How Do I Report a Bug or Issue?

The XIPAR project's bug tracker is located at http://www.xelatec.com/xmantis/. It is publically viewable but requires a valid username and password to enter new bugs. Use the "Contact Us" selection in the left hand column of this page to request a username and password for the bug list.

Before creating a new issue, search the bug tracker database to see if the bug has already been reported. If it has been and you have additional information that will help resolve the issue, feel free to use the "Add Note" field to provide that information or mail it to the developer assigned to the issue.

To fix a new bug the developers must have specific information about the installation where the issue appears. To help easily collect this information there is a utility which collects basic information about your installation. It creates a file named "/tmp/app_info.txt" with most of the information the developers need about the installation. Run this utility and attach this file to the new bug report. The XIPAR package installs Webmin (http://yourmachineaddress:10000) which has an "Upload and Download" utility in the "Others" section which can be used to move this file to your computer in order to attach it to an e-mail.

Login as root and enter xapl app-info.

The program should display much of the information that is needed to complete the bug report form.

Bug Entry Form Guidelines

Please use the Advanced version of the form because it includes the "Steps to Reproduce" field which holds information that is almost always needed by the developers. In that field say if the issue is easily repeatable then give the steps that the developer will have to go through to duplicate the issue.

Category - n/a
Reproducibility - As you have experienced it.
Severity - As you perceive it.
Priority - As you perceive it.
Summary - Make this a concise one line phrase describing the issue.
Additional Information - Use your judgment here.

After you report the issue, please allow us the privilege of changing priorities and other fields to balance the project's total needs and resources.

If the people assigned to the issue cannot replicate it on their own machines, you may be requested to enable them to log into your system to take a look around. Of course, this is at your discretion, but it will speed up the process greatly and may be necessary.

And don't worry. We'll fix it!