by: Jason and Dottie
Anatomy of a Bug
Product and Components
Bugs are divided up by Product and
Component, with a Product having one
or more Components in it.
Status
Defines what state the bug is in.
Examles:
UNCONFIRMED
NEW
ASSIGNED
REOPENED
RESOLVED
VERIFIED
CLOSED
Resolution
The resolution field indicates
what happened to this bug
NO RESOLUTION YET:
FIXED:
INVALID:
WONTFIX:
LATER:
REMIND:
DUPLICATE:
WORKSFORME:
Assigned To
Who should be responsible for fixing this
bug. If you'd prefer to directly assign the
bug to someone else enter their e-mail
address into this field. Otherwise,
Bugzilla will assign it to another
programmer.
Summary
Describe the bug, in 60 character or
less.
A good summary should quickly and
uniquely identify a bug report.
Use keywords that can be easily
identified in a search.
Summary
Good Summary:
"PCMCIA install fails on Tosh Tecra
780DVD w/ 3c589C".
Bad Summary:
"Software fails" or "install problem"
Platform
The platform field is the hardware platform
against which the bug was reported. Legal
platforms include but are not limited to:
All (happens on all platform; cross-platform bug)
Macintosh
PC
Sun
HP
Note: Selecting the option "All" does not select bugs assigned against all
platforms. It merely selects bugs that occur on all platforms.
Operating System
The operating system field is the operating system
against which the bug was reported. Legal
operating systems include but are not limited to:
All (happens on all operating systems)
Windows 95
Windows 2000
Mac System 8.0
Linux
Other (Not in any of these Oses)
Version
The “Version” field is usually used for
versions of a product which have been
released, and is set to indicate which
versions of a Component have the
particular problem the bug report is
about.
Priority
The priority field describes the
importance and order in which a bug
should be fixed. This field is utilized
by the programmers/engineers to
prioritize their work. The priorities are
from P1 (Most important) to P5 (Least
important).
Severity
 Blocker - Blocks development and/or testing
work.
 Critical - Crashes, loss of data, severe memory
leak.
 Major - Major loss of function.
 Normal - This is the run of the mill bug.
 Minor - Minor loss of function, or other
problem where an easy workaround is present.
 Trivial - Cosmetic problem like misspelled
words or misaligned text.
 Enhancement - Request for enhancement.
Other fields
Reporter
The person who filed the bug
CC list
A list of people who get email when the bug changes
Attachments
You can attach files to bugs
Additional Comments
You can add your two cents to the bug discussion here
How To Write
Useful Bug Report
Useful bug reports have two
qualities
Reproducible
The engineer should be able to reproduce
the errors from your bug report. Providing
detailed reports helps.
Specific
Expedite the fix by providing the engineer
with the specific location of the bug.
Examples:
Good:
"PCMCIA install fails on Tosh Tecra
780DVD w/ 3c589C".
Bad:
"Software fails" or "install
problem"
What it all means
Filling out the form
Searching for Bugs
Bug Queries
At Bottom of Every Page:
Bug Queries
It isn’t necessary to fill out fields on the query page that
you don’t need. This will limit your search.
Status and resolution field
Platform and opsys
Priority and Severity
Bug Editing
Open bug for editing
Change whatever fields are neccesary
Make a note whenever you modify a
bug such as changing the component or
reassigning the bug.
Bugzilla Voting
Bugzilla has a “voting” feature. Each product allows users to have
a certain number of votes.
Votes indicate which bugs are the most important
To vote for a bug:
Bring up the bug, click on the “vote for this bug” link, and indicate
how many votes you want to give this bug.
You can review your votes by clicking on the “My Votes” link.
Autolinkification
Bugizlla will automatically make hyperlinks out of
certain sorts of text in comments
Example:
Bug 12345
Bug 23456, comment 53
george@example.com
Final Tips:
Use an explicit structure, so your
bug reports are easy to skim.
Avoid cuteness if it costs clarity.
One bug per report.
No bug is too trivial to report.