Konubinix' opinionated web of thoughts

Bug Report How To

Fleeting

Information for Maintainers of GNU Software

When you receive bug reports, keep in mind that bug reports are crucial for your work. If you don’t know about problems, you cannot fix them. So always thank each person who sends a bug report

https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html

main purpose of bug reports is to help you contribute to the community by improving the next version of the program. Many of the people who report bugs don’t realize this—they think that the point is for you to help them individually. Some will ask you to focus on that instead of on making the program better

https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html

people sometimes report a bug in a vague (and therefore useless) way, and when you ask for more information, they say, “I just wanted to see if you already knew the solution” (in which case the bug report would do nothing to help improve the program). When this happens, you should explain to them the real purpose of bug reports. (A canned explanation will make this more efficient.)

https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html

Know how to say no; when you are pressed for time, just “thanks for the bug report—I will fix it” is enough response

https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html