perlbug
how to submit bug reports on Perl
see also :
perl - diff - patch - gdb
Synopsis
perlbug
perlbug
[ -v ]
[ -a address ]
[ -s subject ]
[ -b body | -f inputfile ]
[ -F outputfile ]
[ -r returnaddress ]
[ -e editor ]
[ -c adminaddress | -C ]
[ -S ] [ -t ]
[ -d ] [ -A ]
[ -h ]
[ -T ]
perlbug
[ -v ]
[ -r returnaddress ]
[ -A ]
[ -ok | -okay | -nok | -nokay ]
perlthanks
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
no example yet ...
... Feel free to add your own example above to help other Linux-lovers !
description
This program is
designed to help you generate and send bug reports (and
thank-you notes) about perl5 and the modules which ship with
it.
In most cases,
you can just run it interactively from a command line
without any special arguments and follow the prompts.
If you have
found a bug with a non-standard port (one that was not part
of the standard distribution), a binary distribution,
or a non-core module (such as Tk, DBI , etc),
then please see the documentation that came with that
distribution to determine the correct place to report
bugs.
If you are
unable to send your report using perlbug (most likely
because your system doesn’t have a way to send mail
that perlbug recognizes), you may be able to use this tool
to compose your report and save it to a file which you can
then send to perlbug[:at:]perl[:dot:]org using your regular mail
client.
In extreme
cases, perlbug may not work well enough on your
system to guide you through composing a bug report. In those
cases, you may be able to use perlbug -d to get
system configuration information to include in a manually
composed bug report to perlbug[:at:]perl[:dot:]org.
When reporting
a bug, please run through this checklist:
What version of Perl you are running?
Type "perl
-v" at the command line to find out.
Are you running the latest
released version of perl?
Look at http://www.perl.org/ to
find out. If you are not using the latest released version,
please try to replicate your bug on the latest stable
release.
Note that
reports about bugs in old versions of Perl, especially those
which indicate you haven’t also tested the current
stable release of Perl, are likely to receive less attention
from the volunteers who build and maintain Perl than reports
about bugs in the current release.
This tool
isn’t appropriate for reporting bugs in any version
prior to Perl 5.0.
Are you sure what you have is a
bug?
A significant number of the bug
reports we get turn out to be documented features in Perl.
Make sure the issue you’ve run into isn’t
intentional by glancing through the documentation that comes
with the Perl distribution.
Given the sheer
volume of Perl documentation, this isn’t a trivial
undertaking, but if you can point to documentation that
suggests the behaviour you’re seeing is wrong,
your issue is likely to receive more attention. You may want
to start with perldoc perltrap for pointers to common
traps that new (and experienced) Perl programmers run
into.
If you’re
unsure of the meaning of an error message you’ve run
across, perldoc perldiag for an explanation. If the
message isn’t in perldiag, it probably isn’t
generated by Perl. You may have luck consulting your
operating system documentation instead.
If you are on a
non-UNIX platform perldoc perlport, as some features
may be unimplemented or work differently.
You may be able
to figure out what’s going wrong using the Perl
debugger. For information about how to use the debugger
perldoc perldebug.
Do you have a proper test
case?
The easier it is to reproduce
your bug, the more likely it will be fixed -- if nobody can
duplicate your problem, it probably won’t be
addressed.
A good test
case has most of these attributes: short, simple code; few
dependencies on external commands, modules, or libraries; no
platform-dependent code (unless it’s a
platform-specific bug); clear, simple documentation.
A good test
case is almost always a good candidate to be included in
Perl’s test suite. If you have the time, consider
writing your test case so that it can be easily included
into the standard test suite.
Have you included all relevant
information?
Be sure to include the
exact error messages, if any. "Perl gave an
error" is not an exact error message.
If you get a
core dump (or equivalent), you may use a debugger
(dbx, gdb, etc) to produce a stack trace to
include in the bug report.
NOTE:
unless your Perl has been compiled with debug info (often
-g), the stack trace is likely to be somewhat
hard to use because it will most probably contain only the
function names and not their arguments. If possible,
recompile your Perl with debug info and reproduce the crash
and the stack trace.
Can you describe the bug in
plain English?
The easier it is to understand
a reproducible bug, the more likely it will be fixed. Any
insight you can provide into the problem will help a great
deal. In other words, try to analyze the problem (to the
extent you can) and report your discoveries.
Can you fix the bug
yourself?
A bug report which includes
a patch to fix it will almost definitely be fixed. When
sending a patch, please use the "diff"
program with the "-u" option to
generate "unified" diff files. Bug reports with
patches are likely to receive significantly more attention
and interest than those without patches.
Your patch may
be returned with requests for changes, or requests for more
detailed explanations about your fix.
Here are a few
hints for creating high-quality patches:
Make sure the
patch is not reversed (the first argument to diff is
typically the original file, the second argument your
changed file). Make sure you test your patch by applying it
with the "patch" program before you send
it on its way. Try to follow the same style as the code you
are trying to patch. Make sure your patch really does work
("make test", if the thing you’re
patching is covered by Perl’s test suite).
