[Koha] Bug reporting for newbies

[Ingrid Lacis]

Some of you on this list are computer geniuses - this post is  NOT for 
you.  This is for people like me.

It is very important for Koha to have bugs listed on bugzilla.  That is the 
list that the developers work from.  If a bug is just mentioned in a 
posting it can very easily slip through the cracks (it might be assumed 
that it has already been fixed by someone else.)

I probably have the most bugs listed on bugzilla (http://bugs.koha.org/) 
right now.

A few weeks ago I was looking at the query page and thinking this is WAY 
too complicated for me to understand.

If you spot a bug, first check to see if it has already been reported:
http://bugs.koha.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla/query.cgi

The query page is not difficult - it only looks that way.

Status  - you should hi-light all the options because the bug that's on 
your machine may have been fixed since you downloaded Koha.

Then jump down all the way to component and hi-light the section of Koha 
that the bug is in.

I don't check version because some bugs appear in multiple versions.

Then hit the submit query button.  You'll get a list of all bugs reported 
in that component.  Click on the bug ID to see the full bug report and 
comments made by others on that bug.

If you don't see your bug there hit the enter new bug link.

You will need a bugzilla account to submit a bug (totally painless).

Entering a bug:

These are the buzilla bug writing guidelines:
http://www.mozilla.org/quality/bug-writing-guidelines.html

Select the version of Koha you are using.  The component - where is the bug.

The operating system that your Koha is running on (or ALL if it would 
affect all operating systems - if  the members first and last names are 
mixed up - that would affect all operating systems vs. an installation 
problem that might affect just one.)
I admit that at first I made a real newbie mistake - I chose Windows 2000 
because  that is the operating system that MY computer uses forgetting that 
my Koha is not installed on MY PC but on another machine.

Then severity - this is of great help to the Developers.  Paul Poulain (the 
2.0 Release Manager) tells me that when he has a few minutes he works on 
the "minor" bugs and when he has more time he goes for the "majors" or 
"normals".  (I had been using normal most of the time so don't follow my 
example - I just started to change my ways yesterday.)

Assign to: I enter Paul's email for the 1.9x's  paul.poulain at free.fr  and 
leave it blank for other versions.

Summary: this is what is seen when someone is doing a bug query so I am 
trying to be as descriptive and clear as possible so people know exactly 
what this bug is - I wrote "Wrong size text boxes " but I really should 
have written "Wrong size text boxes on this page" because now everyone who 
spots a wrong sized text box is going to have to read my bug report to see 
if we are talking about the same page.   (But you can find your bug and 
amend it - I will do that.)

Description:
What is most helpful for the developers is being able to reproduce the 
bug.  I was on this page, I did this and then that and this is what happened.
I always copy the common part of the url of the page(s) involved so they 
can be accessed easily.
On the rare occasion that I can find the error in the source code I enter 
that too.

If you think it may be a bug but aren't quite sure or comfortable posting 
it on bugzilla (I was afraid that maybe my bugs weren't valid and that I 
would just annoy the developers) post on the testing mailing list: 
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/koha-testing
and others can jump in and test it.
(Note: if your questions are about installation - post those on the 
developers lists http://koha.org/mailing/).

I will also be posting this on the Koha wiki where everyone is free to add 
their suggestions http://www.saas.nsw.edu.au/wiki/index.php?page=KohaProject.


Ingrid



Ingrid Lacis

The Cherry Hill Company
www.chillco.com
11664 National Blvd. #143
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 397-2999
ilacis at chillco.com

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