1 $gReportingHtml = <<HTML_END
2 <!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
5 <title>$gProject $gBugs - how to report a $gBug</title>
6 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
7 <link rev="made" href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
8 <link rel="stylesheet" href="$gWebHostBugDir/css/bugs.css" type="text/css">
12 <h1>How to report a $gBug in $gProject</h1>
14 <h2>Important things to note <strong>before</strong> sending</h2>
16 <p>Please don't report multiple unrelated $gBugs - especially ones in
17 different packages - in a single $gBug report. It makes our lives much
18 easier if you send separate reports.
20 <p>You should check if your $gBug report has already been filed by someone
21 else before submitting it. Lists of currently outstanding $gBugs are
22 available <a href="./">on the World Wide Web</a> and
23 <a href="Access.html">elsewhere</a> - see other documents for details.
24 You can submit your comments to an existing $gBug report
25 #<var><number></var> by sending e-mail to
26 <var><number></var>\@$gEmailDomain</p>
28 <p>If you can't seem to determine which package contains the problem,
29 please send e-mail to the <a href="mailto:$gMaintainerEmail">
30 $gMaintainerEmail</a> asking for advice.
34 <p>If you'd like to send a copy of your $gBug report to additional
35 recipients (such as mailing lists), you shouldn't use the usual e-mail
36 headers, but <a href="#xcc">a different method, described below</a>.</p>
39 <h2>Sending the bug report using an automatic bug report tool</h2>
41 <p>There is a program that was developed in Debian to help reporting
42 $gBug reports, it's called
43 <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/reportbug">reportbug</a></code>.
44 It will guide you through the bug reporting process step by step,
45 and probably ease filing bugs that way.</p>
47 <p>Emacs users can also use the debian-bug command provided by the
48 <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/debbugs-el">
49 debbugs-el</a></code> package. When called with <kbd>M-x
50 debian-bug</kbd>, it will ask for all necessary information in a
51 similar way to <code>reportbug</code>.</p>
54 <h2>Sending the bug report via e-mail</h2>
57 <a href="mailto:submit\@$gEmailDomain"><code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code></a>,
58 as described below.</p>
60 <p>Of course, like with any email, you should include a clear, descriptive
61 <code>Subject</code> line in your main mail header. The subject you
62 give will be used as the initial $gBug title in the tracking system, so
63 please try to make it informative!</p>
65 <p>You need to put a <a name="pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a> at the start
66 of the body of the message. That means that the first line of the message
70 Package: <something>
73 <p>Replace <code><something></code> with the name of the package which
76 <p>The second line of the message should say:</p>
79 Version: <something>
82 <p>Replace <code><something></code> with the version of the package.
83 Please don't include any text here other than the version itself, as the
84 $gBug tracking system relies on this field to work out which releases are
85 affected by the bug.</p>
87 <p>You need to supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in the
88 pseudo-header in order for the $gBug tracking system to deliver the message
89 to the package's maintainer.</p>
93 <p>The pseudo-header fields should start at the very start of their lines.</p>
97 <p>Please include in your report:</p>
100 <li>The <em>exact</em> and <em>complete</em> text of any error
101 messages printed or logged. This is very important!
102 <li>Exactly what you typed or did to demonstrate the problem.
103 <li>A description of the incorrect behaviour: exactly what behaviour
104 you were expecting, and what you observed. A transcript of an
105 example session is a good way of showing this.
106 <li>A suggested fix, or even a patch, if you have one.
107 <li>Details of the configuration of the program with the problem.
108 Include the complete text of its configuration files.
114 <p>Include any detail that seems relevant - you are in very little danger
115 of making your report too long by including too much information. If
116 they are small please include in your report any files you were using
117 to reproduce the problem (uuencoding them if they may contain odd
118 characters etc.).</p>
121 <h2><A name="example">Example</a></h2>
123 <p>A $gBug report, with mail header, looks something like this:
126 To: submit\@$gEmailDomain
127 From: diligent\@testing.linux.org
128 Subject: Hello says `goodbye'
133 When I invoke `hello' without arguments from an ordinary shell
134 prompt it prints `goodbye', rather than the expected `hello, world'.
135 Here is a transcript:
143 I suggest that the output string, in hello.c, be corrected.
145 I am using Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, kernel 2.2.17-pre-patch-13
150 <h2><A name="xcc">Sending copies of $gBug reports to other addresses</a></h2>
152 <p>Sometimes it is necessary to send a copy of a $gBug report to somewhere
153 else besides the mailing list and the package maintainer, which is where they
156 <p>You could do this by CC'ing your $gBug report to the other address(es),
157 but then the other copies would not have the $gBug report number put in
158 the <code>Reply-To</code> field and the <code>Subject</code> line.
