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84 lines
4.0 KiB
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.. _filing:
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Filing a Bug
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############
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Reporting a New Bug
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===================
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Years of bug writing experience has been distilled for your
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reading pleasure into the
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`Bug Writing Guidelines <http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/page.cgi?id=bug-writing.html>`_.
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While some of the advice is Mozilla-specific, the basic principles of
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reporting Reproducible, Specific bugs, isolating the Product you are
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using, the Version of the Product, the Component which failed, the
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Hardware Platform, and Operating System you were using at the time of
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the failure go a long way toward ensuring accurate, responsible fixes
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for the bug that bit you.
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.. note:: If you want to file a test bug to see how Bugzilla works,
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you can do it on one of our test installations on
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`Landfill <http://landfill.bugzilla.org/>`_. Please don't do it on anyone's
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production Bugzilla installation.
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The procedure for filing a bug is as follows:
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#. Click the ``New`` link available in the header or footer
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of pages, or the ``File a Bug`` link on the home page.
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#. First, you have to select the product in which you found a bug.
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#. You now see a form where you can specify the component (part of
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the product which is affected by the bug you discovered; if you have
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no idea, just select ``General`` if such a component exists),
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the version of the program you were using, the operating system and
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platform your program is running on and the severity of the bug (if the
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bug you found crashes the program, it's probably a major or a critical
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bug; if it's a typo somewhere, that's something pretty minor; if it's
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something you would like to see implemented, then that's an enhancement).
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#. You also need to provide a short but descriptive summary of the bug you found.
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``My program is crashing all the time`` is a very poor summary
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and doesn't help developers at all. Try something more meaningful or
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your bug will probably be ignored due to a lack of precision.
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In the Description, give a detailed list of steps to reproduce
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the problem you encountered. Try to limit these steps to a minimum set
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required to reproduce the problem. This will make the life of
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developers easier, and the probability that they consider your bug in
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a reasonable timeframe will be much higher.
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.. note:: Try to make sure that everything in the Summary is also in the
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Description. Summaries are often updated and this will ensure your original
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information is easily accessible.
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#. As you file the bug, you can also attach a document (testcase, patch,
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or screenshot of the problem).
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#. Depending on the Bugzilla installation you are using and the product in
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which you are filing the bug, you can also request developers to consider
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your bug in different ways (such as requesting review for the patch you
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just attached, requesting your bug to block the next release of the
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product, and many other product specific requests).
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#. Now is a good time to read your bug report again. Remove all mis-spellings,
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otherwise your bug may not be found by developers running queries for some
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specific words, and so your bug would not get any attention.
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Also make sure you didn't forget any important information developers
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should know in order to reproduce the problem, and make sure your
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description of the problem is explicit and clear enough.
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When you think your bug report is ready to go, the last step is to
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click the ``Submit Bug`` button to add your report into the database.
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.. _cloning-a-bug:
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Clone an Existing Bug
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=====================
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Bugzilla allows you to 'clone' an existing bug. The newly created bug will
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inherit most settings from the old bug. This allows you to track similar
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concerns which require different handling in a new bug. To use this, go to
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the bug that you want to clone, then click the ``Clone This Bug``
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link on the bug page. This will take you to the ``Enter Bug``
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page that is filled with the values that the old bug has.
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You can then change the values and/or text if needed.
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