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| 129 | .\" ======================================================================== |
| 130 | .\" |
| 131 | .IX Title "PERLBUG 1" |
| 132 | .TH PERLBUG 1 "2002-08-28" "perl v5.8.0" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide" |
| 133 | .SH "NAME" |
| 134 | perlbug \- how to submit bug reports on Perl |
| 135 | .SH "SYNOPSIS" |
| 136 | .IX Header "SYNOPSIS" |
| 137 | \&\fBperlbug\fR [\ \fB\-v\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-a\fR\ \fIaddress\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-s\fR\ \fIsubject\fR\ ] |
| 138 | [\ \fB\-b\fR\ \fIbody\fR\ |\ \fB\-f\fR\ \fIinputfile\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-F\fR\ \fIoutputfile\fR\ ] |
| 139 | [\ \fB\-r\fR\ \fIreturnaddress\fR\ ] |
| 140 | [\ \fB\-e\fR\ \fIeditor\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-c\fR\ \fIadminaddress\fR\ |\ \fB\-C\fR\ ] |
| 141 | [\ \fB\-S\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-t\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-d\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-A\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-h\fR\ ] |
| 142 | .PP |
| 143 | \&\fBperlbug\fR [\ \fB\-v\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-r\fR\ \fIreturnaddress\fR\ ] |
| 144 | [\ \fB\-A\fR\ ] [\ \fB\-ok\fR\ |\ \fB\-okay\fR\ |\ \fB\-nok\fR\ |\ \fB\-nokay\fR\ ] |
| 145 | .SH "DESCRIPTION" |
| 146 | .IX Header "DESCRIPTION" |
| 147 | A program to help generate bug reports about perl or the modules that |
| 148 | come with it, and mail them. |
| 149 | .PP |
| 150 | If you have found a bug with a non-standard port (one that was not part |
| 151 | of the \fIstandard distribution\fR), a binary distribution, or a |
| 152 | non-standard module (such as Tk, \s-1CGI\s0, etc), then please see the |
| 153 | documentation that came with that distribution to determine the correct |
| 154 | place to report bugs. |
| 155 | .PP |
| 156 | \&\f(CW\*(C`perlbug\*(C'\fR is designed to be used interactively. Normally no arguments |
| 157 | will be needed. Simply run it, and follow the prompts. |
| 158 | .PP |
| 159 | If you are unable to run \fBperlbug\fR (most likely because you don't have |
| 160 | a working setup to send mail that perlbug recognizes), you may have to |
| 161 | compose your own report, and email it to \fBperlbug@perl.org\fR. You might |
| 162 | find the \fB\-d\fR option useful to get summary information in that case. |
| 163 | .PP |
| 164 | In any case, when reporting a bug, please make sure you have run through |
| 165 | this checklist: |
| 166 | .IP "What version of Perl you are running?" 4 |
| 167 | .IX Item "What version of Perl you are running?" |
| 168 | Type \f(CW\*(C`perl \-v\*(C'\fR at the command line to find out. |
| 169 | .IP "Are you running the latest released version of perl?" 4 |
| 170 | .IX Item "Are you running the latest released version of perl?" |
| 171 | Look at http://www.perl.com/ to find out. If it is not the latest |
| 172 | released version, get that one and see whether your bug has been |
| 173 | fixed. Note that bug reports about old versions of Perl, especially |
| 174 | those prior to the 5.0 release, are likely to fall upon deaf ears. |
| 175 | You are on your own if you continue to use perl1 .. perl4. |
| 176 | .IP "Are you sure what you have is a bug?" 4 |
| 177 | .IX Item "Are you sure what you have is a bug?" |
| 178 | A significant number of the bug reports we get turn out to be documented |
| 179 | features in Perl. Make sure the behavior you are witnessing doesn't fall |
| 180 | under that category, by glancing through the documentation that comes |
