1 $gDeveloperHtml = <<HTML_END
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5 <title>$gProject - Developers' information</title>
6 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
7 <link rev="made" href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
8 <link rel="stylesheet" href="$gWebHostBugDir/css/bugs.css" type="text/css">
12 <h1><A name="developers">Developers' information regarding the $gBug processing system</a></h1>
14 <p>Initially, a $gBug report is submitted by a user as an ordinary mail
15 message to <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code>. This will then be
16 given a number, acknowledged to the user, and forwarded to a mailing
17 list (if configured). If the submitter included a <code>Package</code>
18 line listing a package with a known maintainer the maintainer will get
21 <p>The <code>Subject</code> line will have
22 <code>$gBug#</code><var>nnn</var><code>:</code> added, and the
23 <code>Reply-To</code> will be set to include both the submitter of the
24 report and <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
26 <h2>Closing $gBug reports</h2>
28 <p>A developer who receives a $gBug from the tracking system, or sees it on
29 the mailing list, and takes responsibility for it should hit Reply in
30 their favourite mailreader,
31 and then edit the <code>To</code> field to say
32 <var>nnn</var><code>-done\@$gEmailDomain</code> instead of
33 <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code>
34 (<var>nnn</var><code>-close</code> is provided as an alias for
35 <var>nnn</var><code>-done</code>).
37 <p>The address of the original submitter of the $gBug report will be
38 included in the default <code>To</code> field, because the $gBug system
39 included it in the <code>Reply-To</code>.
41 <p>Where applicable, please supply a <code>Version</code> line in the
42 <a href="Reporting.html#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a> of your message when
43 closing a $gBug, so that the $gBug tracking system knows which releases of the
44 package contain the fix.</p>
46 <p>`Done' messages are automatically forwarded to the <code>$gDoneList</code>
47 mailing list, if the mailing list has been set up.
49 <p>The person closing the $gBug and the person who submitted it will each
50 get a notification about the change in status of the report.
52 <h2>Followup messages</h2>
54 <p>If a developer wishes to reply to a $gBug report they may simply reply
55 to the message (that will <b>not</b> mark the bug as done). Their reply will
56 (by default, if they respect the Reply-To: header) go to
57 <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code>, and to the original submitter of
58 the $gBug report (note: this is two distinct addresses). The $gBug tracking
59 system will receive the message at <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code>,
60 pass it on to the package maintainer, file the reply with the rest of the
61 logs for that bug report and forward it to a designated mailing list
62 (<code>$gSubmitList\@$gEmailDomain</code>).
64 <p>A developer may explicitly mail the bug's submitter with an email to
65 <var>nnn</var><code>-submitter\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
67 <p>If you wish to send a followup message which is not appropriate for
68 any mailing list you can do so by sending it to
69 <var>nnn</var><code>-quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
70 <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
71 Mail to <var>nnn</var><code>-quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code> is filed in the
72 $gBug Tracking System but is not delivered to any individuals or mailing
73 lists. Mail to <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> is
74 filed in the $gBug Tracking System and is delivered only to the maintainer
75 of the package in question.
77 <p>Do <em>not</em> use the `reply to all recipients' or `followup'
78 feature of your mailer unless you intend to edit down the recipients
79 substantially. In particular, see that you don't send followup messages
80 both to <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code> and to
81 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code>, because the $gBug system will then
82 get two copies of it and each one will be forwarded to the designated
83 mailing list separately.
85 <h2><A name="severities">Severity levels</a></h2>
87 <p>The $gBug system records a severity level with each $gBug report. This
88 is set to <code>$gDefaultSeverity</code> by default, but can be overridden
89 either by supplying a <code>Severity</code> line in the pseudo-header when
90 the $gBug is submitted (see the
91 <a href="Reporting.html#pseudoheader">instructions for reporting $gBugs</a>),
92 or by using the <code>severity</code> command with the
93 <a href="#requestserv">control request server</a>.
94 Separate multiple tags with commas, spaces, or both.
96 <p>The severity levels are:
102 <H2><a name="tags">Tags for $gBug reports</a></H2>
104 <p>Each $gBug can have zero or more of a set of given tags. These tags are
105 displayed in the list of $gBugs when you look at a package's page, and when
106 you look at the full $gBug log.
108 <p>Tags can be set by supplying a <code>Tags</code> line in the
109 pseudo-header when the $gBug is submitted (see the
110 <a href="Reporting.html#pseudoheader">instructions for reporting $gBugs</a>),
111 or by using the <code>tags</code> command with the
112 <a href="#requestserv">control request server</a>.
