Debugging Big Apps
I have to admit that I don't like debugging code that isn't mine. In fact, it's one of the most frustrating things I can think of. You are stuck between the users of the software and the vendor and neither is really capable of giving the other what they are needing at this moment. The developers want detailed stack traces, detailed information about what was being done - something that makes it more repeatable. Users just know it crashed and they didn't necessarily start it in such a way as to get this information because they didn't think that it would crash.
So to the developers I have to say "Hey, this is what I have and I know it's not much..." and to the users I have to say "OK... I'll let them know" but in the end, there's not really a single thing I can do other than to try and replicate the problem myself in an environment that I can get the necessary information from the application for the developers.
What I really want is the source code so that I can look into putting more advanced features that might make it a little easier to figure out what happened. Alas, that's not possible, and I'm stuck being in the middle. Not the best place to be to really help with solving the problems, but if that's the only place to be, there isn't a lot of choice.