489 lines
19 KiB
Text
489 lines
19 KiB
Text
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [
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<!ENTITY % man PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Manual Page Entities//EN">
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%man;
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<!ENTITY % freebsd PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Miscellaneous
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FreeBSD Entities//EN"> %freebsd;
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<!ENTITY % newsgroups PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Newsgroup Entities//EN"> %newsgroups;
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<!ENTITY % authors PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Author Entities//EN">
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%authors;
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<!ENTITY % mailing-lists PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Mailing List Entities//EN"> %mailing-lists;
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<!ENTITY % not.published "IGNORE">
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]>
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<article>
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<articleinfo>
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<title>Writing FreeBSD Problem Reports</title>
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<pubdate>$FreeBSD$</pubdate>
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<abstract>
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<para>This article describes how to best formulate and submit a
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problem report to the FreeBSD Project.</para>
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</abstract>
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<authorgroup>
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<author>
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<firstname>Dag-Erling</firstname>
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<surname>Smørgrav</surname>
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<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
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</author>
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</authorgroup>
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</articleinfo>
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<indexterm><primary>problem reports</primary></indexterm>
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<sect1 id="pr-intro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>One of the most frustrating experiences one can have as a
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software user is to submit a problem report only to have it
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summarily closed with a terse and unhelpful explanation like
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"not a bug" or "bogus PR". Similarly, one of the most
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frustrating experiences as a software developer is to be flooded
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with problem reports that are not really problem reports but
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requests for support, or that contain little or no information
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about what the problem is and how to reproduce it.</para>
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<para>This document attempts to describe how to write good problem
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reports. What, you ask, is a good problem report? Well, to go
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straight to the bottom line, a good problem report is one that
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can be analyzed and dealt with swiftly, to the mutual
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satisfaction of both user and developer.</para>
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<para>Although the primary focus of this article is on FreeBSD
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problem reports, most of it should apply quite well to other
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software projects.</para>
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<para>Note that this article is organized thematically, not
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chronologically, so you should read through the entire document
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before submitting a PR, rather than treat it as a step-by-step
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tutorial.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="pr-when">
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<title>When to submit a problem report</title>
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<para>There are many types of problems, and not all of them should
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engender a problem report. Of course, nobody is perfect, and
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there will be times when you are convinced you've found a bug in
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a program when in fact you've misunderstood the syntax for a
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command or made a typo in a configuration file (though that in
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itself may sometimes be indicative of poor documentation or poor
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error handling in the application). There are still many cases
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where submitting a problem report is clearly not the right
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course of action, and will only serve to frustrate you and the
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developers. Conversely, there are cases where it might be
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appropriate to submit a problem report about something else than
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a bug — an enhancement or a feature request, for
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instance.</para>
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<para>So how do you determine what's a bug and what is not? As a
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simple rule of thumb your problem is <emphasis>not</emphasis> a
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bug if it can be expressed as a question (usually of the form
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"How do I do X?" or "Where can I find Y?"). It's not always
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quite so black and white, but the question rule covers a large
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majority of cases.</para>
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<para>Some cases where it may be appropriate to submit a problem
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report about something that is not a bug are:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>Requests for feature enhancments. It is generally a
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good idea to air these on the mailing lists before
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submitting a problem report.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Notification of updates to externally maintained
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software (mainly ports, but also externally maintained base
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system components such as BIND or various GNU
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utilities). </para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>Another thing is that if the system on which you experienced
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the bug is not fairly up-to-date, you should seriously consider
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upgrading and trying to reproduce the problem on an up-to-date
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system before submitting a problem report. There are few things
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that will annoy a developer more than receiving a problem report
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about a bug she's already fixed.</para>
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<para>Finally, a bug that can't be reproduced can rarely be fixed.
