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After you are sure you found a bug, it is important to make sure that
your information gets to the right place. Try to find what program is
causing the bug--if you can't find it, perhaps you could ask for help
in comp.os.linux.help or comp.unix.misc. Once you find the
program, try to read the manual page to see who wrote it.
The preferred method of sending bug reports in the world is
via electronic mail. If you don't have access to electronic mail, you
might want to contact whoever you got from--eventually,
you're bound to encounter someone who either has electronic mail, or
sells commercially and therefore wants to remove as many bugs
as possible. Remember, though, that no one is under any obligation to
fix any bugs unless you have a contract!
When you send a bug report in, include all the information you can
think of. This includes:
- A description of what you think is incorrect. For instance,
``I get 5 when I compute 2+2'' or ``It says segmentation
violation - core dumped.'' It is important to say exactly what
is happening so the maintainer can fix your bug!
- Include any relevant environment variables.
- The version of your kernel (see the file /proc/version)
and your system libraries (see the directory /lib--if you
can't decipher it, send a listing of /lib).
- How you ran the program in question, or, if it was a kernel bug,
what you were doing at the time.
- All peripheral information. For instance, the command
w may not be displaying the current process for
certain users. Don't just say, ``w doesn't work when for a
certain user''. The bug could occur because the user's name is
eight characters long, or when he is logging in over the network.
Instead say, ``w doesn't display the current process for use
greenfie when he logs in over the network.''
- And remember, be polite. Most people work on free software for
the fun of it, and because they have big hearts. Don't ruin it for
them--the community has already disillusioned too many
developers, and it's still early in 's life!
Next: The GNU General Public
Up: Not Your Fault
Previous: When Is There a
Converted on:
Mon Apr 1 08:59:56 EST 1996