PERLBUG(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLBUG(1)NAMEperlbug - how to submit bug reports on Perl
SYNOPSISperlbug [ -v ] [ -a address ] [ -s subject ]
[ -b body | -f inputfile ] [ -F outputfile ] [ -r retur_
naddress ] [ -e editor ] [ -c adminaddress | -C ] [ -S ]
[ -t ] [ -d ] [ -A ] [ -h ]
perlbug [ -v ] [ -r returnaddress ]
[ -A ] [ -ok | -okay | -nok | -nokay ]
DESCRIPTION
A program to help generate bug reports about perl or the
modules that come with it, and mail them.
If you have found a bug with a non-standard port (one that
was not part of the standard distribution), a binary dis
tribution, or a non-standard module (such as Tk, CGI,
etc), then please see the documentation that came with
that distribution to determine the correct place to report
bugs.
"perlbug" is designed to be used interactively. Normally
no arguments will be needed. Simply run it, and follow
the prompts.
If you are unable to run perlbug (most likely because you
don't have a working setup to send mail that perlbug rec
ognizes), you may have to compose your own report, and
email it to perlbug@perl.org. You might find the -d
option useful to get summary information in that case.
In any case, when reporting a bug, please make sure you
have 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.com/ to find out. If it is
not the latest released version, get that one and see
whether your bug has been fixed. Note that bug
reports about old versions of Perl, especially those
prior to the 5.0 release, are likely to fall upon deaf
ears. You are on your own if you continue to use
perl1 .. perl4.
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
behavior you are witnessing doesn't fall under that
category, by glancing through the documentation that
comes with Perl (we'll admit this is no mean task,
given the sheer volume of it all, but at least have a
look at the sections that seem relevant).
Be aware of the familiar traps that perl programmers
of various hues fall into. See the perltrap manpage.
Check in the perldiag manpage to see what any Perl
error message(s) mean. If message isn't in perldiag,
it probably isn't generated by Perl. Consult your
operating system documentation instead.
If you are on a non-UNIX platform check also the perl
port manpage, as some features may be unimplemented or
work differently.
Try to study the problem under the Perl debugger, if
necessary. See the perldebug manpage.
Do you have a proper test case?
The easier it is to reproduce your bug, the more
likely it will be fixed, because if no one can dupli
cate the problem, no one can fix it. A good test case
has most of these attributes: fewest possible number
of lines; few dependencies on external commands, mod
ules, or libraries; runs on most platforms unimpeded;
and is self-documenting.
A good test case is almost always a good candidate to
be on the perl test suite. If you have the time, con
sider making your test case so that it will readily
fit into the standard test suite.
Remember also to include the exact error messages, if
any. "Perl complained something" 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 dump 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. Anything you can pro
vide by way of insight into the problem helps 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. Use the "diff" program to
generate your patches ("diff" is being maintained by
the GNU folks as part of the diffutils package, so you
should be able to get it from any of the GNU software
repositories). If you do submit a patch, the cool-
dude counter at perlbug@perl.org will register you as
a savior of the world. Your patch may be returned
with requests for changes, or requests for more
detailed explanations about your fix.
Here are some clues for creating quality patches: Use
the -c or -u switches to the diff program (to create a
so-called context or unified diff). 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 supports it).
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@perl.org. If,
for some reason, you cannot run "perlbug" at all on
your system, be sure to include the entire output pro
duced 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"
not informative. Neither is "perl crashes" nor
"HELP!!!". These don't help. A compact description
of what's wrong is fine.
Having done your bit, please be prepared to wait, to be
told the bug is in your code, or even to get no reply at
all. The Perl maintainers are busy folks, so if your
problem is a small one or if it is difficult to understand
or already known, they may not respond with a personal
reply. If it is important to you that your bug be fixed,
do monitor the "Changes" file in any development releases
since the time you submitted the bug, and encourage the
maintainers with kind words (but never any flames!). Feel
free to resend your bug report if the next released ver
sion of perl comes out and your bug is still present.
OPTIONS-a Address to send the report to. Defaults to `perl
bug@perl.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 com
mand 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 con
nection.
-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 `perl
bug-test@perl.com'.
-v Include verbose configuration data in the report.
AUTHORS
Kenneth Albanowski (<kjahds@kjahds.com>), subsequently
doctored by Gurusamy Sarathy (<gsar@activestate.com>), Tom
Christiansen (<tchrist@perl.com>), Nathan Torkington
(<gnat@frii.com>), Charles F. Randall (<cfr@pobox.com>),
Mike Guy (<mjtg@cam.a.uk>), Dominic Dunlop (<domo@com
puter.org>), Hugo van der Sanden
(<hv@crypt0.demon.co.uk>), Jarkko Hietaniemi
(<jhi@iki.fi>), Chris Nandor (<pudge@pobox.com>), Jon
Orwant (<orwant@media.mit.edu>, and Richard Foley
(<richard@rfi.net>).
SEE ALSOperl(1), perldebug(1), perldiag(1), perlport(1), perl_
trap(1), diff(1), patch(1), dbx(1), gdb(1)BUGS
None known (guess what must have been used to report
them?)
2002-06-25 perl v5.6.1 PERLBUG(1)
