Bug/Enhancement Reporting Guidelines

The Koha developers make use of a Bugzilla based bug tracking system.

Bugwriting Guidelines

Bugzilla includes a general purpose bug writing guidelines page that you should review in its entirity before submitting a bug to Koha.

Enhancement/Sponsorship Guidelines

All Enhancements or sponsored items will be entered into http://bugs.koha.org which will allow users and developers access to what is currently in development as well as items that are being considered by libraries. Comments can be made on enhancements which will provide details for the development of the enhancement and to work out details with the libraries interested in the enhancement. This page of Enhancement instructions outlines what needs to be put into the enhancement when entering into bugzilla.

What is a bug?

A bug can be quickly identified as a problem with Koha. However, it is much more complicated than that. It can be a behavioural problem, or a component that does not work at all. It even applies to documentation that is incorrect. We also utilize Bugzilla for “future enhancements” or “feature requests”.

What is Bugzilla? :Bugzilla is a database of bugs and feature requests developed by the [http://www.mozilla.org Mozilla] project. It helps developers keep track of what's broken and who's fixing it. Users can help by making bug reports clear and specific. The better your bug report, the easier it is to identify the cause, and fix the bug.

: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 to a mailling list, or just mentioned on IRC (chat) it can very easily slip through the cracks.

Bug Reporting Steps

Determine if you have a new bug

The first step to submitting a bug is to see if someone else has a similar problem to you.

  1. Review [http://bugs.koha.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla/page.cgi?id=bug-writing.html|bug writing guidelines]] in their entirety.
  2. Create a Bugzilla account (if needed)
  3. Login to Bugzilla.
  4. Search for an existing or similar bug.
  5. If you are unable to find an existing bug report, create a new bug.

If you find an existing or similar bug

  1. Add yourself to the CC for the bug to be kept informed of progress. Leave a comment if you have something to add or wish to offer help in some way.

Submitting a new bug

Congratulations, you found a new bug! Click the new bug button to begin entering a new bug.

  1. Version: Select the version of Koha you are experiencing this issue under. (If you are unsure of the version of Koha you are using you can find the version in either the Intranet interface by selecting the “About” page, or else view the contents of your koha.conf file.)
  2. Component: Select the appropriate component. If you are unsure what area of Koha to report the error under, view the component list.
  3. Platform: In most cases you can leave this as 'PC', as the OS is much more relevant.
  4. OS: Select youur operating system. If you are unable to find your exact operating system, please pick the closest aproximation and in the body of the ticket explain what operating system you are using – the more details the better (ie, Windows 2003 Server, Service Pack 2, All Updates Applied, rather than Windows)
  5. Priority: The ticket priority helps us triage issues. Setting an appropriate level of priority helps us immensely.
Priority Description
P1This bug blocks development or testing work and should be fixed ASAP
P2This bug blocks usability of a large portion of Koha, and really should be fixed before the next planned release
P3Seriously broken, but not high impact. Should be fixed before next major release. Can include cosmetic bugs of particularly high visibility, and more minor bugs that are frequently reported
P4Either a fairly straightforward workaround exists or the functionality is not very important and/or not frequently used
P5Not that important, just fix when time permits
  • 6 Severity: This goes hand-in-hand with the priority line – how bad do you think this bug is? This field describes the impact of a bug on a user. If a bug occurs with great frequency, it can be moved up in severity even if it doesn't meet the other criteria in that category.
Severity Description
BlockerNeeds to be fixed and an update released immediately.
Critical Koha or component crashes and/or there is a potential loss of data
MajorA major part of the component is nonfunctional.
NormalA minor part of the component is nonfunctional.
MinorThe component mostly works, but causes some irritation to users.
TrivialThe component works with 100% functionality, but has visible typos or other cosmetic problems
EnhancementGenerally a feature request for functionality that does not currently exist. These can be useful as guides for future product improvements.

* 8 Summary: Describe your bug in a short sentence. Be as descriptive as possible- 'it is broken' is not very useful, while 'the text entry form won't let me enter text' is much more informative.

Oh my! Thats too hard!

If you think that you may have discovered a bug but are not quite sure or comfortable posting it on Bugzilla post a message to one of the mailing lists and others can give advice:

 
bugreportingfornewbies.txt · Last modified: 2009/05/20 00:29 by kf
 
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