo PHP debugger.
  • Due to the way the core Perl interpreter works, it is not possible to step over "require" statements.
  • You cannot use the 'freestanding' option when debugging Perl applications created with the PDK in Komodo. Instead, build a 'dependant' executable, which requires a local install of ActivePerl.
  • The "Delete temp files after each run" option generates an error when debugging an application with the Perl Dev Kit interface.
  • The variable watcher does not work when debugging \\machine\d$\path\to\perl_script.pl. It does work when opening the same file via a UNC path that does not include a '$' character.
  • You cannot debug in a separate console on Windows Me/9x machines.
  • If a script has syntax errors, the debugger can fail without warning.
  • When debugging remote applications, Komodo fails if the remote process does not have valid stdout and stderr handles. GUI applications, such as those started with "wperl.exe" or "pythonw.exe", or those using the Pythonwin or wxPython frameworks, or those with certain embedded applications, can have invalid stdout and stderr handles. Until we resolve this issue, try to run and debug your remote program under perl.exe or python.exe.
  • Python, XSLT and PHP debugging require TCP/IP to be installed and properly configured, even if you are debugging scripts locally. While TCP/IP is configured by default on most systems, early versions of Windows may require manual TCP/IP configuration.
  • When debugging a GUI script in Komodo, adding a "watched variable" when not stopped at a breakpoint can cause Komodo to hang. You must manually terminate the script being debugged to stop Komodo from hanging. The problem occurs because the GUI script, while in its message loop, does not respond to Komodo's request for the variable value.
  • Local debugging with the PHP debugger will fail if the debugger proxy is used.
  • If the Komodo debugger is configured to use a specific port, when Komodo is shut down, the port is sometimes not immediately released. If Komodo is restarted before the port is released by the operating system, a message is displayed advising that the system is unable to bind that port. As a workaround, we suggest configuring port 0 as the Komodo debugging port and using the debugger proxy for remote debugging.
  • Breaking into a running Perl script can only occur if the Perl code is crossing sub boundaries in the Perl code, as that's currently the only chance the Perl debugger has to check to see if the IDE has sent the break command.
  • When debugging Perl, if you set a breakpoint on the while statement, the debugger stops on the breakpoint only once, namely before the first pass through the loop. This is a limitation of how the Perl interpreter works. (Bug 34866)
  • The debugger system in Komodo uses TCP/IP networking for debugger communications. On systems with firewalls installed, the debugger may fail if the firewall is not configured to allow Komodo to listen for connections. On Windows, you may see a "Windows Security Alert" dialog asking if you want to allow Komodo to listen for connections, you will need to unblock Komodo.
  • The Perl debugger cannot trap fatal runtime errors. Users can in their code, by wrapping problematic code in an eval block, and then testing for an exception.

 

Interactive Shell Issues

  • Perl: only pattern variables $1 .. $9 are preserved across each query.
  • Python: The getpass package requires the use of a tty on unix systems. Komodo does not provide a tty in it's interactive shell so getpass will fail with an exception.

 

Source Code Control Issues

  • A bug in CVS will cause WinCVS and TortoiseCVS to detect file changes when a Komodo project has merely been opened. The problem is likely a bug in the cvshome.org executable or in the cvsnt.org executable, which are used by both WinCVS and TortoiseCVS.
  • Komodo's integration with the Perforce commit/submit command cannot commit files that are not in the default changelist. These files must be submitted via an external interface (e.g. p4, P4Win). Note that any files checked out inside Komodo will be in the default changelist, so this limitation should only apply to users who already use an external interface to their Perforce repository.
  • If the Perforce connection cannot be established, checking the status of files in a Perforce repository will hang Komodo.
  • If you are using CVS Source Code Control, note that the very first time you log in to a repository, cvs.exe fails to create the .cvspass file correctly and will return an error. Repeat the command to login a second time and correctly generate the file. This is a CVS bug.
  • If you are using CVS Source Code Control on Windows 98 or Me, the environment variables HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH must be configured on your system. Typically, HOMEDRIVE is set to "c:", and HOMEPATH is set to "\".

 

GUI Builder Issues

  • When adding a GUI Builder project file (.ui) to a Komodo project file (.kpf), the files associated with the dialog are not included when the .ui file is added to a project. You must edit the dialog and save it before the files will be included under the dialog in the project.
  • In the GUI Builder, the -image option for labels and buttons does not work.
  • In the GUI Builder, there is no documentation for the userinit and run functions.

