From: welshm@snail.rtp.dg.com (Matt Welsh) Subject: Re: Guidelines for reporting Linux bugs Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 14:06:23 GMT
In article <712482088snx@grendel.demon.co.uk> jes@grendel.demon.co.uk (Jim Segrave) writes:
>
>In article <1992Jul28.134834.4764@dg-rtp.dg.com> I write:
>
>> **** GUIDELINES FOR REPORTING LINUX BUGS ****
>>
>> Last updated: 20 Jul 92
>>
>> *** This file specifies how you should file bug reports and bug report
>> *** updates (such as fixes and workaround reports). PLEASE READ before
>> *** you do anything!!
>>
>> If you are having problems with Linux, the first thing you should do is
>> POST your problem or possible bug to comp.os.linux or send it out on
>> one of the several mailing lists. In this way, others can verify your
>> problem and find out if it's actually a bug.
>
>NO! NO! NO!
>The first thing is - check the FAQ.
>Then, think about the problem yourself - I've seen some fairly silly
>Help with ... reports which seemed to assume that 'GCC/Linux/any of a
>large number of other utillities must be broken because they don't work
>for me'. Use simple logic - the volume of traffic in this group
>indicates that most things *do* work, so if they don't work for you the
>most likely reasons are that you didn't understand the (sometimes
>sketchy) documentation or you didn't follow it, or you are running an
>old version of Linux/gcc/whatever and trying to run software set up for
>a more recent version, etc.
Exactly. I somewhat assumed in the guidelines that the FAQ would have
been read first, however it is painfully obvious that this doesn't happen
most of the time, with all of the volume in this group.
I'll change the Guidelines to reflect this: That posting your problem
to the group and/or reporting a bug to me is a LAST RESORT. You have to
remember, however, that not everyone out there using Linux is a UNIX
guru. That doesn't mean they have to be to figure out problems, but
as you know, the amount of information one gets when running into UNIX
problems in general is very small. Without some amount of UNIX system
administration or programming experience, most problems can be very very
difficult to "figure out" on your own.
But you're right: it's a much better idea to work problems out on your
own system, internally, before posting a plea to the net for help (if
you must at all). However this mechanism is set up for those who have
problems with Linux that aren't their fault-- i.e. "tar is broken in
0.95" and so on.
IMHO, the FAQ needs to be revised quite a bit, to take into account
the list of "common problems" that people are running into. For instance,
the /etc/nologin problem. Or the tar problem, and so on. Things that
aren't "bugs" per se, but common problems people have with Linux.
The current FAQ doesn't mention most of these problems!
That, I think, would be the most useful thing to do.
mdw
Matt Welsh welshm@dg-rtp.dg.com ...!mcnc!rti!dg-rtp!welshm
UNIX-SQA, Data General Corporation RTP Office: +1 919 248 6070
"Where's the KABOOM?! There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering KABOOM!!"