Annotation of www/report.html, Revision 1.32
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4: <title>OpenBSD problem reports</title>
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1.17 jsyn 15: <a href="index.html"><img alt="[OpenBSD]" height="30" width="141" src="images/smalltitle.gif" border="0"></a>
1.5 deraadt 16: <p>
1.18 jufi 17: <h2><font color="#e00000">How to report a Problem</font></h2>
18: <hr>
1.5 deraadt 19:
1.18 jufi 20: <h3><font color="#0000e0">Released versions problem reports</font></h3>
1.4 deraadt 21:
1.5 deraadt 22: Before reporting bugs/problems with released versions,
1.1 deraadt 23: go through this checklist:
1.4 deraadt 24: <ol>
1.27 jcs 25: <li>First check for <a href="errata.html">patches and notes regarding the
26: release.</a>
27: <li>Next find out if there is a <a href="orders.html">newer release
28: available.</a>
29: <li>The last thing to check is for <a href="plus.html">changes made between
30: OpenBSD versions.</a>
1.4 deraadt 31: </ol>
32: <p>
1.9 chris 33: If nothing looks like it addresses your problem, then please become acquainted
34: with
1.18 jufi 35: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=sendbug&sektion=1&format=html">
1.9 chris 36: sendbug(1)</a>
1.4 deraadt 37: before submitting a bug report.
38: <p>
39: Read further down for the <a href="#bugtypes">types of bug reports</a> desired.
40:
1.18 jufi 41: <h3><font color="#0000e0">Current version problem reports</font></h3>
1.9 chris 42:
1.29 jsg 43: If your problem is with the <i>current</i> source tree rather than a <i>release</i> or
1.9 chris 44: <i>stable</i> tree,
1.5 deraadt 45:
1.4 deraadt 46: <ol>
47: <li>Test the problem at least twice, with source updated a few days apart.
48: <li>Do not report source tree compilation problems, unless they persist.
1.1 deraadt 49: They are almost always your mistake or they are being worked on
50: as you encounter them. People working on the project are
1.4 deraadt 51: doing <u>make build</u> at least once per day, and usually several times
1.1 deraadt 52: per day with different architectures.
1.27 jcs 53: <li>Remember that the <a href="anoncvs.html">anoncvs</a>
1.1 deraadt 54: servers are updated significantly behind the actual working source tree.
1.27 jcs 55: <li>Check for <a href="plus.html">changes made between OpenBSD versions</a>
56: to see if the problem has been addressed.
1.4 deraadt 57: <li>Much care is made in creating snapshots. Sometimes mistakes are made,
1.1 deraadt 58: and our apologies are extended. Reading/writing the e-mail lists
59: is more appropriate than sending in a bug report.
1.4 deraadt 60: </ol>
61: <br>
1.5 deraadt 62:
1.18 jufi 63: <h3><font color="#0000e0">How to create a problem report</font></h3>
1.8 chris 64:
65: <b>Always provide as much information as possible</b>.
1.9 chris 66: Try to pin-point the exact problem. Never give vague instructions,
67: or detail vague problems like "it crashes" or "I get strange interrupt
68: issues on this one box that I built." Talk to others on IRC or some
69: other forum to confirm that it is new, repeatable, etc. and make sure
70: it is not a local problem.
1.25 david 71: <p>Please don't start fixing problems that
1.9 chris 72: require significant work until you are sure you understand them, especially
73: during our release periods when we must not change major sections of code.
74: If you are going to write significant amounts of code, check various
75: forums to make sure that someone else is not working on the problem
76: (saving duplication of effort).
1.25 david 77: <p>
1.8 chris 78: The following items should be contained in every bug report:
79: <ol>
80: <li>The exact sequence of steps from startup necessary to reproduce
81: the problem. This should be self-contained; it is not enough to send in
82: a bare command without the arguments and other data you supplied to it.
83: If a bug requires a particular sequence of events, please list those.
84: You are encouraged to minimize the size of your example, but this is
1.12 jsyn 85: not absolutely necessary. If the bug is reproducible, we'll find it
1.8 chris 86: either way.
87: <p>
88: <li>The output you got. Please do not say that it "didn't work" or
89: "failed". If there is an error message, show it, even if you don't
90: understand it. If OpenBSD panics with a particular error, say which.
91: If nothing at all happens, say so. Even if the result
92: of your test case is a program crash or otherwise obvious it might not
93: happen in our testing. The easiest thing is to copy the output from
94: the terminal, if possible.