| 181 | with Perl (we'll admit this is no mean task, given the sheer volume of |
| 182 | it all, but at least have a look at the sections that \fIseem\fR relevant). |
| 183 | .Sp |
| 184 | Be aware of the familiar traps that perl programmers of various hues |
| 185 | fall into. See perltrap. |
| 186 | .Sp |
| 187 | Check in perldiag to see what any Perl error message(s) mean. |
| 188 | If message isn't in perldiag, it probably isn't generated by Perl. |
| 189 | Consult your operating system documentation instead. |
| 190 | .Sp |
| 191 | If you are on a non-UNIX platform check also perlport, as some |
| 192 | features may be unimplemented or work differently. |
| 193 | .Sp |
| 194 | Try to study the problem under the Perl debugger, if necessary. |
| 195 | See perldebug. |
| 196 | .IP "Do you have a proper test case?" 4 |
| 197 | .IX Item "Do you have a proper test case?" |
| 198 | The easier it is to reproduce your bug, the more likely it will be |
| 199 | fixed, because if no one can duplicate the problem, no one can fix it. |
| 200 | A good test case has most of these attributes: fewest possible number |
| 201 | of lines; few dependencies on external commands, modules, or |
| 202 | libraries; runs on most platforms unimpeded; and is self\-documenting. |
| 203 | .Sp |
| 204 | A good test case is almost always a good candidate to be on the perl |
| 205 | test suite. If you have the time, consider making your test case so |
| 206 | that it will readily fit into the standard test suite. |
| 207 | .Sp |
| 208 | Remember also to include the \fBexact\fR error messages, if any. |
| 209 | \&\*(L"Perl complained something\*(R" is not an exact error message. |
| 210 | .Sp |
| 211 | If you get a core dump (or equivalent), you may use a debugger |
| 212 | (\fBdbx\fR, \fBgdb\fR, etc) to produce a stack trace to include in the bug |
| 213 | report. \s-1NOTE:\s0 unless your Perl has been compiled with debug info |
| 214 | (often \fB\-g\fR), the stack trace is likely to be somewhat hard to use |
| 215 | because it will most probably contain only the function names and not |
| 216 | their arguments. If possible, recompile your Perl with debug info and |
| 217 | reproduce the dump and the stack trace. |
| 218 | .IP "Can you describe the bug in plain English?" 4 |
| 219 | .IX Item "Can you describe the bug in plain English?" |
| 220 | The easier it is to understand a reproducible bug, the more likely it |
| 221 | will be fixed. Anything you can provide by way of insight into the |
| 222 | problem helps a great deal. In other words, try to analyze the |
| 223 | problem (to the extent you can) and report your discoveries. |
| 224 | .IP "Can you fix the bug yourself?" 4 |
| 225 | .IX Item "Can you fix the bug yourself?" |
| 226 | A bug report which \fIincludes a patch to fix it\fR will almost |
| 227 | definitely be fixed. Use the \f(CW\*(C`diff\*(C'\fR program to generate your patches |
| 228 | (\f(CW\*(C`diff\*(C'\fR is being maintained by the \s-1GNU\s0 folks as part of the \fBdiffutils\fR |
| 229 | package, so you should be able to get it from any of the \s-1GNU\s0 software |
| 230 | repositories). If you do submit a patch, the cool-dude counter at |
| 231 | perlbug@perl.org will register you as a savior of the world. Your |
| 232 | patch may be returned with requests for changes, or requests for more |
| 233 | detailed explanations about your fix. |
| 234 | .Sp |
| 235 | Here are some clues for creating quality patches: Use the \fB\-c\fR or |
| 236 | \&\fB\-u\fR switches to the diff program (to create a so-called context or |
