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- Update parts of this article and add a new "Tips and tricks for

Browse source 
writing a good problem report" section.
- Fix a few typos.
- Add a link to the searchable gnats database at FreeBSD.org.
- Point the users at /usr/src/UPDATING for more info before sending PRs.
- Be more verbose about patches and inline inclusion of diffs in a PR.
- Emphasize the importance of Class: maintainer-update and the use of
  "[maintainer update]"
- Describe what "[patch]" in synopsis lines means now that it's
  commonly used to help people who read PR indexes.

Submitted by:	Mark Linimon <linimon@lonesome.com>
This commit is contained in:
Giorgos Keramidas 2003-05-10 14:02:32 +00:00
parent 32d5a0d35c
commit f917b7ad98
Notes: svn2git 2020-12-08 03:00:23 +00:00 
svn path=/head/; revision=16860
1 changed files with 192 additions and 20 deletions
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@ -63,10 +63,10 @@
engender a problem report. Of course, nobody is perfect, and
there will be times when you are convinced you have found a bug
in a program when in fact you have misunderstood the syntax for
a command or made a typo in a configuration file (though that in
a command or made a typographical error in a configuration file (though that in
itself may sometimes be indicative of poor documentation or poor
error handling in the application). There are still many cases
where submitting a problem report is clearly not the right
where submitting a problem report is clearly <emphasis>not</emphasis> the right
course of action, and will only serve to frustrate you and the
developers. Conversely, there are cases where it might be
appropriate to submit a problem report about something else than
@ -130,7 +130,17 @@
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The FAQ.</para>
<para>The FreeBSD
<ulink URL="../../books/faq/index.html">Frequently Asked
Questions</ulink> (FAQ) list.
The FAQ attempts to provide answers for a wide range of questions,
such as those concerning
<ulink URL="../../books/faq/hardware.html">hardware
compatibility</ulink>,
<ulink URL="../../books/faq/applications.html">user
applications</ulink>,
and <ulink URL="../../books/faq/kernelconfig.html">kernel
configuration</ulink>.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
@ -155,10 +165,23 @@
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Finally, the FreeBSD PR database. Unless your problem
<para>Next, the searchable
<ulink URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi?query">
FreeBSD PR database</ulink> (GNATS). Unless your problem
is recent or obscure, there is a fair chance it has already
been reported.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Finally, if you are upgrading from one version to
another&mdash;especially if you are upgrading to the
<literal>-current</literal> branch&mdash;you should
carefully study the contents of the
<filename>/usr/src/UPDATING</filename> file on your system
or its latest version at
<ulink URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/UPDATING"></ulink>.
This file contains many pieces of vital information.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Next, you need to make sure your problem report goes to the
@ -187,10 +210,146 @@
<para>Now that you have decided that your issue merits a problem
report, and that it is a FreeBSD problem, it is time to write
the actual problem report. Make sure your <envar>VISUAL</envar>
(or <envar>EDITOR</envar> if <envar>VISUAL</envar> is not set)
environment variable is set to something sensible, and run
&man.send-pr.1;.</para>
the actual problem report. Before we get into the mechanics
of the program used to generate and submit PRs, here are some
tips and tricks to help make sure that your PR will be most
effective.</para>
<section>
<title>Tips and tricks for writing a good problem report</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Do not leave the <quote>Synopsis</quote>
line empty.</emphasis> The PRs go both onto a mailing list
that goes all over the world (where the <quote>Synopsis</quote> is used
for the <literal>Subject:</literal> line), but also into a
database. Anyone who comes along later and browses the
database by synopsis, and finds a PR with a blank subject
line, tends just to skip over it. Remember that PRs stay
in this database until they are closed by someone; an
anonymous one will usually just disappear in the
noise.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Avoid using a weak <quote>Synopsis</quote>
line.</emphasis> You should not assume that anyone reading
your PR has any context for your submission, so the more
you provide, the better. For instance, what part of the
system does the problem apply to? Do you only see the
problem while installing, or while running? To
illustrate, instead of <literal>Synopsis: portupgrade is
broken</literal>, see how much more informative this
seems: <literal>Synopsis: port sysutils/portupgrade
coredumps on -current</literal>. (In the case of ports,
it is especially helpful to have both the category and
portname in the <quote>Synopsis</quote> line.)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>If you have a patch, say so.</emphasis>
A PR with a patch included is much more likely to be
looked at than one without. If you are including one,
put the string <literal>[patch]</literal> at the
beginning of the <quote>Synopsis</quote>. (Although it is
not mandatory to use that exact string, by convention,
that is the one that is used.)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>If you are a maintainer, say so.</emphasis>
If you are maintaining a part of the source code (for
instance, a port), you might consider adding the string
<literal>[maintainer update]</literal> at the beginning of
your synopsis line and/or set the <quote>Class</quote> of
your PR to <literal>maintainer-update</literal>. This way
any committer that handles your PR will not have to check
with the <filename>Makefile</filename> of the PR every
time the PR is viewed to make sure this is an update sent
by the maintainer of the port.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Be specific.</emphasis>
The more information you supply about what problem you
are having, the better your chance of getting a response.