 

Other Issues

  • Komodo inherits a Mozilla bug whereby certain video drivers on Windows cause Komodo to crash. If you experience this behavior, upgrade your video driver to the latest version. If the problem persists, reduce the color definition assigned to the driver (Control Panel|Display|Settings).
  • On Windows XP, the Windows task bar may show the old Komodo icon from a previous installation of Komodo. To fix this issue, delete the icon cache, located by default in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\IconCache.db.
  • Komodo inherits a Mozilla bug regarding display on dual-monitor systems where the secondary monitor is to the left of the primary monitor (causing negative coordinate results). The Komodo display occasionally fails to refresh; Komodo must be stopped and restarted to fix the display.
  • When using Komodo's Preview in Browser feature, users running Mozilla on Windows XP Pro, Windows 2000 Pro and Windows 98 may find that they cannot exit Komodo if Mozilla is still open. If this should occur, close all open browser windows before exiting Komodo.
  • The Palm Desktop for Windows software makes exclusive use of the 'Ctrl'+'Shift'+'T' key combination, thus making this combination unavailable in Komodo.
  • When using the PDK 'Build standalone application' feature in Komodo with Perl 5.8.0 on a Linux installation where the environment is set to use UTF-8, you must add a module 'utf8' on the modules tab. This is the equivalent of 'perlapp --add utf8'. This does not affect Perl 5.6.x or future versions of Perl 5.8.1 or higher.
  • On Windows NT, some interactive commands may not work properly when run from the Command Output tab of the Output Pane. You must run these commands in a separate shell.
  • Running interactive commands (especially "command.com") on Win98/ME through Komodo's "Run Command" feature can cause Komodo to hang. It is recommended that Win98/ME Komodo users run only simple commands using the Run Command feature.
  • In file picker dialogs that display a list of files, when "All files" is specified, files that begin with a period are not displayed.
  • Perforce client version 2001.1 and previous for Windows is known to hang when used for Komodo's Perforce integration. Upgrading to the most recent version of Perforce is known to fix the problem.
  • The Output tab cuts off lines at 250 characters.
  • Macros will not record certain commands, including (but possibly not limited to) 'Ctrl'+'Shift'+'B'|'R'|'E'|'D' (toggle toolbars or button text), 'Ctrl'+'Shift'+'N' (new default file), and View as Language menu items.
  • If you are using the Pop-Up Stopper ad-blocking program, it will close the Rx Toolkit window immediately after it is opened.
  • When you schedule a new file to be added using CVS, CVS will not permit you to remove the file from the repository using the "revert changes" command.
  • Users of the Japanese version of Windows XP may experience difficulties in starting Komodo.
  • The Open field in the Open/Find Toolbar does not automatically display a drop-down list of directories when an UNC path is typed. Currently, the list is only displayed when a the path includes a subdirectory.
  • Komodo cannot currently handle directory names and filenames that include the "%" (percent) character.
  • When creating a 'diff' in Komodo (Tools|Compare Files), the line endings of the files are normalized to Unix style line endings. Lines in files that have different line endings are not displayed differently in the diff (unless other differences are present), but a warning is provided to the user in the 'diff' window, or the 'no difference' dialog.
  • Komodo cannot open or import files and directories with names that contain the percent (%) character.

 

Linux/Solaris Issues

Unless specified otherwise, these issues apply to both Linux and Solaris.

  • When closing any Komodo window that contains an editor component, a GLIB error entry will appear in the log files (or terminal if Komodo was started from one). This error can be safely ignored. A patch was submitted by the Mozilla group to the Gnome group that handles this error, and should be available in GTK 2.4 or higher. The patch can be viewed at http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=128546
  • On Solaris, GNU tar must be used to unpack the Komodo installation file. If you use the native Solaris tar version, you will get a checksum error when attempting to unpack the Komodo tar package, and any attempt to run the install script will fail.
  • On Solaris, interactions between Komodo and Sun's CDE Window Manager may cause a modal child window (such as the Preferences page, or the Open | File dialog) to get hidden behind Komodo's main window. The main Komodo window will be hung waiting for the (now unreachable) modal window to be closed. The problem is likely related to a specific CDE configuration "focus follows mouse" or similar.
  • The Fonts and Colors page in the Preferences displays the same list of fonts in both the Fixed and Proportional lists. There is no programmatic way to identify whether a font is proportional or not on GTK; therefore, users must know the properties of the individual fonts when modifying these values.
  • If the GTK theme is changed while Komodo is running, Komodo will not change the menu / toolbar font colors, causing usability problems in extreme cases.
  • Install Komodo into a directory path that only includes alphanumeric characters. Komodo is known to have trouble with paths that include spaces and some non-alphanumeric characters.
  • Filenames or paths containing non-ASCII characters cannot be opened remotely.
  • Key bindings defined in the window manager (such as KDE) take precedence over Komodo key bindings. In the case of conflicts, you must either change the Komodo key bindings or the window manager key bindings.
  • You cannot relocate an existing Komodo installation to a new directory. You must uninstall Komodo from the existing location and reinstall it in the new location.
  • When using the PHP Configuration Wizard, you must have write access to any directories you specify in the wizard.
  • Red Hat Linux 9.0 is known to have threading library bugs in its glibc that may cause Komodo to hang in certain situations. The recommended solution is to upgrade to the latest glibc for Red Hat Linux 9.0.
  • Using colon separated include paths in the Perl shebang line causes a parse failure on some versions of Perl. Instead of using "/usr/bin/perl -cwT -I/path1:/path2 yourscript.pl", try using multiple include arguments such as "/usr/bin/perl -cwT -I/path1 -I/path2 yourscript.pl"
  • Komodo may not start up correctly on some Linux systems if C++ compatibility libraries have not been installed. On Fedora and Red Hat systems, install the "compat-libstdc++" package. On SuSE, install the "compat" package. On Gentoo, as root, run emerge lib-compat. This is not thought to be a problem on Debian systems.