1 $gReportingHtml = <<HTML_END
2 <!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
5 <title>$gProject $gBugs - how to report a $gBug</title>
6 <link rev="made" href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
10 <h1>How to report a $gBug in $gProject</h1>
12 <h2>Important things to note <strong>before</strong> sending</h2>
14 <p>Please don't report multiple unrelated $gBugs - especially ones in
15 different packages - in a single $gBug report. It makes our lives much
16 easier if you send separate reports.
18 <p>You should check if your $gBug report has already been filed by someone
19 else before submitting it. Lists of currently outstanding $gBugs are
20 available <a href="./">on the World Wide Web</a> and
21 <a href="Access.html">elsewhere</a> - see other documents for details.
22 You can submit your comments to an existing $gBug report
23 #<var><number></var> by sending e-mail to
24 <var><number></var>\@$gEmailDomain</p>
26 <p>If you can't seem to determine which package contains the problem,
27 please send e-mail to the <a href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
28 $gMaintainerEmail</a> asking for advice.
32 <p>If you'd like to send a copy of your $gBug report to additional
33 recipients (such as mailing lists), you shouldn't use the usual e-mail
34 headers, but <a href="#xcc">a different method, described below</a>.</p>
37 <h2>Sending the bug report using an automatic bug report tool</h2>
39 <p>There is a program that was developed in Debian to help reporting
40 $gBug reports, it's called
41 <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/reportbug">reportbug</a></code>.
42 It will guide you through the bug reporting process step by step,
43 and probably ease filing bugs that way.</p>
45 <p>Emacs users can also use the debian-bug command provided by the
46 <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/debbugs-el">
47 debbugs-el</a></code> package. When called with <kbd>M-x
48 debian-bug</kbd>, it will ask for all necessary information in a
49 similar way to <code>reportbug</code>.</p>
52 <h2>Sending the bug report via e-mail</h2>
55 <a href="mailto:submit\@$gEmailDomain"><code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code></a>,
56 as described below.</p>
58 <p>Of course, like with any email, you should include a clear, descriptive
59 <code>Subject</code> line in your main mail header. The subject you
60 give will be used as the initial $gBug title in the tracking system, so
61 please try to make it informative!</p>
63 <p>You need to put a <a name="pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a> at the start
64 of the body of the message. That means that the first line of the message
68 Package: <something>
71 <p>Replace <code><something></code> with the name of the package which
74 <p>The second line of the message should say:</p>
77 Version: <something>
80 <p>Replace <code><something></code> with the version of the package.
81 Please don't include any text here other than the version itself, as the
82 $gBug tracking system relies on this field to work out which releases are
83 affected by the bug.</p>
85 <p>You need to supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in the
86 pseudo-header in order for the $gBug tracking system to deliver the message
87 to the package's maintainer.</p>
91 <p>The pseudo-header fields should start at the very start of their lines.</p>
95 <p>Please include in your report:</p>
98 <li>The <em>exact</em> and <em>complete</em> text of any error
99 messages printed or logged. This is very important!
100 <li>Exactly what you typed or did to demonstrate the problem.
101 <li>A description of the incorrect behaviour: exactly what behaviour
102 you were expecting, and what you observed. A transcript of an
103 example session is a good way of showing this.
104 <li>A suggested fix, or even a patch, if you have one.
105 <li>Details of the configuration of the program with the problem.
106 Include the complete text of its configuration files.
112 <p>Include any detail that seems relevant - you are in very little danger
113 of making your report too long by including too much information. If
114 they are small please include in your report any files you were using
115 to reproduce the problem (uuencoding them if they may contain odd
116 characters etc.).</p>
119 <h2><A name="example">Example</a></h2>
121 <p>A $gBug report, with mail header, looks something like this:
124 To: submit\@$gEmailDomain
125 From: diligent\@testing.linux.org
126 Subject: Hello says `goodbye'
131 When I invoke `hello' without arguments from an ordinary shell
132 prompt it prints `goodbye', rather than the expected `hello, world'.
133 Here is a transcript:
141 I suggest that the output string, in hello.c, be corrected.
143 I am using Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, kernel 2.2.17-pre-patch-13
148 <h2><A name="xcc">Sending copies of $gBug reports to other addresses</a></h2>
150 <p>Sometimes it is necessary to send a copy of a $gBug report to somewhere
151 else besides the mailing list and the package maintainer, which is where they
154 <p>You could do this by CC'ing your $gBug report to the other address(es),
155 but then the other copies would not have the $gBug report number put in
156 the <code>Reply-To</code> field and the <code>Subject</code> line.
