1 $gReportingHtml = <<HTML_END
2 <html><head><title>$gProject $gBugs - how to report a $gBug</title>
3 <link rev="made" href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
5 <h1>How to report a $gBug in $gProject</h1>
8 <A href="mailto:submit\@$gEmailDomain"><code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code></A>,
12 Please don't report several unrelated $gBugs - especially ones in
13 different packages - in one message. Also, please don't mail your $gBug
14 report to any mailing lists or recipients other than
15 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> (for details of how to do this right, see
16 <A href="#xcc">below</A>).
19 Lists of currently-outstanding $gBugs are available <A href="./">on
20 the World Wide Web</A> and <A href="Access.html">elsewhere</A> - see
21 other documents for details.
24 You should put a pseudo-header at the start of the body of the
25 message, with the <code>Package:</code> and <code>Version:</code>
26 lines giving the name and version of the package which has the $gBug.
27 (The pseudo-header fields must start at the very start of their lines,
28 and the $gBug system does not currently understand them if they're
29 buried in MIMEd or PGPd mail.)
33 <em>See below for <A href="#details">further requirements</A></em>.
38 <h2><A name="example">Example</A></h2>
40 A $gBug report, with mail header, looks something like this:
42 To: submit\@$gEmailDomain
43 From: diligent\@testing.linux.org
44 Subject: Hello says `goodbye'
45 <A name="psuedoheader">
49 When I invoke `hello' without arguments from an ordinary shell
50 prompt it prints `goodbye', rather than the expected `hello, world'.
59 I suggest that the output string, in hello.c, be corrected.
61 I am using Debian 1.1, kernel version 1.3.99.15z
62 and libc 5.2.18.3.2.1.3-beta.
65 <h2><A name="details">Please include in your report:</A></h2>
68 <li>The <em>exact</em> and <em>complete</em> text of any error
69 messages printed or logged. This is very important!
70 <li>Exactly what you typed or did to demonstrate the problem.
71 <li>A description of the incorrect behaviour: exactly what behaviour
72 you were expecting, and what you observed. A transcript of an
73 example session is a good way of showing this.
74 <li>A suggested fix, or even a patch, if you have one.
75 <li>Details of the configuration of the program with the problem.
76 Include the complete text of its configuration files.
80 Include any detail that seems relevant - you are in very little danger
81 of making your report too long by including too much information. If
82 they are small please include in your report any files you were using
83 to reproduce the problem (uuencoding them if they may contain odd
88 Of course, like any email, you should include a clear, descriptive
89 <code>Subject</code> line in your main mail header. The subject you
90 give will be used as the initial $gBug title in the tracking system, so
91 please try to make it informative !
93 <h2><A name="xcc">Sending copies of $gBug reports to other addresses</A></h2>
95 Sometimes it is necessary to send a copy of a $gBug report to somewhere
96 else besides the mailing list and the package maintainer, which is where they
100 You could do this by CC'ing your $gBug report to the other address(es),
101 but then the other copies would not have the $gBug report number put in
102 the <code>Reply-To</code> field and the <code>Subject</code> line.
103 When the recipients reply they will probably preserve the
104 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> entry in the header and have their
105 message filed as a new $gBug report. This leads to many duplicated
109 The <em>right</em> way to do this is to use the
110 <code>X-$gProject-CC</code> header. Add a line like this to your
111 message's mail header (not to the psuedo header with the
112 <code>Package</code> field):
114 X-$gProject-CC: other-list\@cosmic.edu
116 This will cause the $gBug tracking system to send a copy of your report
117 to the address(es) in the <code>X-$gProject-CC</code> line as well as to
121 This feature can often be combined usefully with mailing
122 <code>quiet</code> - see below.
125 <h2><A name="severities">Severity levels</A></h2>
127 If a report is of a particularly serious $gBug, or is merely a feature
128 request that, you can set the severity level of the $gBug as you report
129 it. This is not required, however, and the developers will assign an
130 appropriate severity level to your report if you do not.
133 To assign a severity level put a
134 <code>Severity: <var>severity</var></code> line in the psuedo-header,
135 together with <code>Package</code> and <code>Version</code>. The
136 severity levels available are described in the
137 <A href="Developer.html#severities">developers' documentation</A>.
140 <h2>Not forwarding to the mailing list - minor $gBug reports</h2>
142 If a $gBug report is minor (for example, a documentation typo or other
143 trivial build problem), or you're submitting many reports at once,
144 send them to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or <code>quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
145 <code>maintonly</code> will send the report on to the package
146 maintainer (provided you supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in
147 the pseudo-header and the maintainer is known), and <code>quiet</code>
148 will not forward it anywhere at all but only file it as a $gBug (useful
149 if, for example, you are submitting many similar $gBugs and want to post
153 If you do this the $gBug system will set the <code>Reply-To</code> of
154 any forwarded message so that replies will by default be processed in
155 the same way as the original report.
157 <h3>Unknown packages or $gBugs with no <code>Package</code> key</h3>
159 If the $gBug tracking system doesn't know who the maintainer of the
160 relevant package is it'll forward the report to
161 the mailing list even if <code>maintonly</code> was used.
164 When sending to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
165 <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> you should make sure that
166 the $gBug report is assigned to the right package, by putting a correct
167 <code>Package</code> at the top of an original submission of a report,
168 or by using <A href="server-control.html">the
169 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> service</A> to (re)assign the report
170 appropriately first if it isn't correct already.
177 <li><A href="./">Bug tracking system main contents page.</A>
178 <li><A href="Developer.html">Developers'
179 information regarding the $gBug processing system.</A>
180 <li><A href="Access.html">Accessing the $gBug tracking logs other than by WWW.</A>
181 <li><A href="db/ix/full.html">Full list of outstanding and recent $gBug reports.</A>
182 <li><A href="db/ix/packages.html">Packages with $gBug reports.</A>
183 <li><A href="db/ix/maintainers.html">Maintainers of packages with $gBug reports.</A>