* binutils.texi: Add section on reporting bugs.
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Ian Lance Taylor
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@ -134,7 +134,8 @@ Convert object code into a Netware Loadable Module
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* c++filt:: Filter to demangle encoded C++ symbols
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* nlmconv:: Converts object code into an NLM
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* Selecting The Target System:: How these utilities determine the target.
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* Index::
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* Reporting Bugs:: Reporting Bugs
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* Index:: Index
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@end menu
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@node ar
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@ -1978,6 +1979,213 @@ compiled-in @code{DEFAULT_EMULATION} from @file{Makefile},
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which comes from @code{EMUL} in @file{config/@var{target}.mt}
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@end enumerate
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@node Reporting Bugs
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@chapter Reporting Bugs
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@cindex bugs
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@cindex reporting bugs
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Your bug reports play an essential role in making the binary utilities
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reliable.
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Reporting a bug may help you by bringing a solution to your problem, or
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it may not. But in any case the principal function of a bug report is
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to help the entire community by making the next version of the binary
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utilities work better. Bug reports are your contribution to their
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maintenance.
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In order for a bug report to serve its purpose, you must include the
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information that enables us to fix the bug.
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@menu
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* Bug Criteria:: Have you found a bug?
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* Bug Reporting:: How to report bugs
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@end menu
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@node Bug Criteria
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@section Have you found a bug?
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@cindex bug criteria
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If you are not sure whether you have found a bug, here are some guidelines:
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@itemize @bullet
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@cindex fatal signal
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@cindex crash
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@item
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If a binary utility gets a fatal signal, for any input whatever, that is
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a bug. Reliable utilities never crash.
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@cindex error on valid input
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@item
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If a binary utility produces an error message for valid input, that is a
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bug.
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@item
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If you are an experienced user of binary utilities, your suggestions for
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improvement are welcome in any case.
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@end itemize
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@node Bug Reporting
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@section How to report bugs
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@cindex bug reports
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@cindex bugs, reporting
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A number of companies and individuals offer support for @sc{gnu}
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products. If you obtained the binary utilities from a support
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organization, we recommend you contact that organization first.
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You can find contact information for many support companies and
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individuals in the file @file{etc/SERVICE} in the @sc{gnu} Emacs
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distribution.
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In any event, we also recommend that you send bug reports for the binary
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utilities to @samp{bug-gnu-utils@@prep.ai.mit.edu}.
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The fundamental principle of reporting bugs usefully is this:
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@strong{report all the facts}. If you are not sure whether to state a
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fact or leave it out, state it!
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Often people omit facts because they think they know what causes the
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problem and assume that some details do not matter. Thus, you might
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assume that the name of a file you use in an example does not matter.
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Well, probably it does not, but one cannot be sure. Perhaps the bug is
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a stray memory reference which happens to fetch from the location where
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that pathname is stored in memory; perhaps, if the pathname were
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different, the contents of that location would fool the utility into
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doing the right thing despite the bug. Play it safe and give a
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specific, complete example. That is the easiest thing for you to do,
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and the most helpful.
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Keep in mind that the purpose of a bug report is to enable us to fix the bug if
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it is new to us. Therefore, always write your bug reports on the assumption
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that the bug has not been reported previously.
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Sometimes people give a few sketchy facts and ask, ``Does this ring a
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bell?'' Those bug reports are useless, and we urge everyone to
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@emph{refuse to respond to them} except to chide the sender to report
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bugs properly.
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To enable us to fix the bug, you should include all these things:
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@itemize @bullet
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@item
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The version of the utility. Each utility announces it if you start it
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with the @samp{--version} argument.
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Without this, we will not know whether there is any point in looking for
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the bug in the current version of the binary utilities.
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@item
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Any patches you may have applied to the source, including any patches
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made to the @code{BFD} library.
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@item
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The type of machine you are using, and the operating system name and
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version number.
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@item
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What compiler (and its version) was used to compile the utilities---e.g.
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``@code{gcc-2.7}''.
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@item
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The command arguments you gave the utility to observe the bug. To
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guarantee you will not omit something important, list them all. A copy
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of the Makefile (or the output from make) is sufficient.
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If we were to try to guess the arguments, we would probably guess wrong
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and then we might not encounter the bug.
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@item
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A complete input file, or set of input files, that will reproduce the
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bug. If the utility is reading an object file or files, then it is
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generally most helpful to send the actual object files, uuencoded if
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necessary to get them through the mail system. Making them available
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for anonymous FTP is not as good, but may be the only reasonable choice
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for large object files.
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If the source files were produced exclusively using @sc{gnu} programs
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(e.g., @code{gcc}, @code{gas}, and/or the @sc{gnu} @code{ld}), then it
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may be OK to send the source files rather than the object files. In
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this case, be sure to say exactly what version of @code{gcc}, or
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whatever, was used to produce the object files. Also say how
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@code{gcc}, or whatever, was configured.
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@item
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A description of what behavior you observe that you believe is
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incorrect. For example, ``It gets a fatal signal.''
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Of course, if the bug is that the utility gets a fatal signal, then we
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will certainly notice it. But if the bug is incorrect output, we might
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not notice unless it is glaringly wrong. You might as well not give us
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a chance to make a mistake.
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Even if the problem you experience is a fatal signal, you should still
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say so explicitly. Suppose something strange is going on, such as, your
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copy of the utility is out of synch, or you have encountered a bug in
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the C library on your system. (This has happened!) Your copy might
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crash and ours would not. If you told us to expect a crash, then when
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ours fails to crash, we would know that the bug was not happening for
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us. If you had not told us to expect a crash, then we would not be able
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to draw any conclusion from our observations.
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@item
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If you wish to suggest changes to the source, send us context diffs, as
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generated by @code{diff} with the @samp{-u}, @samp{-c}, or @samp{-p}
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option. Always send diffs from the old file to the new file. If you
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even discuss something in the @code{ld} source, refer to it by context,
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not by line number.
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The line numbers in our development sources will not match those in your
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sources. Your line numbers would convey no useful information to us.
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@end itemize
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Here are some things that are not necessary:
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@itemize @bullet
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@item
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A description of the envelope of the bug.
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Often people who encounter a bug spend a lot of time investigating
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which changes to the input file will make the bug go away and which
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changes will not affect it.
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This is often time consuming and not very useful, because the way we
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will find the bug is by running a single example under the debugger
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with breakpoints, not by pure deduction from a series of examples.
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We recommend that you save your time for something else.
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Of course, if you can find a simpler example to report @emph{instead}
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of the original one, that is a convenience for us. Errors in the
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output will be easier to spot, running under the debugger will take
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less time, and so on.
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However, simplification is not vital; if you do not want to do this,
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report the bug anyway and send us the entire test case you used.
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@item
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A patch for the bug.
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A patch for the bug does help us if it is a good one. But do not omit
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the necessary information, such as the test case, on the assumption that
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a patch is all we need. We might see problems with your patch and decide
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to fix the problem another way, or we might not understand it at all.
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Sometimes with programs as complicated as the binary utilities it is
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very hard to construct an example that will make the program follow a
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certain path through the code. If you do not send us the example, we
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will not be able to construct one, so we will not be able to verify that
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the bug is fixed.
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And if we cannot understand what bug you are trying to fix, or why your
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patch should be an improvement, we will not install it. A test case will
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help us to understand.
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@item
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A guess about what the bug is or what it depends on.
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Such guesses are usually wrong. Even we cannot guess right about such
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things without first using the debugger to find the facts.
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@end itemize
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@node Index
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@unnumbered Index
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