Annotation of www/report.html, Revision 1.15
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2: <head>
3: <title>OpenBSD problem reports</title>
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1.5 deraadt 13: <img alt="[OpenBSD]" height=30 width=141 SRC="images/smalltitle.gif">
14: <p>
1.6 deraadt 15: <h2><font color=#e00000>How to report a Problem</font><hr></h2>
1.5 deraadt 16:
1.9 chris 17: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Released versions problem reports</font></h3>
1.4 deraadt 18:
1.5 deraadt 19: Before reporting bugs/problems with released versions,
1.1 deraadt 20: go through this checklist:
1.4 deraadt 21: <ol>
22: <li>First check for <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/errata.html">patches
23: and notes regarding the release.</a>
24: <li>Next find out if there is a <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html">
25: newer release available.</a>
26: <li>The last thing to check is for <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/plus.html">
27: changes made between OpenBSD versions.</a>
28: </ol>
29: <p>
1.9 chris 30: If nothing looks like it addresses your problem, then please become acquainted
31: with
32: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=sendbug&sektion=1&format=html">
33: sendbug(1)</a>
1.4 deraadt 34: before submitting a bug report.
35: <p>
36: Read further down for the <a href="#bugtypes">types of bug reports</a> desired.
37:
1.9 chris 38: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Current version problem reports</font></h3>
39:
40: If your problem is with the <i>current</i> source tree rather then a <i>release</i> or
41: <i>stable</i> tree,
1.5 deraadt 42:
1.4 deraadt 43: <ol>
44: <li>Test the problem at least twice, with source updated a few days apart.
45: <li>Do not report source tree compilation problems, unless they persist.
1.1 deraadt 46: They are almost always your mistake or they are being worked on
47: as you encounter them. People working on the project are
1.4 deraadt 48: doing <u>make build</u> at least once per day, and usually several times
1.1 deraadt 49: per day with different architectures.
1.4 deraadt 50: <li>Remember that the <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/anoncvs.html">anoncvs</a>
1.1 deraadt 51: servers are updated significantly behind the actual working source tree.
1.4 deraadt 52: <li>Check for <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/plus.html">changes
53: made between OpenBSD versions</a> to see if the problem has been
1.1 deraadt 54: addressed.
1.4 deraadt 55: <li>Much care is made in creating snapshots. Sometimes mistakes are made,
1.1 deraadt 56: and our apologies are extended. Reading/writing the e-mail lists
57: is more appropriate than sending in a bug report.
1.4 deraadt 58: </ol>
59: <br>
1.5 deraadt 60:
1.9 chris 61: <h3><font color=#0000e0>How to create a problem report</font></h3>
1.8 chris 62:
63: <b>Always provide as much information as possible</b>.
1.9 chris 64: Try to pin-point the exact problem. Never give vague instructions,
65: or detail vague problems like "it crashes" or "I get strange interrupt
66: issues on this one box that I built." Talk to others on IRC or some
67: other forum to confirm that it is new, repeatable, etc. and make sure
68: it is not a local problem.
69: <P>Please don't start fixing problems that
70: require significant work until you are sure you understand them, especially
71: during our release periods when we must not change major sections of code.
72: If you are going to write significant amounts of code, check various
73: forums to make sure that someone else is not working on the problem
74: (saving duplication of effort).
75: <P>
1.8 chris 76: The following items should be contained in every bug report:
77: <ol>
78: <P>
79: <li>The exact sequence of steps from startup necessary to reproduce
80: the problem. This should be self-contained; it is not enough to send in
81: a bare command without the arguments and other data you supplied to it.
82: If a bug requires a particular sequence of events, please list those.
83: You are encouraged to minimize the size of your example, but this is
1.12 jsyn 84: not absolutely necessary. If the bug is reproducible, we'll find it
1.8 chris 85: either way.
86: <p>
87: <li>The output you got. Please do not say that it "didn't work" or
88: "failed". If there is an error message, show it, even if you don't
89: understand it. If OpenBSD panics with a particular error, say which.