| 237 | unified diff). Make sure the patch is not reversed (the first |
| 238 | argument to diff is typically the original file, the second argument |
| 239 | your changed file). Make sure you test your patch by applying it with |
| 240 | the \f(CW\*(C`patch\*(C'\fR program before you send it on its way. Try to follow the |
| 241 | same style as the code you are trying to patch. Make sure your patch |
| 242 | really does work (\f(CW\*(C`make test\*(C'\fR, if the thing you're patching supports |
| 243 | it). |
| 244 | .ie n .IP "Can you use ""perlbug"" to submit the report?" 4 |
| 245 | .el .IP "Can you use \f(CWperlbug\fR to submit the report?" 4 |
| 246 | .IX Item "Can you use perlbug to submit the report?" |
| 247 | \&\fBperlbug\fR will, amongst other things, ensure your report includes |
| 248 | crucial information about your version of perl. If \f(CW\*(C`perlbug\*(C'\fR is unable |
| 249 | to mail your report after you have typed it in, you may have to compose |
| 250 | the message yourself, add the output produced by \f(CW\*(C`perlbug \-d\*(C'\fR and email |
| 251 | it to \fBperlbug@perl.org\fR. If, for some reason, you cannot run |
| 252 | \&\f(CW\*(C`perlbug\*(C'\fR at all on your system, be sure to include the entire output |
| 253 | produced by running \f(CW\*(C`perl \-V\*(C'\fR (note the uppercase V). |
| 254 | .Sp |
| 255 | Whether you use \f(CW\*(C`perlbug\*(C'\fR or send the email manually, please make |
| 256 | your Subject line informative. \*(L"a bug\*(R" not informative. Neither is |
| 257 | \&\*(L"perl crashes\*(R" nor \*(L"\s-1HELP\s0!!!\*(R". These don't help. |
| 258 | A compact description of what's wrong is fine. |
| 259 | .PP |
| 260 | Having done your bit, please be prepared to wait, to be told the bug |
| 261 | is in your code, or even to get no reply at all. The Perl maintainers |
| 262 | are busy folks, so if your problem is a small one or if it is difficult |
| 263 | to understand or already known, they may not respond with a personal reply. |
| 264 | If it is important to you that your bug be fixed, do monitor the |
| 265 | \&\f(CW\*(C`Changes\*(C'\fR file in any development releases since the time you submitted |
| 266 | the bug, and encourage the maintainers with kind words (but never any |
| 267 | flames!). Feel free to resend your bug report if the next released |
| 268 | version of perl comes out and your bug is still present. |
| 269 | .SH "OPTIONS" |
| 270 | .IX Header "OPTIONS" |
| 271 | .IP "\fB\-a\fR" 8 |
| 272 | .IX Item "-a" |
| 273 | Address to send the report to. Defaults to \fBperlbug@perl.org\fR. |
| 274 | .IP "\fB\-A\fR" 8 |
| 275 | .IX Item "-A" |
| 276 | Don't send a bug received acknowledgement to the reply address. |
| 277 | Generally it is only a sensible to use this option if you are a |
| 278 | perl maintainer actively watching perl porters for your message to |
| 279 | arrive. |
| 280 | .IP "\fB\-b\fR" 8 |
| 281 | .IX Item "-b" |
| 282 | Body of the report. If not included on the command line, or |
| 283 | in a file with \fB\-f\fR, you will get a chance to edit the message. |
| 284 | .IP "\fB\-C\fR" 8 |
| 285 | .IX Item "-C" |
| 286 | Don't send copy to administrator. |
| 287 | .IP "\fB\-c\fR" 8 |
| 288 | .IX Item "-c" |
| 289 | Address to send copy of report to. Defaults to the address of the |
| 290 | local perl administrator (recorded when perl was built). |
| 291 | .IP "\fB\-d\fR" 8 |
| 292 | .IX Item "-d" |
| 293 | Data mode (the default if you redirect or pipe output). This prints out |
| 294 | your configuration data, without mailing anything. You can use this |
| 295 | with \fB\-v\fR to get more complete data. |
| 296 | .IP "\fB\-e\fR" 8 |
