Bug report

Bugs Bugs Bugs!!!

What are bugs exactly? 

A bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. 

A bug report

Bug reports exist only to inform people about software defects. They are not for notes, for tracking work done or for planning. There are better systems for this. The best bug reports will have as much appropriate information as possible to help asses get kicked as fast and effectively as possible.

Including the correct information in a bug report will help the problem to be discovered, diagnosed and solved in a timely manner - without this information, more questions will be needed before an attempt can be made at trying to fix whatever went wrong.

Minimum things to include are:

• Include steps to reproduce the problem as reliably as possible
• Include what you expected to happen
• Include what actually happened

There are plenty of other helpful things to include like:

• What OS and version of the OS you’re running (especially if the program is cross-platform or you’re using an unreleased version of the OS)
• What versions of other related software you have installed
• Your software environment (like your PATH environment variable, how much RAM you have, is your system low on disk space)
• Generally, almost any information you provide could help. So if you have time, provide more. It can only help your chances of getting your bug fixed before someone else’s. But let’s go back to the minimums