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If the bug only occurred once and you can't reproduce it, and it
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doesn't seem to happen to anybody else, chances are none of the
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developers will be able to reproduce it or figure out what's
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wrong. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but it does mean
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that the chances of your problem report ever leading to a bug
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fix are very slim, and you should consider letting the matter
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drop.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="pr-prep">
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<title>Preparations</title>
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<para>A good rule to follow is to always do a background search
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before submitting a problem report. Maybe your problem has
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already been reported; maybe it's being discussed on the mailing
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lists, or recently was; it may even already be fixed in a newer
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version than what you're running. You should therefore check
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all the obvious places before submitting your PR. For FreeBSD,
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this means:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>The FAQ.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>The mailing lists — if you're not subscribed, use
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the searchable archives on the FreeBSD web site. If your
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problem hasn't been discussed on the lists, you might try
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posting a message about it and waiting a few days to see if
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someone can spot something you've overlooked.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Optionally, the entire web — use your favorite
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search engine to locate any references to your problem. You
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may even get hits from archived mailing lists or newsgroups
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you didn't know of or hadn't thought to search
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through.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Finally, the FreeBSD PR database. Unless your problem
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is recent or obscure, there's a fair chance it's already
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been reported.</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>Next, you need to make sure your problem report goes to the
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right people.</para>
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<para>The first catch here is that if the problem is a bug in
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third-party software (a port or a package you've installed), you
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should report the bug to the original author, not to the FreeBSD
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Project. There are two exceptions to this rule: the first is if
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the bug does not occur on other platforms, in which case the
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problem may lie in how the software was ported to FreeBSD; the
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second is if the original author has already fixed the bug and
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released a patch or a new version of his software, and the
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FreeBSD port hasn't been updated yet.</para>
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<para>The second catch is that FreeBSD's bug tracking system sorts
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problem reports according to the category the originator
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selected. Therefore, if you select the wrong category when you
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submit your problem report, there's a good chance that it will
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go unnoticed for a while, until someone re-categorizes
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it.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="pr-writing">
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<title>Writing the problem report</title>
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<para>Now that you've decided that your issue merits a problem
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report, and that it's a FreeBSD problem, it's time to write the
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actual PR. Make sure your <envar>VISUAL</envar> (or
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<envar>EDITOR</envar> if <envar>VISUAL</envar> is not set)
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environment variable is set to something sensible, and run
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&man.send-pr.1;.</para>
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<sect2>
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<title>Attaching patches or files</title>
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<para>The &man.send-pr.1; program has provisions for attaching
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files to a problem report. You can attach as many files as
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you want provided that each has a unique base name (i.e. the
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name of the file proper, without the path). Just use the
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<option>-a</option> command-line option to specify the names
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of the files you wish to attach:</para>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>send-pr -a /var/run/dmesg -a /tmp/errors</userinput>
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</screen>
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<para>Don't worry about binary files; they will be automatically
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encoded so as not to upset your mail agent.</para>
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<para>If you attach a patch, make sure you use the
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<option>-c</option> or <option>-u</option> option to
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&man.diff.1; to create a context or unified diff, and make
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sure to specify the exact CVS revision numbers of the files
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you modified so the developers who read your report will be
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able to apply them easily.</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>Filling out the template</title>
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<para>The template consists of a list of fields, some of which
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are pre-filled, and some of which have comments explaining
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their purpose or listing acceptable values. Don't worry about
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the comments; they'll be removed automatically if you don't
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modify them or remove them yourself.</para>
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<para>At the top of the template, below the
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<literal>SEND-PR:</literal> lines, are the email headers. You
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don't normally need to modify these, unless you're sending the
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PR from a machine or account that can send but not receive
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mail, in which case you'll want to set the
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<literal>From:</literal> and <literal>Reply-To:</literal> to
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your real email address. You may also want to send yourself
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(or someone else) a carbon copy of the problem report by
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adding one or more email addresses to the
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<literal>Cc:</literal> header.</para>
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<para>Next comes a series of single-line fields:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Submitter-Id:</emphasis> Do not change this.
