principle-fix-root-causes
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ChineseFix Root Causes
修复根本原因
When debugging, do not paper over symptoms. Trace every problem to its root cause and fix it there.
Why: Symptom fixes accumulate. Each workaround makes the system harder to reason about, and the real bug remains. Root-cause fixes are slower upfront but reduce total debugging time.
Pattern:
- Reproduce first (if you can't reproduce it, you can't verify your fix)
- Ask "why" until you hit the root cause
- Resist the urge to add guards (adding a nil check to silence a crash is a symptom fix)
- Check for the pattern, not just the instance (grep for the same pattern, fix all instances)
- When stuck, instrument. Don't guess (add logging, read the actual error)
Restart bugs: suspect state before code
Code doesn't change between runs. State does. When something "fails after restart," suspect stale persistent state first: config files, caches, lock files, serialized state. If clearing a state file restores behavior, prioritize state validation as the fix.
调试时，不要掩盖问题症状。追踪每一个问题的根本原因并从根源处修复。
原因： 针对症状的修复会不断累积。每一个权宜之计都会让系统更难理解，而真正的bug依然存在。从根本原因修复虽然前期耗时更长，但能减少整体调试时间。
方法：
- 先复现问题（如果无法复现，就无法验证修复效果）
- 持续追问“为什么”，直到找到根本原因
- 克制添加防护代码的冲动（添加空值检查来掩盖崩溃属于针对症状的修复）
- 检查模式，而非仅针对单个实例（用grep查找相同模式，修复所有实例）
- 遇到瓶颈时，添加监控 instrumentation，不要猜测（添加日志，查看实际错误信息）
重启类bug：优先怀疑状态而非代码
代码在多次运行间不会改变，但状态会。当出现“重启后失败”的情况时，首先怀疑陈旧的持久化状态：配置文件、缓存、锁定文件、序列化状态。如果清除状态文件后恢复正常，优先将状态验证作为修复方案。