code.delx.au - gnu-emacs/blob - admin/notes/bugtracker

   1 NOTES ON THE EMACS BUG TRACKER   -*- outline -*-
   2
   3 The Emacs Bug Tracker can be found at http://emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com/
   4
   5 For a list of all bugs, see http://emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com/emacs
   6
   7 ** How do I report a bug in Emacs now?
   8 The same way as you always did.  Send mail to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org,
   9 or use M-x report-emacs-bug.
  10
  11 The only differences are:
  12
  13 i) Your report will be assigned a number and generate an automatic reply.
  14
  15 ii) Optionally, you can set some database parameters when you first
  16 report a bug (see "Setting bug parameters" below).
  17
  18 iii) If you want to CC: someone, use X-Debbugs-CC: (this is important;
  19 see below).
  20
  21 Once your report is filed and assigned a number, it is sent out to the
  22 bug mailing list.  In some cases, it may be appropriate to just file a
  23 bug, without sending out a copy.  To do this, send mail to
  24 quiet@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com.
  25
  26 ** How do I reply to an existing bug report?
  27 Reply to 123@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com, replacing 123 with the number
  28 of the bug you are interested in.  NB this only sends mail to the
  29 bug-list, it does NOT (?) send a CC to the original bug submitter.
  30 So you need to explicitly CC him/her (and anyone else you like).
  31
  32 (Many people think the submitter SHOULD be automatically subscribed
  33 to subsequent discussion, but this does not seem to be implemented.
  34 See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=37078)
  35
  36 Do NOT send a separate copy to the bug list, since this may generate a
  37 new report. The only time to send mail to the bug list is to create a
  38 new report.
  39
  40 Gnus users can add "\\(emacs-pretest-bug\\|bug-gnu-emacs\\)@gnu\\.org"
  41 to message-dont-reply-to-names.  RMAIL users can investigate
  42 rmail-dont-reply-to-names.
  43
  44 ** When reporting a bug, to send a Cc to another address
  45 (e.g. bug-cc-mode@gnu.org), do NOT just use a Cc: header.
  46 Instead, use "X-Debbugs-CC:".  This ensures the Cc address will get a
  47 mail with the bug report number in.  If you do not do this, each reply
  48 in the subsequent discussion will end up creating a new bug.  This is
  49 annoying.
  50
  51 ** To not get acknowledgement mail from the tracker,
  52 add an "X-Debbugs-No-Ack:" header (with any value).  If you use Gnus,
  53 you can add an element to gnus-posting-styles to do this automatically, eg:
  54
  55 ("gnu-emacs\\(-pretest\\)?-bug"
  56    ("X-Debbugs-No-Ack" "yes"))
  57
  58 (adjust the regexp according to the name you use for the bug lists)
  59
  60 ** To record a bug in the tracker without sending mail to the bug list.
  61 This can be useful to make a note of something discussed on
  62 emacs-devel that needs fixing.  In other words, this can be the
  63 equivalent of adding something to FOR-RELEASE.
  64
  65 To: quiet@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com
  66 [headers end]
  67 Package: emacs
  68 Version: 23.0.60
  69 Severity: minor
  70
  71 Remember to fix FOO, as discussed on emacs-devel at http://... .
  72
  73 ** Not interested in tracker control messages (tags being set, etc)?
  74 Discard mails matching:
  75
  76 ^X-Emacs-PR-Message: transcript
  77
  78 When you close a bug, you get a message matching:
  79
  80 ^X-Emacs-PR-Message: closed
  81
  82 ** How to avoid multiple copies of mails.
  83 When you reply to a bug, respect the Reply-To address, ie send mail
  84 only to the submitter address and the numbered bug address.  Do not
  85 send mail direct to bug-gnu-emacs or emacs-pretest-bug unless you are
  86 reporting a new bug.
  87
  88 ** To close bug #123 (for example), send mail
  89
  90 To: 123-done@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com
  91
  92 with a brief explanation in the body as to why the bug was closed.
  93
  94 ** Setting bug parameters.
