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Re: Bug reporting



Gary Roach wrote:
> I've been using Debian for years and still can't seem to submit a
> bug report successfully.  One of the main problems is that I have no
> mail server active on my system. I use Icedove. I have tried to
> setup exim several times and have always given up in disgust. The
> instructions for reporting by normal email are way to complicated
> for easy understanding. The examples given include copies of the
> world. I need something straight forward and relatively simple. Any
> help will be sincerely appreciated.

Since bug reports are simply email messages all that you really need
to know is how to include two special lines in the top of your email
message.  If you do that then you can simply send an email.

Here is a reference.  Scroll down to "An Example Bug Report".

  http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting

The example is showing the parts of the email message that go off to
the bug report.  The top part is the email information including the
email To: and Subject: and of course From:.  But that is just your
mailer message the same as the message you sent to this mailing list.
Pick a good subject is the most important part of that section.  Just
saying "Bug" or "Help" is bad.  Try to be descriptive in the subject.
A pet peeve of mine.

The second includes the two important lines.

  Package: hello
  Version: 1.3-16

Set the package name to the package you are submitting the bug
against.  Set the version of that package.  Those are the only two
special critical lines in the message.

Follow with the body of the message with your bug report.

That is all there is to it!

Now everyone will recommend 'reportbug'.  I recommend reportbug.  It
generates this information and more automatically.  But if the machine
you are using isn't on the network or doesn't have a way to send email
then just sending your own email message is perfectly acceptable.

HTH,
Bob

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