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Reporting Problems As If You Want Them Fixed
November 9, 2007
In preparing for a talk I titled "Library Software Manifesto" (more to come on that one) that I presented at the
2007 CODI Conference yesterday I realized just how little advice there seems to be for civilians on how to report software bugs.
A Google search tends to pull up advice that's
platform-specific,
too wordy and condescending,
too condescending and wordy, or is
for software developers. There seems to be precious little in the way of advice and assistance for the vast majority who actually report software problems -- the actual users of these applications.
The Mozilla Development Center has
some of the best (and briefest) advice in its principles section:
- Be precise
- Be clear - explain it so others can reproduce the bug
- One bug per report
- No bug is too trivial to report - small bugs may hide big bugs
- Clearly separate fact from speculation
In general, I think the most common error when reporting problems is a lack of specificity. When reporting a bug
begin by describing your exact situation (e.g., Firefox 2.0.0.4 on Mac OS 10.4.10 trying to use Software X, version X.X)
followed by the exact chain of events (e.g., I went to this page, entered this in the search box, clicked the search button, and I got this exact error message).
The first step to solving any problem is to describe it accurately at sufficient detail that someone who wasn't there with you can understand it and hopefully even replicate it. Reporting bugs thoroughly and accurately will get them fixed faster than just about anything else that is in your control.
Posted by Roy Tennant on November 9, 2007 | Comments (3)
