Codewarrior V4.7 can no longer load projects - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: AndersJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 07:33:18 pm
content: Suddenly after a long period of perfect operationCodewarrior fails to read the cpu bean from the project file(s).This happened today, the first day after the holidays.I get the same problem on ”other” computers as well.I have tried various older generations taken from backups.Therefore I do not believe I have corrupted files.Could there be a date related issue with licensing, CW, Windows or something else?What may cause this error message:”Error during loading beans ”bean-name” from project file.Attempting to open the non initialized bean, I get:”Internal error: CPU database initialization failed (previous initilization attempt failed)”What may trigger these error messages?Everything has worked flawlessly for over 10 years.Now all of a sudden this happens.What has changed?- Year changed from 2019 to 2020?- Windows update?Suggestions are extremely welcome...

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 07:57:56 pm
content: I don't know, it might be something JavaBeans related.To check if it's related with the date/time, I would try first to change the clock of a computer back to 2019.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 08:15:27 pm
content: I just ran my CodeWarrior 5.7 with ColdFire 6.4 and it compiled fine. FlexLM network license. Check the license manager. There may be some information in the "license.dat" file.

author: AndersJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 09:02:39 pm
content: QuoteI tried that, but CW detects it, and refuses to start.NXP support calls it ”fraud detection”.I have asked how that can be disabled.Remains to be seen if they will reveal the secret.

author: AndersJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 09:08:06 pm
content: Quote from: Tomorokoshi on January 07, 2020, 08:15:27 pmI see no irregularities in the license file.Nothing stands out compared to the file from CW V6.3 that still works fine.On the other hand I do not know how to interpret the file syntax.

author: AndersJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 09:13:35 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on January 07, 2020, 07:57:56 pmWhy do you mention Java?How can I see if there has been a recent Java update?Is it possible to downgrade Java to a earlier release?

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 10:05:40 pm
content: My guess would be java runtime updates as well, though I'm not sure how much they'd typically mess with things, it could be that a certain security patch or major update broke something that was working before.I didn't realize Codewarrior was still going strong, the last version I used was on a PowerPC mac

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 10:30:03 pm
content: Quote from: AndersJ on January 07, 2020, 09:13:35 pmBecause I've seen the word "beans" in the error messages. Just a wild guess, a speculation, that's why I started with "I don't know".About changing the date, if a simple BIOS clock adjustment doesn't work (with any network connection physically unplugged at all times, not just disabled), then I would try a full machine restore from a 2019 backup, with the BIOS clock set to 2019, like we will still be in 2019. If the software still works, then just shut down the machine and change the clock to 2020 (again, no physical network). Now power the machine (with year 2020) and see if it still works. If not it's because of the year change.Proper way to solve it will be to ask NXP, or see if they have a forum or other online support for Codewarrior problems.

author: donotdespisethesnake
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 10:49:03 pm
content: CodeWarrior (classic version) "beans" are nothing to do with Java "beans", CW up to 6.3 was written in C. Only later versions use Eclipse but are branded "CodeWarrior".I wouldn't be surprised if there was a "2020 bug", but the NXP forums or support are the place to look.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2020, 10:56:49 pm
content: While i do not know if that has to do with Java, there indeed was a Java update a few days ago.

author: AndersJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2020, 07:33:42 am
content: Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on January 07, 2020, 10:49:03 pmNo response from NXP forums.The NXP support responds that V4.7 is no longer supported.No attempt to understand, discuss or resolve the problem.

author: donotdespisethesnake
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2020, 12:15:59 pm
content: Quote from: AndersJ on January 08, 2020, 07:33:42 amI was thinking more of peer support. I did get some useful help with running CW on Windows 7, a user provided patches and instructions.For official support, raise a ticket. Though, since the age of the product and the NXP takeover, there may simply be no one at NXP who knows anything. Maybe now is the time to migrate to a newer tool? Sure that takes some effort, but everything has a lifetime, and waiting until it no longer works can result in nasty surprises.And it is still nothing to do with Java!

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2020, 12:54:30 pm
content: To keep old software working over long time (years or decades), I use virtual machines (offline, and with clock not synchronized with the host machine). HDD space is too cheap nowadays, and life is too short to waste time with countless software updates or toolchains migrations. Keeping backups, installation kits, or using containerization won't cut it over many years.Sometimes we even used dedicated laptops (with only the OS and the configuration software of some industrial equipment for power plants) kept off, locked in a storage room (and never online when powered).Also, I avoid at all costs online services/tools, or any other form of 3rd party dependency. This is impossible to do in a large company, but for very small companies (or for individual work) is the only way to go.

author: AndersJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2020, 10:39:36 am
content: I found the problem, sort of.Microsoft updated Windows twice in mid december.I removed the two updates and Codewarrior worked again.I then asked Windows to reinstall all available updates.After that, Codewarrior continues to work.Thanks for your feedback.

author: filssavi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2020, 11:05:49 am
content: Glad you sorted it outHowever if I can just give you an advice as a friend, if you are not in deadline pending mode really try to update to a newer version of the tool.It might seem a waste of time (re-learning the UI and workflow) however the software you are using is a ticking timebomb, it is just matter of time until it will stopworking for good. You will not get any support from nxp (probably not even if you want to pay for it), since i suspect would rather loose a customer rather than continue supporting a legacy softwarefrom 10 years ago. Since surely no one remembers how the thing worked internally, the build systems are no more and they might even have lost/thrown out the source code in the acquisitions.You can probably keep the thing running in a VM on an old unpatched OS etc but seriously evaluate how much time you will need to set up and constantly mantain such a fragile systemBottomline if you are forced to mantain such a legacy system ( if you work in aerospace for example) I feel your pain, otherwise consider updating to a slightly less obsolete software

author: donotdespisethesnake
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2020, 12:33:49 pm
content: Quote from: filssavi on January 10, 2020, 11:05:49 amThat is obviously good advice, and is what I tried to do with our projects. Unfortunately file formats changed a lot, and the so called "Processor Expert Beans" are a particular problem.We are using a Freescale DSP, not Coldfire but I suspect similar issues apply. Supposedly there is way to import projects from 4.7 to 6.3 then to latest Eclipse based version, but that garbled the project so much it was unusable.Initially, I migrated projects by getting the 4.7 GUI up on one monitor, the CW10 GUI on another, and literally going through every tab of every window to migrate the bean settings, that took several days, the settings are not one to one. Compiling the source then does not produce an identical binary, since the compiler changes between versions. However tests on the target seemed to be correct.After that I looked into the file formats, seeing as we have several projects to migrate. I discovered the file content was in fact very similar, but redefined as XML. I then spent a while writing a C# tool to read a CW4.7 project, and spit out a CW10 project, with only minimal cleanup required.Then the remaining task was to persuade the other developers to leave their comfort zone and upgrade to CW10

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2020, 01:18:38 pm
content: Alternatively, you can create a virtual machine and run it inside any OS you want, but isolated from the Internet. Keep it for Codewarrior v4.7 only. No need to migrate and no need to upgrade.It will take about an our or so to install your preferred version, and once you have it, you can run it on any other computer, save the machine as a file, take snapshots of it when you want to test OS changes, revert in an instant, allocate as many procs or RAM you want, and so on.

author: donotdespisethesnake
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2020, 01:26:30 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on January 10, 2020, 01:18:38 pmWe also tried that, too much difficulty. Maybe, OK if you have admin rights and necessary OS skills. Or a decent IT dept