How to report a bug in an open-source-app?

Question

What if I think, that I found a bug in an open-source-app? What steps can I do, to provide as much helpful information for the programmers, as possible? And how I report best, to avoid to be annoying for the programmers?

Addition: As some here say, that the OS-programmers will love the report: Some projects are very picky about bug-reports. They say that are non-bugs or that it is non-reproducable, or the way it behaves is intended or similar things. Some of that critic towards the bug-reports may be justified, but often it isn't. I want to 'optimize' the bug-report to get the best feedback (preferably a fix) out of it.

Answer 1

A. They will love to hear from you, this is not annoying.

B. describe exactly how you can reproduce the bug, what steps, what OS, what else is running on the system.

C. look at the open source project's site - it probably has an address to submit this kind of info.

Answer 2

Find the application's website. There is usually information there about bug reporting procedures, as well as bugs that have already been submitted (so that you don't submit a duplicate). Error messages, screenshots, and steps to reproduce are what I always like to have when I am trying to track down/fix a bug.

Answer 3

The minimal information that I as a FOSS developer would like to get from someone submitting a bug report is:

• software version
• platform
• brief description of the bug
• sample input that you think is correct
• sample output that you think is incorrect (and why you think this)

Exactly how you go about supplying the information will vary enormously from app to app. Before posting the bug, you should take a look a the support newsgroups or mailing lists to se how this kind of thing is handled.

Edit: If the bug is non-reproducible or intended behaviour, I don't think you will be getting a fix, no matter how you optimise the report. But you do always have the option of fixing it yourself if you are utterly convinced it is a bug.

Answer 4

Find the bug system (for example, https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ for firefox) If you can't find any links off the main page or from google, you may have to use one of the projects mailing lists or forums. Poke around a bit and find the most appropriate one to use.

Once you have figured out where bugs should be reported, do a search to see if your bug has already been reported. If it has, see if there is anything you can add that would be helpful (me too! comments are not being helpful, additional information is very helpful)

When it comes what to report, first list your environment (operating system, what version you are using, where you got it from, etc) Describe the bug (what is going wrong), and give detailed steps on how to reproduce it

Answer 5

First, go on the project page and check for information on how to report bugs. They might have a preferred way of doing it.

Most projects have mailing lists. Most of them have a user and a developer mailing list. Start by searching the lists to see if the bug you have discovered was already discussed. Maybe it's not a bug and the product simply does not support what you try to do.

If you have already digged in the code and found the cause of the bug (and maybe the fix), subscriber to the developer list and post a message describing the problem. Include a complete description of the problem, the version you use (and the version of other software if needed. ie.: Web server, OS, ...), a test case, what you found in the code and the patch you made. If it's a bug, they will tell you to report it in their bug tracking software (bugzilla, mantis, redmine, track, ...)

If you don't find anything in the code, subscribe to user list and post your problem.

Avoid saying thinks like "please, I really need to fix or I ...". Open source developer are not your employees. If you want something fixed, you can always do it yourself. Avoid ultimatums and rant about the software.

If the bug was already reported, the only thing you can do is watch it or vote it up. Avoid adding comments like "me too!" or "we need this fixed!" or "why is this still not fixed?!?". That is annoying.

Answer 6

For general advice about reporting bugs (what information to provide, etc) I recommend Simon Tatham's paper: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html