95: <p>
96:
97: Note: In case of fatal errors, the error message provided
98: might not contain all the information available.
99: In that case, also look at the output in the system log files,
100: such as those stored in /var/log. Also, if you are dealing with
101: an application that has its own log files, such as httpd, check
102: for errors where it keeps its logs (in the case of httpd, this
103: is /var/www/logs).
104:
105: <p>
106: <li>The OpenBSD kernel output. You can get this with the dmesg command,
107: but it is possible that your dmesg output does not contain all the
108: information that is captured in /var/run/dmesg.boot. If this is the
109: case, include information from both. <b>Please include this
110: in all bug reports.</b>
1.14 miod 111: <p>
112: <li> If you run third-party software which has to do with your bug, say so,
113: including any subversion that software may have. If you are talking about
114: a CVS or FTP snapshot, mention that, including its date and time.
115: <p>
116: <li>A traceback from your kernel panic. If your kernel panic'ed, and you
1.18 jufi 117: 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 118: prompt, then please provide the panic message, as well as the output of
1.24 tedu 119: the <tt>trace</tt> and <tt>ps</tt> commands in your bug report as
1.15 miod 120: advised.<br>
121: If, for some reason, the panic message is not visible, you can get it
1.31 joris 122: again with the <tt>show panic</tt> command.<br>
1.15 miod 123: <b>This is essential whenever possible. Panic reports without panic message,
124: traceback and ps output are useless.</b><br>
1.14 miod 125: The output of <tt>show registers</tt> might be of interest as well.
126: You might then want to reboot with <tt>boot dump</tt> so that a kernel
1.18 jufi 127: image could be saved by <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=savecore&sektion=8&format=html">savecore(8)</a>
1.32 ! ckuethe 128: for further post-mortem debugging as described in the
! 129: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=crash&sektion=8&format=html">crash(8)</a>
! 130: manpage.
1.8 chris 131:
1.20 matthieu 132: <p>
1.30 matthieu 133: <li>If you're reporting a problem with the X Window System on an
134: architecture that uses the X.Org server, please include the full
135: <tt>/var/log/Xorg.0.log</tt> file in your report in addition
1.22 deraadt 136: to the dmesg.boot information.
1.20 matthieu 137:
1.8 chris 138: </ol>
139: <p>
140: Do not be afraid if your bug report becomes rather lengthy. That is a fact
141: of life. It's better to report everything the first time than us having to
142: squeeze the facts out of you. On the other hand, if your input files are
143: huge, it is fair to ask first whether somebody is interested in looking into
144: it.
1.25 david 145: <p>
1.8 chris 146: Finally, when writing a bug report, please choose non-confusing terminology.
147:
1.10 jufi 148: <a name="bugtypes"></a>
1.18 jufi 149: <h3><font color="#0000e0">Sending in bug reports</font></h3>
1.25 david 150: <p>
151: 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.
152: You can follow the tracking system at <a href="query-pr.html">this web page</a>.
1.9 chris 153: Sendbug requires that your system can properly send Internet email. If you
154: cannot use sendbug on a functional OpenBSD machine, please send your bug report
1.25 david 155: to <a href="mailto:bugs@openbsd.org">bugs@openbsd.org</a>.
156: <p>
1.9 chris 157: Perhaps what you are sending in is a feature request, not necessarily a bug.
1.1 deraadt 158: New features are accepted, especially with code that implements
159: your suggested new feature.
160: If someone else writes code for your new feature, the chances are that
161: it will be misunderstood and created so that you will not recognize it.
162:
1.4 deraadt 163: <p>
1.5 deraadt 164: For debugging some problems, we must have the hardware that has the
1.21 ian 165: problem. Please remember that the OpenBSD project's resources are limited.
1.27 jcs 166: <a href="want.html">You could donate some hardware.</a>
1.1 deraadt 167:
1.4 deraadt 168: <p>
1.1 deraadt 169: Types of bug reports in order of desirability:
1.4 deraadt 170: <ol>
171: <li>Repeatable problems with source fixes are the best.
172: <li>Repeatable problems that are not specific to your hardware/software
1.1 deraadt 173: layout.
1.4 deraadt 174: <li>Repeatable problems specific to your software layout.
175: <li>Repeatable problems specific to your hardware layout.
176: <li>Non-repeatable problems -- or problems you do not wish to repeat.
177: </ol>
1.1 deraadt 178:
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