157 When the recipients reply they will probably preserve the
158 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> entry in the header and have their
159 message filed as a new $gBug report. This leads to many duplicated
162 <p>The <em>right</em> way to do this is to use the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code>
163 header. Add a line like this to your message's mail header (<em>not</em>
164 to the pseudo header with the <code>Package</code> field):
166 X-Debbugs-CC: other-list\@cosmic.edu
168 This will cause the $gBug tracking system to send a copy of your report
169 to the address(es) in the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code> line as well as to
172 <p>Avoid sending such copies to the addresses of other $gBug reports, as
173 they will be caught by the checks that prevent mail loops. There is
174 relatively little point in using <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code> for this
175 anyway, as the $gBug number added by that mechanism will just be
176 replaced by a new one; use an ordinary <code>CC</code> header instead.
178 <p>This feature can often be combined usefully with mailing
179 <code>quiet</code> - see below.
182 <h2><A name="severities">Severity levels</a></h2>
184 <p>If a report is of a particularly serious $gBug, or is merely a feature
185 request that, you can set the severity level of the $gBug as you report
186 it. This is not required, however, and the developers will assign an
187 appropriate severity level to your report if you do not.
189 <p>To assign a severity level, put a line like this one in the
190 <a href="#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a>:</p>
193 Severity: <<var>severity</var>>
196 <p>Replace <<var>severity</var>> with one of the available severity
197 levels, as described in the
198 <a href="Developer.html#severities">developers' documentation</a>.</p>
201 <h2><a name="tags">Assigning tags</a></h2>
203 <p>You can set tags on a $gBug as you are reporting it. For example, if
204 you are including a patch with your $gBug report, you may wish to set
205 the <code>patch</code> tag. This is not required, and the developers
206 will set tags on your report as and when it is appropriate.
208 <p>To set tags, put a line like this one in the
209 <a href="#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a>:</p>
212 Tags: <<var>tags</var>>
215 <p>Replace <<var>tags</var>> with one or more of the available tags,
217 <a href="Developer.html#tags">developers' documentation</a>.
218 Separate multiple tags with commas, spaces, or both.
221 User: <<var>username</var>>
222 Usertags: <<var>usertags</var>>
225 <p>Replace <<var>usertags</var>> with one or more usertags.
226 Separate multiple tags with commas, spaces, or both. If you specify a
227 username, that users tags will be set. Otherwise, the email address of
228 the sender will be used as the username</p>
231 <h2>Not forwarding to the mailing list - minor $gBug reports</h2>
233 <p>If a $gBug report is minor (for example, a documentation typo or other
234 trivial build problem), or you're submitting many reports at once,
235 send them to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
236 <code>quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
237 <code>maintonly</code> will send the report on to the package
238 maintainer (provided you supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in
239 the pseudo-header and the maintainer is known), and <code>quiet</code>
240 will not forward it anywhere at all but only file it as a $gBug (useful
241 if, for example, you are submitting many similar $gBugs and want to post
244 <p>If you do this the $gBug system will set the <code>Reply-To</code> of
245 any forwarded message so that replies will by default be processed in
246 the same way as the original report.
249 <h2>Acknowledgements</h2>
251 <p>Normally, the $gBug system will return an acknowledgement to you by
252 e-mail when you report a new bug or submit additional information to an
253 existing bug. If you want to suppress this acknowledgement, include an
254 <code>X-Debbugs-No-Ack</code> header in your e-mail (the contents of this
255 header do not matter; however, it must be in the mail header and
256 <em>not</em> in the pseudo-header with the <code>Package</code> field). If
257 you report a new $gBug with this header, you will need to check the web
258 interface yourself to find the $gBug number.</p>
260 <p>Note that this header will not suppress acknowledgements from the
261 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> mailserver, since those acknowledgements
262 may contain error messages which should be read and acted upon.</p>
265 <h3>$gBug reports against unknown packages</h3>
267 <p>If the $gBug tracking system doesn't know who the maintainer of the
268 relevant package is it'll forward the report to
269 the mailing list even if <code>maintonly</code> was used.
271 <p>When sending to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
272 <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> you should make sure that
273 the $gBug report is assigned to the right package, by putting a correct
274 <code>Package</code> at the top of an original submission of a report,
275 or by using <a href="server-control.html">the
276 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> service</a> to (re)assign the report
277 appropriately first if it isn't correct already.
285 <li><a href="./">Bug tracking system main contents page.</a>
286 <li><a href="Developer.html">Developers' information regarding the $gBug processing system.</a>
287 <li><a href="Access.html">Accessing the $gBug tracking logs other than by WWW.</a>
288 <li><a href="db/ix/full.html">Full list of outstanding and recent $gBug reports.</a>
289 <li><a href="db/ix/packages.html">Packages with $gBug reports.</a>
290 <li><a href="db/ix/maintainers.html">Maintainers of packages with $gBug reports.</a>