Changes between Version 88 and Version 89 of Bugtracker

Timestamp:

Nov 16, 2016 8:09:19 AM (8 years ago)

Author:

Michael Thayer

Comment:

--

Bugtracker

@@ -6 +6 @@
 
  * '''Remember''' that !VirtualBox has a huge '''community''' with lots of '''highly skilled programmers''' in it.  The core team is small and busy and the number of users with bug reports is large.  But there might well be someone else out there with the same problem as you and the skills to fix it (or willing to work for contract - crowdfunding?).
- * '''Remember''' that you can still do a lot of work on a bug even if you can't program by '''studying and isolating''' it.  '''Problems which developers can reproduce''' quickly and easily are much more likely to be fixed than problems which only happen on certain systems, or require installing special software in special virtual machines.  So look for '''simpler ways of triggering''' the problem.
+ * '''Remember''' that you can still do a lot of work on a bug even if you can't program by '''studying and isolating''' it.  Problems which '''developers can reproduce''' quickly and easily are much more likely to be fixed than problems which only happen on certain systems, or require installing special software in special virtual machines.  So look for '''simpler ways of triggering''' the problem.
  * '''Try out a [wiki:Testbuilds test build]''' to see if the problem has already been fixed.
  * '''Do some research''' (e.g. using search engines, our [http://forums.virtualbox.org forums] and [search:?link&q=&ticket=on existing bug tickets]) before creating a ticket.  Try to '''solve as much of the problem''' as you can yourself or in collaboration with other users.
- * Describe as precisely as you can '''how to reproduce the problem''', bearing in mind that it may be triggered by something special on your own computer system.  It is often next to impossible for a developer to fix a problem that they cannot reproduce.  It may help to find other people with the same problem and compare notes.
+ * Describe as precisely as you can '''how to reproduce the problem''', bearing in mind that it may be triggered by something special on your own computer system.  Fixing problems which cannot be reproduced is long and painful, both for the developer '''and the bug reporter'''.  It may help to find other people with the same problem and compare notes.
  * '''Attach a log file.'''  The log file contains a lot of useful information about both the host and the guest systems as well as information about what happened during a particular machine run.
  * '''Choose a summary carefully.'''  The bug tracker and ticket notifications are mainly seen by (busy) developers, and unless a summary catches their eye and looks related to the things they as an individual work on the ticket may not even be read.