Can you use "perlbug"
to submit the report?
perlbug will, amongst
other things, ensure your report includes crucial
information about your version of perl. If
"perlbug" is unable to mail your report
after you have typed it in, you may have to compose the
message yourself, add the output produced by
"perlbug -d" and email it to
perlbug[:at:]perl[:dot:]org. If, for some reason, you cannot run
"perlbug" at all on your system, be sure
to include the entire output produced by running
"perl -V" (note the uppercase
V).
Whether you use
"perlbug" or send the email manually,
please make your Subject line informative. "a bug"
is not informative. Neither is "perl crashes" nor
is " HELP !!!". These don’t
help. A compact description of what’s wrong is
fine.
Can you use "perlbug"
to submit a thank-you note?
Yes, you can do this by either
using the "-T" option, or by
invoking the program as "perlthanks".
Thank-you notes are good. It makes people smile.
Having done
your bit, please be prepared to wait, to be told the bug is
in your code, or possibly to get no reply at all. The
volunteers who maintain Perl are busy folks, so if your
problem is an obvious bug in your own code, is difficult to
understand or is a duplicate of an existing report, you may
not receive a personal reply.
If it is
important to you that your bug be fixed, do monitor the
perl5-porters[:at:]perl[:dot:]org mailing list and the commit
logs to development versions of Perl, and encourage the
maintainers with kind words or offers of frosty beverages.
(Please do be kind to the maintainers. Harassing or flaming
them is likely to have the opposite effect of the one you
want.)
Feel free to
update the ticket about your bug on http://rt.perl.org if a
new version of Perl is released and your bug is still
present.
options
-a
Address to send the report to.
Defaults to perlbug[:at:]perl[:dot:]org.
-A
Don’t send a bug received acknowledgement to the
reply address. Generally it is only a sensible to use this
option if you are a perl maintainer actively watching perl
porters for your message to arrive.
-b
Body of the report. If not included on the command line,
or in a file with -f, you will get a chance to
edit the message.
-C
Don’t send copy to administrator.
-c
Address to send copy of report to. Defaults to the
address of the local perl administrator (recorded when perl
was built).
-d
Data mode (the default if you redirect or pipe output).
This prints out your configuration data, without mailing
anything. You can use this with -v to get more
complete data.
-e
Editor to use.
-f
File containing the body of the report. Use this to
quickly send a prepared message.
-F
File to output the results to instead of sending as an
email. Useful particularly when running perlbug on a machine
with no direct internet connection.
-h
Prints a brief summary of the options.
-ok
Report successful build on this system to perl porters.
Forces -S and -C. Forces and
supplies values for -s and -b.
Only prompts for a return address if it cannot guess it (for
use with make). Honors return address specified with
-r. You can use this with -v to
get more complete data. Only makes a report if this system
is less than 60 days old.
-okay
As -ok except it will report on older
systems.
-nok
Report unsuccessful build on this system. Forces
-C. Forces and supplies a value for
-s, then requires you to edit the report and
say what went wrong. Alternatively, a prepared report may be
supplied using -f. Only prompts for a return
address if it cannot guess it (for use with make).
Honors return address specified with -r. You
can use this with -v to get more complete data.
Only makes a report if this system is less than 60 days
old.
-nokay
As -nok except it will report on older
systems.
-r
Your return address. The program will ask you to confirm
its default if you don’t use this option.
-S
Send without asking for confirmation.
-s
Subject to include with the message. You will be
prompted if you don’t supply one on the command
line.
-t
Test mode. The target address defaults to
perlbug-test[:at:]perl[:dot:]org.
-T
Send a thank-you note instead of a bug report.
-v
Include verbose configuration data in the report.
bugs
None known
(guess what must have been used to report them?)
see also
perl ,
perldebug, perldiag, perlport,
perltrap, diff , patch ,
dbx, gdb
authors
Kenneth
Albanowski (<kjahds[:at:]kjahds[:dot:]com>), subsequently
doctored by Gurusamy Sarathy
(<gsar[:at:]activestate[:dot:]com>), Tom Christiansen
(<tchrist[:at:]perl[:dot:]com>), Nathan Torkington
(<gnat[:at:]frii[:dot:]com>), Charles F. Randall
(<cfr[:at:]pobox[:dot:]com>), Mike Guy (<mjtg[:at:]cam.a[:dot:]uk>),
Dominic Dunlop (<domo[:at:]computer[:dot:]org>), Hugo van der
Sanden (<hv[:at:]crypt[:dot:]org<gt>), Jarkko Hietaniemi
(<jhi[:at:]iki[:dot:]fi>), Chris Nandor
(<pudge[:at:]pobox[:dot:]com>), Jon Orwant
(<orwant[:at:]media.mit[:dot:]edu>, Richard Foley
(<richard.foley[:at:]rfi[:dot:]net>), and Jesse Vincent
(<jesse[:at:]bestpractical[:dot:]com<gt>).