114 <p>The current $gBug tags are:
120 <h2><A name="forward">Recording that you have passed on a $gBug report</a></h2>
122 <p>When a developer forwards a $gBug report to the developer of the
123 upstream source package from which the $gProject package is derived,
124 they should note this in the $gBug tracking system as follows:
126 <p>Make sure that the <code>To</code> field of your message to the author
127 has only the author(s) address(es) in it; put both the person who
129 <var>nnn</var><code>-forwarded\@$gEmailDomain</code> and
130 <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code> in the
131 <code>CC</code> field.
133 <p>Ask the author to preserve the <code>CC</code> to
134 <var>nnn</var><code>-forwarded\@$gEmailDomain</code>
135 and <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code> when they reply, so
136 that the $gBug tracking system will file their reply with the original
137 report. These messages are only filed and are not sent on; to send a
138 message as normal, send them
139 to <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code> as well.</p>
142 <p>When the $gBug tracking system gets a message at
143 <var>nnn</var><code>-forwarded</code> it will mark the relevant $gBug as
144 having been forwarded to the address(es) in the <code>To</code> field
145 of the message it gets, if the $gBug is not already marked as forwarded.
147 <p>You can also manipulate the `forwarded to' information by sending
148 messages to <a href="server-control.html"><code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code></a>.
150 <h2><a name="owner">Changing $gBug ownership</a></h2>
152 <p>In cases where the person responsible for fixing a $gBug is not the
153 assigned maintainer for the associated package (for example, when the
154 package is maintained by a team), it may be useful to record this fact
155 in the $gBug tracking system. To help with this, each $gBug may
156 optionally have an owner.
158 <p>The owner can be set by supplying an <code>Owner</code> line in the
159 pseudo-header when the $gBug is submitted (see the
160 <a href="Reporting.html#pseudoheader">instructions for reporting
162 or by using the <code>owner</code> and <code>noowner</code> commands
163 with the <a href="#requestserv">control request server</a>.
165 <h2>Summary postings</h2>
167 <p>Every Friday, a list of outstanding $gBug reports is posted to a summary
168 mailing list (if set up), sorted by age of report. Every Tuesday, a list of
169 $gBug reports that have gone unanswered too long is posted, sorted by
174 <h2><A name="requestserv">Reopening, reassigning and manipulating $gBugs</a></h2>
176 <p>It is possible to reassign $gBug reports to other packages, to reopen
177 erroneously-closed ones, to modify the information saying to where, if
178 anywhere, a $gBug report has been forwarded, to change the severities
179 and titles of reports, to set the ownership of $gBugs, to merge and unmerge
180 $gBug reports, and to record the versions of packages in which $gBugs were
181 found and in which they were fixed. This is done by sending mail to
182 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
184 <p>The <a href="server-control.html">format of these messages</a> is
185 described in another document available on the World Wide Web or in
186 the file <code>bug-maint-mailcontrol.txt</code>. A plain text version
187 can also be obtained by mailing the word <code>help</code> to the
188 server at the address above.
190 <h2>More-or-less obsolete subject-scanning feature</h2>
192 <!-- (this is likely to be removed the next version?) -->
194 <p>Messages that arrive at <code>submit</code> or <code>$gBugs</code> whose
195 Subject starts <code>Bug#</code><var>nnn</var> will be treated as
196 having been sent to <var>nnn</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code>. This is both
197 for backwards compatibility with mail forwarded from the old
198 addresses, and to catch followup mail sent to <code>submit</code> by
199 mistake (for example, by using reply to all recipients).
201 <p>A similar scheme operates for <code>maintonly</code>,
202 <code>done</code>, <code>quiet</code> and <code>forwarded</code>,
203 which treat mail arriving with a Subject tag as having been sent to
204 the corresponding <var>nnn-whatever</var><code>\@$gEmailDomain</code> address.
206 <p>Messages arriving at plain <code>forwarded</code> and
207 <code>done</code> - ie, with no $gBug report number in the address - and
208 without a $gBug number in the Subject will be filed under `junk' and
209 kept for a few weeks, but otherwise ignored.
215 <li><a href="./">$gBug tracking system main contents page.</a>
216 <li><a href="Reporting.html">Instructions for reporting $gBugs.</a>
217 <li><a href="Access.html">Accessing the $gBug tracking logs other than by WWW.</a>
218 <li><a href="server-refcard.html">Mailservers' reference card.</a>
219 <li><a href="db/ix/full.html">Full list of outstanding and recent $gBug reports.</a>
220 <li><a href="db/ix/packages.html">Packages with $gBug reports.</a>
221 <li><a href="db/ix/maintainers.html">Maintainers of packages with $gBug reports.</a>