[opensource-dev] Possible glitch in TPV identification procedure

[Jay Reynolds Freeman]

Now this is weird:

I have a TPV that I have developed for my own occasional use --
not for distribution.  I have identified it according to the
procedures outlined in 

  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Channel_and_Version_Requirements

and they seem to work.  So far, well and good.

I also have an executable binary of a standard LL viewer -- 1.23.5
-- that I use most of the time.  This is a straight download of
the executable, direct from LL, unmodified by me in any way, and
so verified by inspecting the dates on the actual executable.

Yet when I run my unmodified 1.23.5 and use the menu item
"Help->About Second Life ..." , what is displayed is the version
string that I have created for my modified TPV.

Taken at face value, this observation suggests that my unmodified
1.23.5 binary is somehow identifying itself as my personal TPV when
I launch it, and that sounds like a glitch somewhere -- I just don't
know where.

Further information:

    I am running on a Macintosh, under MacOS 10.6.3 ...

    I run the two viewers -- 1.23.5 and my personal one -- using
      the same Macintosh account (Unix account) and also using
      the same SL accounts (avatar names).

    When I create a different Macintosh/Unix account, and run
      the 1.23.5 binary while logged in as that different account
      (but using one of my usual SL accounts), the misidentification
      does NOT occur; that is, it looks like the incorrect 
      identification of 1.23.5 only happens in the Unix account
      in which I have also used my personal TPV.

I reiterate, all the mods to identify my personal TPV were made in
the source directory I use to build it, and the version of 1.23.5
that I am running was compiled by Linden Laboratories -- all I did
was download it.

My guess is that there is something like a cookie, somewhere 
associated with my everyday Macintosh/Unix account, that is
not getting cleared when it ought to be.  Does anyone have any idea
what is going on, or what I ought to do to fix the problem
systematically?  Remembering to clear cookies every time I log in,
or something like that, does not sound like a very robust fix.

Unanticipated regular misidentification of viewers could cause
great confusion.

I will be happy to file a bug report about this, but it might help
if I knew what was going on ...

--  Jay Reynolds Freeman / CeeJay Tigerpaw
---------------------
Jay_Reynolds_Freeman at mac.com
http://web.mac.com/jay_reynolds_freeman (personal web site)