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perlthanks (1)

Name

perlthanks - how to submit bug reports on Perl

Synopsis

perlbug

perlbug [ -v ] [ -a address ] [ -s subject ]
[ -b body | -f inputfile ] [ -F outputfile ]
[ -r returnaddress ] [ -e editor ] [ -c adminaddress | -C ]
[ -S ] [ -t ]  [ -d ]  [ -A ]  [ -h ] [ -T ]

perlbug [ -v ] [ -r returnaddress ]
[ -A ] [ -ok | -okay | -nok | -nokay ]

perlthanks

Description




Perl Programmers Reference Guide                       PERLBUG(1)



NAME
     perlbug - how to submit bug reports on Perl

SYNOPSIS
     perlbug

     perlbug [ -v ] [ -a address ] [ -s subject ]
     [ -b body | -f inputfile ] [ -F outputfile ]
     [ -r returnaddress ] [ -e editor ] [ -c adminaddress | -C ]
     [ -S ] [ -t ]  [ -d ]  [ -A ]  [ -h ] [ -T ]

     perlbug [ -v ] [ -r returnaddress ]
      [ -A ] [ -ok | -okay | -nok | -nokay ]

     perlthanks

DESCRIPTION
     This program is designed to help you generate and send bug
     reports (and thank-you notes) about perl5 and the modules
     which ship with it.

     In most cases, you can just run it interactively from a
     command line without any special arguments and follow the
     prompts.

     If you have found a bug with a non-standard port (one that
     was not part of the standard distribution), a binary
     distribution, or a non-core module (such as Tk, DBI, etc),
     then please see the documentation that came with that
     distribution to determine the correct place to report bugs.

     If you are unable to send your report using perlbug (most
     likely because your system doesn't have a way to send mail
     that perlbug recognizes), you may be able to use this tool
     to compose your report and save it to a file which you can
     then send to perlbug@perl.org using your regular mail
     client.

     In extreme cases, perlbug may not work well enough on your
     system to guide you through composing a bug report. In those
     cases, you may be able to use perlbug -d to get system
     configuration information to include in a manually composed
     bug report to perlbug@perl.org.

     When reporting a bug, please 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.org/ to find out.  If you are
         not using the latest released version, please try to



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         replicate your bug on the latest stable release.

         Note that reports about bugs in old versions of Perl,
         especially those which indicate you haven't also tested
         the current stable release of Perl, are likely to
         receive less attention from the volunteers who build and
         maintain Perl than reports about bugs in the current
         release.

         This tool isn't apropriate for reporting bugs in any
         version prior to Perl 5.0.

     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 issue
         you've run into isn't intentional by glancing through
         the documentation that comes with the Perl distribution.

         Given the sheer volume of Perl documentation, this isn't
         a trivial undertaking, but if you can point to
         documentation that suggests the behaviour you're seeing
         is wrong, your issue is likely to receive more
         attention. You may want to start with perldoc perltrap
         for pointers to common traps that new (and experienced)
         Perl programmers run into.

         If you're unsure of the meaning of an error message
         you've run across, perldoc perldiag for an explanation.
         If the message isn't in perldiag, it probably isn't
         generated by Perl.  You may have luck consulting your
         operating system documentation instead.

         If you are on a non-UNIX platform perldoc perlport, as
         some features may be unimplemented or work differently.

         You may be able to figure out what's going wrong using
         the Perl debugger.  For information about how to use the
         debugger perldoc perldebug.

     Do you have a proper test case?
         The easier it is to reproduce your bug, the more likely
         it will be fixed -- if nobody can duplicate your
         problem, it probably won't be addressed.

         A good test case has most of these attributes: short,
         simple code; few dependencies on external commands,
         modules, or libraries; no platform-dependent code
         (unless it's a platform-specific bug); clear, simple
         documentation.

         A good test case is almost always a good candidate to be
         included in Perl's test suite.  If you have the time,



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         consider writing your test case so that it can be easily
         included into the standard test suite.

     Have you included all relevant information?
         Be sure to include the exact error messages, if any.
         "Perl gave an error" 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 crash 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.  Any insight you can
         provide into the problem will help 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.  When sending a patch,
         please use the "diff" program with the "-u" option to
         generate "unified" diff files.  Bug reports with patches
         are likely to receive significantly more attention and
         interest than those without patches.

         Your patch may be returned with requests for changes, or
         requests for more detailed explanations about your fix.

         Here are a few hints for creating high-quality patches:

         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 is covered by Perl's test suite).

     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



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         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 produced 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" is
         not informative.  Neither is "perl crashes" nor is
         "HELP!!!".  These don't help.  A compact description of
         what's wrong is fine.

     Can you use "perlbug" to submit a thank-you note?
         Yes, you can do this by either using the "-T" option, or
         by invoking the program as "perlthanks". Thank-you notes
         are good. It makes people smile.

     Having done your bit, please be prepared to wait, to be told
     the bug is in your code, or possibly to get no reply at all.
     The volunteers who maintain Perl are busy folks, so if your
     problem is an obvious bug in your own code, is difficult to
     understand or is a duplicate of an existing report, you may
     not receive a personal reply.

     If it is important to you that your bug be fixed, do monitor
     the perl5-porters@perl.org mailing list and the commit logs
     to development versions of Perl, and encourage the
     maintainers with kind words or offers of frosty beverages.
     (Please do be kind to the maintainers.  Harassing or flaming
     them is likely to have the opposite effect of the one you
     want.)

     Feel free to update the ticket about your bug on
     http://rt.perl.org if a new version of Perl is released and
     your bug is still present.

OPTIONS
     -a      Address to send the report to.  Defaults to
             perlbug@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 command
             line, or in a file with -f, you will get a chance to
             edit the message.

     -C      Don't send copy to administrator.




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     -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 connection.

     -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.



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     -t      Test mode.  The target address defaults to
             perlbug-test@perl.org.

     -T      Send a thank-you note instead of a bug report.

     -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@computer.org>), Hugo van der Sanden
     (<hv@crypt.org<gt>), Jarkko Hietaniemi (<jhi@iki.fi>), Chris
     Nandor (<pudge@pobox.com>), Jon Orwant
     (<orwant@media.mit.edu>, Richard Foley
     (<richard.foley@rfi.net>), and Jesse Vincent
     (<jesse@bestpractical.com<gt>).


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
     attributes:

     +---------------+------------------+
     |ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE  |
     +---------------+------------------+
     |Availability   | runtime/perl-512 |
     +---------------+------------------+
     |Stability      | Uncommitted      |
     +---------------+------------------+
SEE ALSO
     perl(1), perldebug(1), perldiag(1), perlport(1),
     perltrap(1), diff(1), patch(1), dbx(1), gdb(1)

BUGS
     None known (guess what must have been used to report them?)



NOTES
     This software was built from source available at
     https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland.  The original
     community source was downloaded from
     http://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/perl-5.12.5.tar.bz2

     Further information about this software can be found on the
     open source community website at http://www.perl.org/.






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