Bug Reporting Etiquette

Jamie Zawinski writes "Mozilla.org has a new article on Bugzilla Etiquette. Relevant to more than just Bugzilla, this should be required reading for anyone who wants to file a bug about any product, no matter what bug tracking system is in use. I especially like the mention that "'Open Source' is not the same as 'the developers must do my bidding.'"" Update: 03/19 21:26 GMT by T : If that link doesn't work for you without cutting and pasting, reader Stephen Ostermiller suggests "you might want to use this link which appears to be the same document mirrored elsewhere."

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[Anonymous Coward]

Bugzilla Etiquette

There's a number of faux pas you can commit when using Bugzilla. At the very least, these will make Mozilla contributors upset at you; if committed enough times they will cause those contributors to demand the disabling of your Bugzilla account. So, ignore this advice at your peril.

That said, Mozilla developers are generally a friendly bunch, and will be towards you as long as you follow these guidelines.
1. Commenting

This is the most important section.

1. No pointless comments. Unless you have something constructive and helpful to say, do not add a comment to a bug. In bugs where there is a heated debate going on, you should be even more inclined not to add a comment. Unless you have something new to contribute, then the bug owner is aware of all the issues, and will make a judgement as to what to do. If you agree the bug should be fixed, vote for it. Additional "I see this too" or "It works for me" comments are unnecessary unless they are on a different platform or a significantly different build.
2. No obligation. "Open Source" is not the same as "the developers must do my bidding." The only person who has any obligation to fix the bugs you want fixed is you. Never act as if you expect someone to fix a bug by a particular date or release. This is merely obnoxious, and is likely to get the bug ignored.
3. No personal abuse. Bugzilla is a window into the world of Mozilla development. The fact that we permit anyone with an account to add a comment does not mean you may harass, harangue or otherwise hassle contributors. Do not make weak threats like "I won't use Mozilla until this bug is fixed!" If a respected project contributor complains about your Bugzilla attitude, then you may have your account disabled. If you don't like this possibility, become a respected project contributor.

2. Changing Fields

1. No messing with other people's bugs. Unless you are the bug assignee, or have some say over the use of their time, never change the Priority or Target Milestone fields. If in doubt, do not change the fields of bugs you do not own - add a comment instead, suggesting the change.
2. No whining about decisions. If a respected project contributor has marked a bug as INVALID, then it is invalid. Someone filing another duplicate of it does not change this. Unless you have further important evidence, do not post a comment arguing that an INVALID or WONTFIX bug should be reopened.

3. Applicability

1. Some of these rules may not apply to you. If they do not, you will know exactly which ones do not, and why they do not apply. If you are not sure, then they definitely all apply to you.

If you see someone not following these rules, the first step is to point this out by private mail. They may well not be aware of this document. Flaming people publically in bugs just causes resentment. In the case of persistent offending you should report the matter to Gerv.

This entire document can be summed up in one sentence: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Bug Reporting Problems,

[PktLoss]

I work for a small company (5 employees), with a user base floating around 1M. And I can't even begin to explain the lost man hours dealing with bad bug reports. I have personally closed over 20 duplicate bugs for a single incident, seeing 3 of the 5 most recently submitted bugs were the same was the first bad sign.

We also deal with the common problem of perception; users think they are doing us the ultimate favour by posting bugs. And as such, feel that any and all means of telling us about them is apropriate, email to 5+ accounts, multiple forum posts, bugtracker, etc. This just wastes time that could have been spent fixing the bug in the first place.

While I would agree that bug reports are helpfull, and nesesary. Condecending tones, foul language, and thinly veiled threats do little.

All i would ask of posters is:
-Replicate it, If you cant make it happen more than once, it doesnt matter (s/w under windows has special quirks of which i am sure you are aware).
-Search It, then /when/ you find the same thing allready there, post a comment with your input, and stats on your OS and machine.
-Include relevant details, killing bug reports under 100chars is really tempting 'it doesnt work', 'the installer breaks', 'its too slow' are all to common.
-Include information on what you were trying to do, and what you were expecting, 'Bugs' are often just a difference of perception between coders, and end users as to what a feature should do.