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 several unrelated $gBugs - especially ones in
15 different packages - in a single $gBug report.
17 <p>You should check if your $gBug report has already been filed by someone
18 else before submitting it. Lists of currently outstanding $gBugs are
19 available <a href="./">on the World Wide Web</a> and
20 <a href="Access.html">elsewhere</a> - see other documents for details.
21 You can submit your comments to an existing $gBug report
22 #<var><number></var> by sending e-mail to
23 <var><number></var>\@$gEmailDomain</p>
25 <p>If you can't seem to determine which package contains the problem,
26 please send e-mail to the <a href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
27 $gMaintainerEmail</a> asking for advice.
31 <p>If you'd like to send a copy of your $gBug report to additional
32 recipients (such as mailing lists), you shouldn't use the usual e-mail
33 headers, but <a href="#xcc">a different method, described below</a>.</p>
36 <h2>Sending the bug report using an automatic bug report tool</h2>
38 <p>There is a program that was developed in Debian to help reporting
39 $gBug reports, it's called
40 <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/reportbug.html">reportbug</a></code>.
41 It will guide you through the bug reporting process step by step,
42 and probably ease filing bugs that way.</p>
45 <h2>Sending the bug report via e-mail</h2>
48 <a href="mailto:submit\@$gEmailDomain"><code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code></a>,
49 as described below.</p>
51 <p>Of course, like with any email, you should include a clear, descriptive
52 <code>Subject</code> line in your main mail header. The subject you
53 give will be used as the initial $gBug title in the tracking system, so
54 please try to make it informative!</p>
56 <p>You need to put a <a name="pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a> at the start
57 of the body of the message. That means that the first line of the message
61 Package: <something>
64 <p>Replace <code><something></code> with the name of the package which
67 <p>The second line of the message should say:</p>
70 Version: <something>
73 <p>Replace <code><something></code> with the version of the package.</p>
75 <p>You need to supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in the
76 pseudo-header in order for the $gBug tracking system to deliver the message
77 to the package's maintainer.</p>
81 <p>The pseudo-header fields should start at the very start of their lines.</p>
85 <p>Please include in your report:</p>
88 <li>The <em>exact</em> and <em>complete</em> text of any error
89 messages printed or logged. This is very important!
90 <li>Exactly what you typed or did to demonstrate the problem.
91 <li>A description of the incorrect behaviour: exactly what behaviour
92 you were expecting, and what you observed. A transcript of an
93 example session is a good way of showing this.
94 <li>A suggested fix, or even a patch, if you have one.
95 <li>Details of the configuration of the program with the problem.
96 Include the complete text of its configuration files.
102 <p>Include any detail that seems relevant - you are in very little danger
103 of making your report too long by including too much information. If
104 they are small please include in your report any files you were using
105 to reproduce the problem (uuencoding them if they may contain odd
106 characters etc.).</p>
109 <h2><A name="example">Example</a></h2>
111 <p>A $gBug report, with mail header, looks something like this:
114 To: submit\@$gEmailDomain
115 From: diligent\@testing.linux.org
116 Subject: Hello says `goodbye'
121 When I invoke `hello' without arguments from an ordinary shell
122 prompt it prints `goodbye', rather than the expected `hello, world'.
123 Here is a transcript:
131 I suggest that the output string, in hello.c, be corrected.
133 I am using Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, kernel 2.2.17-pre-patch-13
138 <h2><A name="xcc">Sending copies of $gBug reports to other addresses</a></h2>
140 <p>Sometimes it is necessary to send a copy of a $gBug report to somewhere
141 else besides the mailing list and the package maintainer, which is where they
144 <p>You could do this by CC'ing your $gBug report to the other address(es),
145 but then the other copies would not have the $gBug report number put in
146 the <code>Reply-To</code> field and the <code>Subject</code> line.
147 When the recipients reply they will probably preserve the
148 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> entry in the header and have their
149 message filed as a new $gBug report. This leads to many duplicated
152 <p>The <em>right</em> way to do this is to use the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code>
153 header. Add a line like this to your message's mail header (<em>not</em>
154 to the pseudo header with the <code>Package</code> field):
156 X-Debbugs-CC: other-list\@cosmic.edu
158 This will cause the $gBug tracking system to send a copy of your report
159 to the address(es) in the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code> line as well as to
162 <p>This feature can often be combined usefully with mailing
163 <code>quiet</code> - see below.
166 <h2><A name="severities">Severity levels</a></h2>
168 <p>If a report is of a particularly serious $gBug, or is merely a feature
169 request that, you can set the severity level of the $gBug as you report
170 it. This is not required, however, and the developers will assign an
171 appropriate severity level to your report if you do not.
173 <p>To assign a severity level, put a line like this one in the
174 <a href="#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a>:</p>
177 Severity: <<var>severity</var>>
180 <p>Replace <<var>severity</var>> with one of the available severity
181 levels, as described in the
182 <a href="Developer.html#severities">developers' documentation</a>.</p>
185 <h2><a name="tags">Assigning tags</a></h2>
187 <p>You can set tags on a $gBug as you are reporting it. For example, if
188 you are including a patch with your $gBug report, you may wish to set
189 the <code>patch</code> tag. This is not required, and the developers
190 will set tags on your report as and when it is appropriate.
192 <p>To set tags, put a line like this one in the
193 <a href="#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a>:</p>
196 Tags: <<var>tags</var>>
199 <p>Replace <<var>tags</var>> with one or more of the available tags,
201 <a href="Developer.html#tags">developers' documentation</a>.
204 <h2>Not forwarding to the mailing list - minor $gBug reports</h2>
206 <p>If a $gBug report is minor (for example, a documentation typo or other
207 trivial build problem), or you're submitting many reports at once,
208 send them to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
209 <code>quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
210 <code>maintonly</code> will send the report on to the package
211 maintainer (provided you supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in
212 the pseudo-header and the maintainer is known), and <code>quiet</code>
213 will not forward it anywhere at all but only file it as a $gBug (useful
214 if, for example, you are submitting many similar $gBugs and want to post
217 <p>If you do this the $gBug system will set the <code>Reply-To</code> of
218 any forwarded message so that replies will by default be processed in
219 the same way as the original report.
221 <h3>$gBug reports against unknown packages</h3>
223 <p>If the $gBug tracking system doesn't know who the maintainer of the
224 relevant package is it'll forward the report to
225 the mailing list even if <code>maintonly</code> was used.
227 <p>When sending to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
228 <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> you should make sure that
229 the $gBug report is assigned to the right package, by putting a correct
230 <code>Package</code> at the top of an original submission of a report,
231 or by using <a href="server-control.html">the
232 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> service</a> to (re)assign the report
233 appropriately first if it isn't correct already.
241 <li><a href="./">Bug tracking system main contents page.</a>
242 <li><a href="Developer.html">Developers' information regarding the $gBug processing system.</a>
243 <li><a href="Access.html">Accessing the $gBug tracking logs other than by WWW.</a>
244 <li><a href="db/ix/full.html">Full list of outstanding and recent $gBug reports.</a>
245 <li><a href="db/ix/packages.html">Packages with $gBug reports.</a>
246 <li><a href="db/ix/maintainers.html">Maintainers of packages with $gBug reports.</a>