I was informed there is a parts update. After a long time the parts update had downloaded, but had not completed, and fritzing appeared to be hung. I had to reboot the computer. Now Fritzing just hangs after opening up (“Not responding” - using about 20% cpu, but apparently not doing anything)
…
What I expected should have happened instead:
Should not have hung. Should display any progress so we know if it is actually doing something, and regular progress updates would mean Windows would not think it is not responding. But… how do I now cure the hang?
…
My version of Fritzing and my operating system:
fritzing.0.9.3b.64.pc
Windows 10 1803 (Build 17666.1000)
…
Please also attach any files that help explaining this problem
It is interesting to look at the Fritzing process using Process Monitor because it is going round just about every folder in my computer (why?) trying to create git.exe and I think this is why it appears to be hanging.
For example:
CreateFile C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Windows Live\git.exe “NAME NOT FOUND”
I think this is why it is taking so long and I hope it can be fixed.
Since you forced it closed the database now needs to be deleted manually and then you can restart and be patient while it downloads and installs parts updates. It takes a long time and gives no feedback. We know it was working because it corrupted the database.
There is a hidden Fritzing folder that has all of your parts in it along with your configuration files. I do not know where it is on Windows. Once you find it you can make a copy if you have added any parts manually and if not you can simply delete the entire thing. Then you just reinstall/start Fritzing and wait patiently, go for a coffee or watch a movie while you wait.
Maybe this will help others. I installed Git from https://git-scm.com/download/win then I copied git.exe from C:\Program Files\Git\bin to c:\windows\ and I saw (in Procmon) that Fritzing stopped trying to find Git and then moved on to tell me there were some old files to clean, then it offered the parts update, and off it went. No problem opening my existing fzz files, no corruption.
But the underlying problem is that Fritzing is trying to find git.exe (and git.cmd, and some other git -related files). Hopefully this problem can be fixed in the next Fritzing release.
i’m not that familiar with the fritzing use of git but generally programs need to be kept in the install directory in order to work as designed. since you moved git if fritzing was to call git to perform a function then git may not function correctly. since fritzing was scanning for git location it would probably have found the normal install directory. could be this speculation of mine is wrong but something to keep in mind should git crash or fritzing not perform correctly.
Yes, but I only installed Git as a workaround to fix the hang in the first place, and I put it in one of the locations that I saw Fritzing was trying to find it at.
Git is not required to operate Fritzing, but Fritzing looks for it in the wrong way.
Fritzing should look for Git in a proper way, not by looking round my entire filesystem repeatedly each and every time it opens a file. There must be a proper way to detect Git (not sure, maybe by a registry entry). And if not found, don’t try to go searching the file system for it.
Thank you a lot @bcraigie! Your linked git.exe file was the key to a successfull installation on windows 10. Beforehand Fritzing crashed all the time in both 32 and 64 bit versions. Then I just downloaded the git.exe that you linked and copied it into the fritzing folder. Now Fritzing started correctly, made some updates and runs flawlessly. Thanks a lot! That is a major issue for all new installations, because newbies will turn away from this great project as they dont know what to do. And it can be fixed quite easy. Maybe someone from the developer team should look into this.
HI all. I’m unclear why some users found it necessary to have git.exe in order to install and run fritzing.exe. I just ran the install for the first time and I do not have git.exe on my PC. I’m running windows 10 home 64 bit and I installed the 64 bit version of fritzing. I did ponder why there was no indication of activity while it displayed “not responding” so I did a search and found this post. But I deleted my first effort from the install folder and re-extracted the executable and on my subsequent execution fritzing ran correctly after I allowed it time to execute the updates. Hope this helps someone.
I believe the issue is that Fritzing searches the file system looking for git before deciding to use the internal one and some folks wanted to stop that (it may be what is slowing down git access), not that Fritzing doesn’t work without git installed (because it does).
Yes. Many users will have a small number of programs, and they won’t notice the delay.
Some users, like me have 1TB storage chock full of programs that it takes Fritzing hours to search through, looking for a git it may or may not find, and I might add, searching without my permission.
So before Frizing goes looking for Git it should a) ask if the user wants to use Git, then b) ask for a path to Git, and with an option to c) ask if you’d like to search for Git.