| 297 | .IX Item "-e" |
| 298 | Editor to use. |
| 299 | .IP "\fB\-f\fR" 8 |
| 300 | .IX Item "-f" |
| 301 | File containing the body of the report. Use this to quickly send a |
| 302 | prepared message. |
| 303 | .IP "\fB\-F\fR" 8 |
| 304 | .IX Item "-F" |
| 305 | File to output the results to instead of sending as an email. Useful |
| 306 | particularly when running perlbug on a machine with no direct internet |
| 307 | connection. |
| 308 | .IP "\fB\-h\fR" 8 |
| 309 | .IX Item "-h" |
| 310 | Prints a brief summary of the options. |
| 311 | .IP "\fB\-ok\fR" 8 |
| 312 | .IX Item "-ok" |
| 313 | Report successful build on this system to perl porters. Forces \fB\-S\fR |
| 314 | and \fB\-C\fR. Forces and supplies values for \fB\-s\fR and \fB\-b\fR. Only |
| 315 | prompts for a return address if it cannot guess it (for use with |
| 316 | \&\fBmake\fR). Honors return address specified with \fB\-r\fR. You can use this |
| 317 | with \fB\-v\fR to get more complete data. Only makes a report if this |
| 318 | system is less than 60 days old. |
| 319 | .IP "\fB\-okay\fR" 8 |
| 320 | .IX Item "-okay" |
| 321 | As \fB\-ok\fR except it will report on older systems. |
| 322 | .IP "\fB\-nok\fR" 8 |
| 323 | .IX Item "-nok" |
| 324 | Report unsuccessful build on this system. Forces \fB\-C\fR. Forces and |
| 325 | supplies a value for \fB\-s\fR, then requires you to edit the report |
| 326 | and say what went wrong. Alternatively, a prepared report may be |
| 327 | supplied using \fB\-f\fR. Only prompts for a return address if it |
| 328 | cannot guess it (for use with \fBmake\fR). Honors return address |
| 329 | specified with \fB\-r\fR. You can use this with \fB\-v\fR to get more |
| 330 | complete data. Only makes a report if this system is less than 60 |
| 331 | days old. |
| 332 | .IP "\fB\-nokay\fR" 8 |
| 333 | .IX Item "-nokay" |
| 334 | As \fB\-nok\fR except it will report on older systems. |
| 335 | .IP "\fB\-r\fR" 8 |
| 336 | .IX Item "-r" |
| 337 | Your return address. The program will ask you to confirm its default |
| 338 | if you don't use this option. |
| 339 | .IP "\fB\-S\fR" 8 |
| 340 | .IX Item "-S" |
| 341 | Send without asking for confirmation. |
| 342 | .IP "\fB\-s\fR" 8 |
| 343 | .IX Item "-s" |
| 344 | Subject to include with the message. You will be prompted if you don't |
| 345 | supply one on the command line. |
| 346 | .IP "\fB\-t\fR" 8 |
| 347 | .IX Item "-t" |
| 348 | Test mode. The target address defaults to \fBperlbug\-test@perl.org\fR. |
| 349 | .IP "\fB\-v\fR" 8 |
| 350 | .IX Item "-v" |
| 351 | Include verbose configuration data in the report. |
| 352 | .SH "AUTHORS" |
| 353 | .IX Header "AUTHORS" |
| 354 | Kenneth Albanowski (<kjahds@kjahds.com>), subsequently \fIdoc\fRtored |
| 355 | by Gurusamy Sarathy (<gsar@activestate.com>), Tom Christiansen |
| 356 | (<tchrist@perl.com>), Nathan Torkington (<gnat@frii.com>), |
| 357 | Charles F. Randall (<cfr@pobox.com>), Mike Guy |
| 358 | (<mjtg@cam.a.uk>), Dominic Dunlop (<domo@computer.org>), |
| 359 | Hugo van der Sanden (<hv@crypt.org<gt>), |
| 360 | Jarkko Hietaniemi (<jhi@iki.fi>), Chris Nandor |
| 361 | (<pudge@pobox.com>), Jon Orwant (<orwant@media.mit.edu>, |
| 362 | and Richard Foley (<richard@rfi.net>). |
| 363 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 364 | .IX Header "SEE ALSO" |
| 365 | \&\fIperl\fR\|(1), \fIperldebug\fR\|(1), \fIperldiag\fR\|(1), \fIperlport\fR\|(1), \fIperltrap\fR\|(1), |
| 366 | \&\fIdiff\fR\|(1), \fIpatch\fR\|(1), \fIdbx\fR\|(1), \fIgdb\fR\|(1) |
| 367 | .SH "BUGS" |
| 368 | .IX Header "BUGS" |
| 369 | None known (guess what must have been used to report them?) |