Writing Bug Reports
Good bug reports are essential to help the developer to quickly reproduce and fix the bug. Screenshots are helpful as well as information about the environment the bug has been encountered.
If a developer writes a bug report s/he will be assigned to (and s/he is sure that s/he will have the issue fixed soon), it is not required to detail under which circumstances the issue has been raised. But it is important to describe what the problem of the bug is so that other users can identify the report with the issue they encountered.
Useful Information
The following information should provided to create a useful bug report.
| Information | Description |
|---|---|
| Summary | An expressive phrase explaining the problem. |
| Overview | A precise description of the problem. |
| Environment | Tabular listing of environment parameters. |
| Reproduction | Tabular listing of the single steps to reproduce the problem. Where applicable provide the information given to the system like form data, input files, etc. |
| Actual Results | Description of the system's response. Where applicable with screenshots and pointers to the problem. |
| Expected Results | Description of the expected results. Where applicable with screenshots showing a valid state (if it can be created on this or another machine). |
Environment information always to be mentioned is:
- The version of the system the bug was encountered.
- The date and time the bug has been encountered.
General Tips
- Check if the bug is already reported.
- Be precise in telling what you have done, what you have observed and what you have expected.
- Refrain from speculation, stick to the facts and mark speculations (if you really find it useful) clearly.
- If there is an error message or error code, mention it exactly as given.
- Provide screenshots - the developer may see information deemed unimportant by a user.
- Provide input information - the developer will have a chance to quickly reproduce the bug.
References
The following references provide information about this topic.
- Anatomy of a Bug - provides a (too?) short description on Bugzilla's bug properties.
- A Bug's Life Cycle - provides information about Bugzilla's definition of the stages a bug passes. It also shows brief information on severity (and other properties) values.
BTW: If you find the severity 'Trivial' troublesome you might interpret it as 'used to track easy to implement enhancements rather than cosmetic problems' (mentioned by Steffen Pingel on Mylyn Dev mailing list: Bugzilla conventions, Eclipse versions) - How to Report Bugs Effectively by Simon Tatham (available in different languages)
- Bug Writing Guidelines @ wikimedia