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<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968"><title>5.6. Filing Bugs</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../style.css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.78.1"><meta name="keywords" content="Bugzilla, Guide, installation, FAQ, administration, integration, MySQL, Mozilla, webtools"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Bugzilla Guide - 4.4.11 Release"><link rel="up" href="using.html" title="Chapter 5. Using Bugzilla"><link rel="prev" href="query.html" title="5.5. Searching for Bugs"><link rel="next" href="attachments.html" title="5.7. Attachments"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">5.6. Filing Bugs</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="query.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 5. Using Bugzilla</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="attachments.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="bugreports"></a>5.6. Filing Bugs</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="fillingbugs"></a>5.6.1. Reporting a New Bug</h3></div></div></div><p>Years of bug writing experience has been distilled for your
reading pleasure into the
<a class="ulink" href="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-4.4-branch/page.cgi?id=bug-writing.html" target="_top">
Bug Writing Guidelines</a>.
While some of the advice is Mozilla-specific, the basic principles of
reporting Reproducible, Specific bugs, isolating the Product you are
using, the Version of the Product, the Component which failed, the
Hardware Platform, and Operating System you were using at the time of
the failure go a long way toward ensuring accurate, responsible fixes
for the bug that bit you.</p><p>The procedure for filing a bug is as follows:</p><div class="orderedlist"><ol class="orderedlist" type="1"><li class="listitem"><p>
Click the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">New</span>”</span> link available in the footer
of pages, or the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Enter a new bug report</span>”</span> link
displayed on the home page of the Bugzilla installation.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="../images/note.gif"></td><th align="left"></th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
If you want to file a test bug to see how Bugzilla works,
you can do it on one of our test installations on
<a class="ulink" href="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-4.4-branch/" target="_top">Landfill</a>.
</p></td></tr></table></div></li><li class="listitem"><p>
You first have to select the product in which you found a bug.
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
You now see a form where you can specify the component (part of
the product which is affected by the bug you discovered; if you have
no idea, just select <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">General</span>”</span> if such a component exists),
the version of the program you were using, the Operating System and
platform your program is running on and the severity of the bug (if the
bug you found crashes the program, it's probably a major or a critical
bug; if it's a typo somewhere, that's something pretty minor; if it's
something you would like to see implemented, then that's an enhancement).
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
You now have to give a short but descriptive summary of the bug you found.
<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">My program is crashing all the time</span>”</span> is a very poor summary
and doesn't help developers at all. Try something more meaningful or
your bug will probably be ignored due to a lack of precision.
The next step is to give a very detailed list of steps to reproduce
the problem you encountered. Try to limit these steps to a minimum set
required to reproduce the problem. This will make the life of
developers easier, and the probability that they consider your bug in
a reasonable timeframe will be much higher.
</p><div class="note" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em"><table border="0" summary="Note"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Note]" src="../images/note.gif"></td><th align="left"></th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
Try to make sure that everything in the summary is also in the first
comment. Summaries are often updated and this will ensure your original
information is easily accessible.
</p></td></tr></table></div></li><li class="listitem"><p>
As you file the bug, you can also attach a document (testcase, patch,
or screenshot of the problem).
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Depending on the Bugzilla installation you are using and the product in
which you are filing the bug, you can also request developers to consider
your bug in different ways (such as requesting review for the patch you
just attached, requesting your bug to block the next release of the
product, and many other product specific requests).
</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
Now is a good time to read your bug report again. Remove all misspellings,
otherwise your bug may not be found by developers running queries for some
specific words, and so your bug would not get any attention.
Also make sure you didn't forget any important information developers
should know in order to reproduce the problem, and make sure your
description of the problem is explicit and clear enough.
When you think your bug report is ready to go, the last step is to
click the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Commit</span>”</span> button to add your report into the database.
</p></li></ol></div><p>
You do not need to put "any" or similar strings in the URL field.
If there is no specific URL associated with the bug, leave this
field blank.
</p><p>If you feel a bug you filed was incorrectly marked as a
DUPLICATE of another, please question it in your bug, not
the bug it was duped to. Feel free to CC the person who duped it
if they are not already CCed.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="cloningbugs"></a>5.6.2. Clone an Existing Bug</h3></div></div></div><p>
Starting with version 2.20, Bugzilla has a feature that allows you
to clone an existing bug. The newly created bug will inherit
most settings from the old bug. This allows you to track more
easily similar concerns in a new bug. To use this, go to the bug
that you want to clone, then click the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Clone This Bug</span>”</span>
link on the bug page. This will take you to the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Enter Bug</span>”</span>
page that is filled with the values that the old bug has.
You can change those values and/or texts if needed.
</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="query.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="using.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="attachments.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">5.5. Searching for Bugs </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 5.7. Attachments</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