90: If nothing at all happens, say so. Even if the result
91: of your test case is a program crash or otherwise obvious it might not
92: happen in our testing. The easiest thing is to copy the output from
93: the terminal, if possible.
94: <p>
95:
96: Note: In case of fatal errors, the error message provided
97: might not contain all the information available.
98: In that case, also look at the output in the system log files,
99: such as those stored in /var/log. Also, if you are dealing with
100: an application that has its own log files, such as httpd, check
101: for errors where it keeps its logs (in the case of httpd, this
102: is /var/www/logs).
103:
104: <p>
105: <li>The OpenBSD kernel output. You can get this with the dmesg command,
106: but it is possible that your dmesg output does not contain all the
107: information that is captured in /var/run/dmesg.boot. If this is the
108: case, include information from both. <b>Please include this
109: in all bug reports.</b>
1.14 miod 110: <p>
111: <li> If you run third-party software which has to do with your bug, say so,
112: including any subversion that software may have. If you are talking about
113: a CVS or FTP snapshot, mention that, including its date and time.
114: <p>
115: <li>A traceback from your kernel panic. If your kernel panic'ed, and you
116: are at a <tt><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ddb&sektion=4&format=html">ddb</a>></tt>
1.15 ! miod 117: prompt, then please provide the panic message, as well as the output of
! 118: the <tt>traceback</tt> and <tt>ps</tt> commands in your bug report as
! 119: advised.<br>
! 120: If, for some reason, the panic message is not visible, you can get it
! 121: again with the <tt>x/s *panicstr</tt> command.<br>
! 122: <b>This is essential whenever possible. Panic reports without panic message,
! 123: traceback and ps output are useless.</b><br>
1.14 miod 124: The output of <tt>show registers</tt> might be of interest as well.
125: You might then want to reboot with <tt>boot dump</tt> so that a kernel
126: image could be saved by <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=savecore&sektion=8&format=html">savecore(8)</a>
127: for further post-mortem debugging.
1.8 chris 128:
129: </ol>
130: <p>
131: Do not be afraid if your bug report becomes rather lengthy. That is a fact
132: of life. It's better to report everything the first time than us having to
133: squeeze the facts out of you. On the other hand, if your input files are
134: huge, it is fair to ask first whether somebody is interested in looking into
135: it.
136: <P>
137: Finally, when writing a bug report, please choose non-confusing terminology.
138:
1.10 jufi 139: <a name="bugtypes"></a>
1.9 chris 140: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Sending in bug reports</font></h3>
141: <P>
142: If possible, use the <A HREF="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=sendbug&sektion=1&format=html">sendbug(1)</a> command to get the bug into our tracking system.
143: You can follow the tracking system at <A HREF="http://cvs.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/wwwgnats.pl">this web page</a>.
144: Sendbug requires that your system can properly send Internet email. If you
145: cannot use sendbug on a functional OpenBSD machine, please send your bug report
146: to <A HREF="mailto:bugs@openbsd.org">bugs@openbsd.org</a>.
147: <P>
148: Perhaps what you are sending in is a feature request, not necessarily a bug.
1.1 deraadt 149: New features are accepted, especially with code that implements
150: your suggested new feature.
151: If someone else writes code for your new feature, the chances are that
152: it will be misunderstood and created so that you will not recognize it.
153:
1.4 deraadt 154: <p>
1.5 deraadt 155: For debugging some problems, we must have the hardware that has the
156: problem. Please remember that projects resources are limited.
157: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/want.html">You could donate some hardware.</a>
1.1 deraadt 158:
1.4 deraadt 159: <p>
1.1 deraadt 160: Types of bug reports in order of desirability:
1.4 deraadt 161: <ol>
162: <li>Repeatable problems with source fixes are the best.
163: <li>Repeatable problems that are not specific to your hardware/software
1.1 deraadt 164: layout.
1.4 deraadt 165: <li>Repeatable problems specific to your software layout.
166: <li>Repeatable problems specific to your hardware layout.
167: <li>Non-repeatable problems -- or problems you do not wish to repeat.
168: </ol>
1.1 deraadt 169:
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