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 $gProject</h1>
13 <a href="mailto:submit\@$gEmailDomain"><code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code></a>,
16 <p>Please don't report several unrelated $gBugs - especially ones in
17 different packages - in one message. Also, please don't mail your $gBug
18 report to any mailing lists or recipients other than
19 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> (for details of how to do this right, see
20 <a href="#xcc">below</a>).
22 <p>Lists of currently-outstanding $gBugs are available <a href="./">on
23 the World Wide Web</a> and <a href="Access.html">elsewhere</a> - see
24 other documents for details.
26 <p>You need to put a pseudo-header at the start of the body of the
27 message, with the <code>Package:</code> and <code>Version:</code>
28 lines giving the name and version of the package which has the $gBug.
29 (The pseudo-header fields should start at the very start of their lines.
30 The $gBug system does not currently understand MIME or PGP mail properly
31 and may fail to recognise the pseudo-headers in such mail.)
35 <p><em>See below for <a href="#details">further requirements</a></em>.
39 <h2><A name="example">Example</a></h2>
41 <p>A $gBug report, with mail header, looks something like this:
43 To: submit\@$gEmailDomain
44 From: diligent\@testing.linux.org
45 Subject: Hello says `goodbye'
46 <A name="pseudoheader">Package: hello</a>
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 GNU/Linux 2.2, kernel 2.2.17-pre-patch-13
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.
82 <p>Include any detail that seems relevant - you are in very little danger
83 of making your report too long by including too much information. If
84 they are small please include in your report any files you were using
85 to reproduce the problem (uuencoding them if they may contain odd
88 <p>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 <p>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
99 <p>You could do this by CC'ing your $gBug report to the other address(es),
100 but then the other copies would not have the $gBug report number put in
101 the <code>Reply-To</code> field and the <code>Subject</code> line.
102 When the recipients reply they will probably preserve the
103 <code>submit\@$gEmailDomain</code> entry in the header and have their
104 message filed as a new $gBug report. This leads to many duplicated
107 <p>The <em>right</em> way to do this is to use the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code>
108 header. Add a line like this to your message's mail header (<em>not</em>
109 to the pseudo header with the <code>Package</code> field):
111 X-Debbugs-CC: other-list\@cosmic.edu
113 This will cause the $gBug tracking system to send a copy of your report
114 to the address(es) in the <code>X-Debbugs-CC</code> line as well as to
117 <p>This feature can often be combined usefully with mailing
118 <code>quiet</code> - see below.
121 <h2><A name="severities">Severity levels</a></h2>
123 <p>If a report is of a particularly serious $gBug, or is merely a feature
124 request that, you can set the severity level of the $gBug as you report
125 it. This is not required, however, and the developers will assign an
126 appropriate severity level to your report if you do not.
128 <p>To assign a severity level put a
129 <code>Severity: <var>severity</var></code> line in the pseudo-header,
130 together with <code>Package</code> and <code>Version</code>. The
131 severity levels available are described in the
132 <a href="Developer.html#severities">developers' documentation</a>.
135 <h2>Not forwarding to the mailing list - minor $gBug reports</h2>
137 <p>If a $gBug report is minor (for example, a documentation typo or other
138 trivial build problem), or you're submitting many reports at once,
139 send them to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
140 <code>quiet\@$gEmailDomain</code>.
141 <code>maintonly</code> will send the report on to the package
142 maintainer (provided you supply a correct <code>Package</code> line in
143 the pseudo-header and the maintainer is known), and <code>quiet</code>
144 will not forward it anywhere at all but only file it as a $gBug (useful
145 if, for example, you are submitting many similar $gBugs and want to post
148 <p>If you do this the $gBug system will set the <code>Reply-To</code> of
149 any forwarded message so that replies will by default be processed in
150 the same way as the original report.
152 <h3>$gBug reports against unknown packages</h3>
154 <p>If the $gBug tracking system doesn't know who the maintainer of the
155 relevant package is it'll forward the report to
156 the mailing list even if <code>maintonly</code> was used.
158 <p>When sending to <code>maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> or
159 <var>nnn</var><code>-maintonly\@$gEmailDomain</code> you should make sure that
160 the $gBug report is assigned to the right package, by putting a correct
161 <code>Package</code> at the top of an original submission of a report,
162 or by using <a href="server-control.html">the
163 <code>control\@$gEmailDomain</code> service</a> to (re)assign the report
164 appropriately first if it isn't correct already.
172 <li><a href="./">Bug tracking system main contents page.</a>
173 <li><a href="Developer.html">Developers' information regarding the $gBug processing system.</a>
174 <li><a href="Access.html">Accessing the $gBug tracking logs other than by WWW.</a>
175 <li><a href="db/ix/full.html">Full list of outstanding and recent $gBug reports.</a>
176 <li><a href="db/ix/packages.html">Packages with $gBug reports.</a>
177 <li><a href="db/ix/maintainers.html">Maintainers of packages with $gBug reports.</a>