  95 There are two ways to set the parameters of bugs in the database
  96 (tags, severity level, etc).  When you report a new bug, you can
  97 provide a "pseudo-header" at the start of the report, eg:
  98
  99 Package: emacs
 100 Version: 23.0.60
 101 Severity: minor
 102
 103 Optionally, add a sub-package, eg Package: emacs,calendar.
 104 This can include tags.  Some things (e.g. submitter) don't seem to
 105 work here.
 106
 107 Otherwise, send mail to the control server, control@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com.
 108 At the start of the message body, supply the desired commands, one per
 109 line:
 110
 111 command bug-number [arguments]
 112 ...
 113 quit|stop|thank|thanks|thankyou|thank you
 114
 115 The control server ignores anything after the last line above.  So you
 116 can place control commands at the beginning of a reply to a bug
 117 report, and Bcc: the control server (note the commands have no effect
 118 if you just send them to the bug-report number).  Bcc: is better than Cc:
 119 in case people use Reply-to-All in response.
 120
 121 Some useful control commands:
 122
 123 *** To reopen a closed bug:
 124 reopen 123
 125
 126 *** Bugs can be tagged in various ways (eg wontfix, patch, etc).
 127 The available tags are:
 128 patch wontfix moreinfo unreproducible fixed notabug
 129 Note that the list at http://emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com/Developer#tags
 130 is incorrect, at least for Emacs.
 131 The list of tags can be prefixed with +, - or =, meaning to add (the
 132 default), remove, or reset the tags. E.g.:
 133
 134 tags 123 + wontfix
 135
 136 *** To merge bugs:
 137 Eg when bad replies create a bunch of new bugs for the same report.
 138 Bugs must all be in the same state (e.g. same package(s) and severity),
 139 but need not have the same tags (tags are merged). E.g.:
 140
 141 merge 123 124 125 ...
 142
 143 Note that merging does not affect titles.  In particular, a "retitle"
 144 of merged bugs only affects individual bugs, not all of them.
 145
 146 *** Forcing a merge:
 147 Like `merge', but bugs need not be in the same state.  The packages
 148 must still match though.  The first one listed is the master.  E.g.:
 149
 150 forcemerge 123 124 125 ...
 151
 152 Note: you cannot merge with an archived bug - you must unarchive it first.
 153
 154 *** To unmerge bugs:
 155 To disconnect a bug from all bugs it is merged with:
 156
 157 unmerge 123
 158
 159 This command accepts only one bug number.
 160
 161 *** To clone bugs:
 162 Useful when one report refers to more than one bug.
 163
 164 clone 123 -1 [-2 ...]
 165 retitle -1 second bug
 166 retitle -2 third bug
 167
 168 The negative numbers provide a way to refer to the cloned bugs (which
 169 will be assigned proper numbers).
 170
 171 *** To set severity:
 172 severity 123 critical|grave|serious|important|normal|minor|wishlist
 173
 174 See http://emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com/Developer#severities for the meanings.
 175
 176 *** To set the owner of a bug:
 177 owner 123 A Hacker <none@example.com>
 178
 179 The shorthand `!' means your own address.
 180
 181 *** To remove the owner of a bug:
 182 noowner 123
 183
 184 *** To mark a bug as fixed in a particular version:
 185 fixed 123 23.0.60
 186
 187 *** To remove a "fixed" mark:
 188 notfixed 123 23.0.60
 189
 190 ** To remove spam from the tracker, move it to the `spam' pseudo-package:
 191 reassign 123 spam
 192
 193 ** To change the title of a bug:
 194 retitle 123 Some New Title
 195
 196 ** To change the submitter address:
 197 submitter 123 none@example.com
 198
 199 Note that it does not seem to work to specify "Submitter:" in the
 200 pseudo-header when first reporting a bug.
 201
 202 ** How does archiving work?
 203 You can still send mail to a bug after it is closed.  After 28 days with
 204 no activity, the bug is archived, at which point no more changes can
 205 be made.  If you try to send mail to the bug after that (or merge with
 206 it), it will be rejected.  To make any changes, you must unarchive it first:
 207
 208 unarchive 123
 209
 210 The bug will be re-archived after the next 28 day period of no activity.