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The default value of <literal>current-users</literal> is
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correct, even if you run FreeBSD-STABLE.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Originator:</emphasis> This is normally
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prefilled with the gecos field of the currently logged-in
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user. Please specify your real name, optionally followed
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by your email address in angle brackets.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Organization:</emphasis> Whatever you feel
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like. This field is not used for anything
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significant.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Confidential:</emphasis> This is prefilled
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to <literal>no</literal>; changing it makes no sense as
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there is no such thing as a confidential FreeBSD PR
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— the PR database is distributed worldwide by
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CVSup.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Synopsis:</emphasis> Fill this out with a
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short and accurate description of the problem. The
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synopsis is used as the subject of the PR email, and is
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used in PR listings and summaries; problem reports with
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obscure synopses tend to get ignored.</para>
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<para>If your problem report includes a patch, please have
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the synopsis start with <literal>[PATCH]</literal>.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Severity:</emphasis> One of
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<literal>non-critical</literal>,
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<literal>serious</literal> or
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<literal>critical</literal>. Don't overreact; refrain
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from labeling your problem <literal>critical</literal>
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unless it really is (e.g. root exploit, easily
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reproducible panic). Developers tend to ignore this and
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the next field, precisely because PR submitters tend to
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overrate their problems.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Priority:</emphasis> One of
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<literal>low</literal>, <literal>medium</literal> or
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<literal>high</literal>. See above.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Category:</emphasis> Choose one of the
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following:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>advocacy:</literal> problems relating to
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FreeBSD's public image. Rarely used.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>alpha:</literal> problems specific to the
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Alpha platform.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>bin:</literal> problems with userland
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programs in the base system.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>conf:</literal> problems with
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configuration files, default values etc.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>docs:</literal> problems with man pages
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or on-line documentation.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>gnu:</literal> problems with GNU software
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such as &man.gcc.1; or &man.grep.1;.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>i386:</literal> problems specific to the
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i386 platform.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>kern:</literal> problems with
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kernel.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>misc:</literal> anything that doesn't fit
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in any of the other categories.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>ports:</literal> problems relating to the
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ports tree.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>sparc:</literal> problems specific to the
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Sparc platform.</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Class:</emphasis> Choose one of the
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following:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>sw-bug:</literal> software bugs.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>doc-bug:</literal> errors in
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documentation.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>change-request:</literal> requests for
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additional features or changes in existing
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features.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>update:</literal> updates to ports or
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other contributed software.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><literal>maintainer-update:</literal> updates to
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ports for which you are the maintainer.</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Release:</emphasis> The version of FreeBSD
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that you are running. This is filled out automatically by
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&man.send-pr.1; and need only be changed if you are
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sending a PR from a different system than the one that
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exhibits the problem.</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>Finally, there is a series of multi-line fields:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Environment:</emphasis> This should
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describe, as accurately as possible, the environment in
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which the problem has been observed. This includes the
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operating system version, the version of the specific
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program or file that contains the problem, and any other
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relevant items such as system configuration, other
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installed software that influences the problem, etc.
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— quite simply everything a developer needs to know
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to reconstruct the environment in which the problem
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occurs.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Description:</emphasis> A complete and
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accurate description of the problem you are experiencing.
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Try to avoid speculating about the causes of the problem
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unless you are certain that you are on the right track, as
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it may mislead a developer into making incorrect
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assumptions about the problem.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>How-To-Repeat:</emphasis> A summary of the
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actions you need to take to reproduce the problem.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><emphasis>Fix:</emphasis> Preferably a patch, or at
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least a workaround (which not only helps other people with
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the same problem work around it, but may also help a
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developer understand the cause for the problem), but if
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you don't have any firm ideas for either, it's better to
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leave this field blank than to speculate.</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>Sending off the PR</title>
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<para>Once you're done filling out the template, have saved it,
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and exit your editor, &man.send-pr.1; will prompt you with
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<prompt>s)end, e)dit or a)bort?</prompt>. You can then hit
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<userinput>s</userinput> to go ahead and submit the PR,
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<userinput>e</userinput> to restart the editor and make
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further modifications, or <userinput>a</userinput> to abort.
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If you choose the latter, your problem report will remain on
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disk (&man.send-pr.1; will tell you the filename before it
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terminates), so you can edit it at your leisure, or maybe
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transfer it to a system with better net connectivity, before
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sending it with the <option>-f</option> to
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&man.send-pr.1;:</para>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>send-pr -f ~/my-problem-report</userinput>
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</screen>
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<para>This will read the specified file, validate the contents,
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strip comments and send it off.</para>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="pr-followup">
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<title>Follow-up</title>
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<para>Once your problem report has been filed, you'll receive a
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confirmation by email which will include the tracking number
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that was assigned to your PR and a URL you can use to check its
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status. With a little luck, someone will take an interest in
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your problem and try to address it, or, as the case may be,
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explain why it's not a problem. You'll be automatically
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notified of any change of status, and you'll receive copies of
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any comments or patches someone may attach to your PR's audit
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trail.</para>
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<para>If someone requests additional information from you, or you
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remember or discover something you didn't mention in the initial
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report, just mail it to <email>bug-followup@FreeBSD.org</email>,
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making sure that the tracking number is included in the subject
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so the bug tracking system will know what problem report to
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attach it to.</para>
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<para>If the problem report remains open after the problem has
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gone away, just send a follow-up (in the manner prescribed
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above) saying that the PR can be closed, and, if possible,
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explaining how or when the problem was fixed.</para>
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</sect1>
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</article>
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