You should include such things as what version you are
running (there is a place to put that, see below);
which architecture you are running on;
whether you are running from a release CDROM, or from
a system maintained by &man.cvsup.1; (and, if so, how
recently you updated); and, if a kernel problem,
if you have read <literal>src/UPDATING</literal>
(someone is guaranteed to ask). You do not necessarily
have to provide your kernel configuration, which ports
you have available, and a core dump (including these
by default only tends to fill up the database), but you
should be prepared to make them available, either
privately or publicly, if so asked.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Avoid vague requests for features.</emphasis>
PRs of the form <quote>someone should really implement something
that does so-and-so</quote> are less likely to get results than
very specific requests. Remember, the source is available
to everyone, so if you want a feature, the best way to
ensure it being included is to get to work! Also consider
the fact that many things like this would make a better
topic for discussion on <literal>freebsd-questions</literal>
than an entry in the PR database, as discussed above.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Make sure no one else has already submitted
a similar PR.</emphasis> Although this has already been
mentioned above, it bears repeating here. It only take a
minute or two to use the web-based search engine at
<ulink URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi?query"></ulink>.
(Of course, everyone is guilty of forgetting to do this
now and then.)</para> </listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Avoid controversial requests.</emphasis>
If your PR addresses an area that has been controversial
in the past, you should probably be prepared to not only
offer patches, but also justification for why the patches
are <quote>The Right Thing To Do</quote>. As noted above,
a careful search of the mailing lists using the archives
at <ulink URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/search/search.html#mailinglists"></ulink>
is always good preparation.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Be polite.</emphasis>
Almost anyone who would potentially work on your PR is a
volunteer. No one likes to be told that they have to do
something when they are already doing it for some
motivation other than monetary gain. This is a good thing
to keep in mind at all times on Open Source
projects.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section>
<title>Before you begin</title>
<para>Before running the &man.send-pr.1; program, make sure your
<envar>VISUAL</envar> (or <envar>EDITOR</envar> if
<envar>VISUAL</envar> is not set) environment variable is set
to something sensible.</para>
<para>You should also make sure that mail delivery works fine.
&man.send-pr.1; uses mail messages for the submission and
tracking of problem reports. If you cannot post mail messages
from the machine you're running &man.send-pr.1; on, your
problem report will not reach the GNATS database. For details
on the setup of mail on FreeBSD, see the <quote>Electronic
Mail</quote> chapter of the FreeBSD Handbook at
<ulink URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mail.html"></ulink>.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Attaching patches or files</title>
@ -209,18 +368,24 @@
<para>If you attach a patch, make sure you use the
<option>-c</option> or <option>-u</option> option to
&man.diff.1; to create a context or unified diff, and make
&man.diff.1; to create a context or unified diff (unified is
preferred), and make
sure to specify the exact CVS revision numbers of the files
you modified so the developers who read your report will be
able to apply them easily.</para>
<para>Note that while including small patches in a PR is
generally all right, particularly when they fix the problem
described in the PR, large patches and especially new code
<para>If you attach a patch inline, instead of as an attachment,
note that the most common problem by far is the tendency of some
email programs to render tabs as spaces, which will completely
ruin anything intended to be part of a Makefile.</para>
<para>Also note that while including small patches in a PR is
generally all right&mdash;particularly when they fix the problem
described in the PR&mdash;large patches and especially new code
which may require substantial review before committing should
be placed on a web or ftp server, and the URL should be
included in the PR instead of the patch. Patches in email
tend to get mangled, especially when Gnats is involved, and
tend to get mangled, especially when GNATS is involved, and
the larger the patch, the harder it will be for interested
parties to unmangle it. Also, posting a patch on the web
allows you to modify it without having to resubmit the entire
@ -235,8 +400,9 @@
<section>
<title>Filling out the template</title>
<para>The template consists of a list of fields, some of which
are pre-filled, and some of which have comments explaining
<para>When you run &man.send-pr.1;, you are presented with a
template. The template consists of a list of fields, some of
which are pre-filled, and some of which have comments explaining
their purpose or listing acceptable values. Do not worry
about the comments; they will be removed automatically if you
do not modify them or remove them yourself.</para>
@ -263,7 +429,8 @@
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Originator:</emphasis> This is normally
prefilled with the gecos field of the currently logged-in
prefilled with the <literal>gecos</literal> field of the
currently logged-in
user. Please specify your real name, optionally followed
by your email address in angle brackets.</para>
</listitem>
@ -276,7 +443,7 @@
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Confidential:</emphasis> This is prefilled
to <literal>no</literal>, changing it makes no sense as
to <literal>no</literal>. Changing it makes no sense as
there is no such thing as a confidential FreeBSD problem
report&mdash;the PR database is distributed worldwide by
<application>CVSup</application>.</para>
@ -290,8 +457,12 @@
summaries; problem reports with obscure synopses tend to
get ignored.</para>
<para>If your problem report includes a patch, please have
the synopsis start with <literal>[PATCH]</literal>.</para>
<para>As noted above, if your problem report includes a patch,
please have the synopsis start with <literal>[patch]</literal>;
if you are a maintainer, you may consider adding
<literal>[maintainer update]</literal> and/or set the
<quote>Class</quote> of your PR to
<literal>maintainer-update</literal>.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
@ -368,7 +539,8 @@
<listitem>
<para><literal>misc:</literal> anything that does not fit
in any of the other categories.</para>
in any of the other categories. (Note that it is
easy for things to get lost in this category).</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>