159 When the recipients reply they will probably preserve the
160 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> entry in the header and have their
161 message filed as a new $gBug report. This leads to many duplicated
164 <p>The <em>right</em> way to do this is to use the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code>
165 header. Add a line like this to your message's mail header (<em>not</em>
166 to the pseudo header with the <code>Package</code> field):
168 X-Debbugs-CC: other-list\@cosmic.edu
170 This will cause the $gBug tracking system to send a copy of your report
171 to the address(es) in the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code> line as well as to
174 <p>Avoid sending such copies to the addresses of other $gBug reports, as
175 they will be caught by the checks that prevent mail loops. There is
176 relatively little point in using <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code> for this
177 anyway, as the $gBug number added by that mechanism will just be
178 replaced by a new one; use an ordinary <code>CC</code> header instead.
180 <p>This feature can often be combined usefully with mailing
181 <code>quiet</code> - see below.
184 <h2><A name="severities">Severity levels</a></h2>
186 <p>If a report is of a particularly serious $gBug, or is merely a feature
187 request that, you can set the severity level of the $gBug as you report
188 it. This is not required, however, and the developers will assign an
189 appropriate severity level to your report if you do not.
191 <p>To assign a severity level, put a line like this one in the
192 <a href="#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a>:</p>
195 Severity: <<var>severity</var>>
198 <p>Replace <<var>severity</var>> with one of the available severity
199 levels, as described in the
200 <a href="Developer.html#severities">developers' documentation</a>.</p>
203 <h2><a name="tags">Assigning tags</a></h2>
205 <p>You can set tags on a $gBug as you are reporting it. For example, if
206 you are including a patch with your $gBug report, you may wish to set
207 the <code>patch</code> tag. This is not required, and the developers
208 will set tags on your report as and when it is appropriate.
210 <p>To set tags, put a line like this one in the
211 <a href="#pseudoheader">pseudo-header</a>:</p>
214 Tags: <<var>tags</var>>
217 <p>Replace <<var>tags</var>> with one or more of the available tags,
219 <a href="Developer.html#tags">developers' documentation</a>.
220 Separate multiple tags with commas, spaces, or both.
223 User: <<var>username</var>>
224 Usertags: <<var>usertags</var>>
227 <p>Replace <<var>usertags</var>> with one or more usertags.
228 Separate multiple tags with commas, spaces, or both. If you specify a
229 username, that users tags will be set. Otherwise, the email address of
230 the sender will be used as the username</p>
233 <h2>Not forwarding to the mailing list - minor $gBug reports</h2>
235 <p>If a $gBug report is minor (for example, a documentation typo or other
236 trivial build problem), or you're submitting many reports at once,
237 send them to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
238 <code>quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
239 <code>maintonly</code> will send the report on to the package
240 maintainer (provided you supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in
241 the pseudo-header and the maintainer is known), and <code>quiet</code>
242 will not forward it anywhere at all but only file it as a $gBug (useful
243 if, for example, you are submitting many similar $gBugs and want to post
246 <p>If you do this the $gBug system will set the <code>Reply-To</code> of
247 any forwarded message so that replies will by default be processed in
248 the same way as the original report.
251 <h2>Acknowledgements</h2>
253 <p>Normally, the $gBug system will return an acknowledgement to you by
254 e-mail when you report a new bug or submit additional information to an
255 existing bug. If you want to suppress this acknowledgement, include an
256 <code>X-Debbugs-No-Ack</code> header in your e-mail (the contents of this
257 header do not matter; however, it must be in the mail header and
258 <em>not</em> in the pseudo-header with the <code>Package</code> field). If
259 you report a new $gBug with this header, you will need to check the web
260 interface yourself to find the $gBug number.</p>
262 <p>Note that this header will not suppress acknowledgements from the
263 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> mailserver, since those acknowledgements
264 may contain error messages which should be read and acted upon.</p>
267 <h3>$gBug reports against unknown packages</h3>
269 <p>If the $gBug tracking system doesn't know who the maintainer of the
270 relevant package is it'll forward the report to
271 the mailing list even if <code>maintonly</code> was used.
273 <p>When sending to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
274 <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> you should make sure that
275 the $gBug report is assigned to the right package, by putting a correct
276 <code>Package</code> at the top of an original submission of a report,
277 or by using <a href="server-control.html">the
278 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> service</a> to (re)assign the report
279 appropriately first if it isn't correct already.
287 <li><a href="./">Bug tracking system main contents page.</a>
288 <li><a href="Developer.html">Developers' information regarding the $gBug processing system.</a>
289 <li><a href="Access.html">Accessing the $gBug tracking logs other than by WWW.</a>
290 <li><a href="db/ix/full.html">Full list of outstanding and recent $gBug reports.</a>
291 <li><a href="db/ix/packages.html">Packages with $gBug reports.</a>
292 <li><a href="db/ix/maintainers.html">Maintainers of packages with $gBug reports.</a>