Now, why does ring answer true to isActive if the method does not exist any more?

Because a RGMethod is active when it simply represents a compiledMethod (by opposition to an old version of a method in the versionBrowser).
So when we populate the MessageBrowser this is normal that the RG is active (it is done exactly for this purpose).

Stef



On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 10:03 PM, St�phane Ducasse <stephane.ducasse@inria.fr> wrote:
Hi guys

I found a problem with method renaming. The scenario is the following one:

        - you have a message browser open with a list a methods (resulting from a sender/implementor).
        - you rename a method and you get an error

why because the message browser does not replace the currently changed method.
and  the RGMethodDefinition that represented the renamed method defines the code like that

MessageBrowser>>wrapItem: anItem
        | s |

        s :=String streamContents: [ :aStream |
                3 to: (cachedHierarchy at: anItem) size do: [:i | aStream << '    '].
                aStream
                        << anItem methodClass name << ' ('.
                anItem isFromTrait
                        ifTrue: [ aStream << anItem compiledMethod origin name; space ].
                aStream << (anItem category ifNil: ['']) <<')'].
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

        ^ {s. anItem selector}.

RGMethodDefinition>>compiledMethod
        "Retrieves the compiled method of this definition if exists"

        | rClass |
        (rClass := self realClass) notNil
                ifTrue: [ (rClass includesSelector: self selector)
                        ifTrue: [ ^rClass >> self selector ] ].
        ^nil

category

        ^ self protocol

protocol

        self isActive
                ifTrue: [ ^ self compiledMethod  category ]].
        self isHistorical
                ifTrue: [ ^ self protocolAtPointer ifNil:[ self compiledMethod ifNil:[ protocol ] ifNotNil:[ :cm| cm category ] ] ].
        ^ protocol

So I patched the protocol method as follows

protocol

        self isActive
                ifTrue: [ ^ self compiledMethod ifNil: [ ' '] ifNotNilDo: [ :cm | cm  category ]].
                "I hate this ifNil test, the problem is that when we rename a method, a method definition in a list may still refers to
                the old selector and the definition of compiled method is that case is not finding the associated method because it holds the
                old selector and not the one corresponding to the one defined in the class."
        self isHistorical
                ifTrue: [ ^ self protocolAtPointer ifNil:[ self compiledMethod ifNil:[ protocol ] ifNotNil:[ :cm| cm category ] ] ].
        ^ protocol

I imagine that the best solution would be that the tools update their contents but I wanted to know your point of view.

Stef