Solved How to report issue/s to package maintainer ?

B

bgroper

Please, what is the-right-way to report issue/s to an existing package maintainer ?
Should I :
- Post details in this forum;
- Send email directly to the maintainer; or
- Something else ?
I checked the mini-FAQ on pkg, but didn't discover any relevant suggestion/s.
TIA's for any tips or clues.
 
The only reason for having a mail address in the port is to be able to contact the maintainer - so I've always wrote a mail.
 
Speaking as a maintainer myself: please post to bugzilla. Particularly for bigger ports, you just can't deal with open issues via email and bugzilla is the right tool for the job.

As a side note: when you post a bug report, please attach as much structured information as you can; log files, dumps etc. may help. If you have a patch ready, feel free to upload it as well. Please be honest about the severity; so, unless everything is totally broken, it's good practice to still start with "only affects me". Unless, of course, if you have proven logs for multiple people and different systems.

EDIT: there's also guidelines on bugzilla

Bug Writing Guidelines

bugs.freebsd.org bugs.freebsd.org

It's helpful for moderators to post the full port name in the subject line. So instead of "dwm v1.2 - window broken" write "x11/dwm 1.2 window broken". You can look up the full port name on freshports.org or in your /usr/port directory. There might even be a pkg way to do it, I just don't know it by heart.
 
cmoerz said:
Speaking as a maintainer myself: please post to bugzilla. […]
Click to expand...
First & important: I'm understanding your points. But: Telling me that I have to create an account first tells me: Shut up; However *wants* a dialog makes it as easy as possible for the opposite - otherwise many feedback doesn't find its way to you.
 
jmos said:
makes it as easy as possible for the opposite
Click to expand...
fair point. I agree, it's important to make it easy (or easier) to communicate issues.

While email is a good "common denominator" in terms of available communication channels, for a large port, if everyone just communicated via email, one bug could mean hundreds if not thousands of emails about the same topic. That creates not only work on the bug submitter, who writes stuff up which was already written up, but also on the maintainers. And one additional benefit of Bugzilla: you might even already find a working patch for your issue if you're lucky. Those do take a while to make it into " pkg update" in practice.

If one is using FreeBSD, getting a bugzilla account is probably a good idea in that regard; however, I'd also welcome alternative login options, i.e. login with Google, Microsoft et al, which would immediately lower the barrier as well and address the particular hurdle you pointed out. Maybe we'll get that some day.

Until then, if you don't have a bugzilla account, noone's going to blame you for emailing a maintainer and I hope noone took my bugzilla suggestion this way.
 
bgroper said:
Please, what is the-right-way to report issue/s to an existing package maintainer ?
Should I :
- Post details in this forum;
- Send email directly to the maintainer; or
- Something else ?
I checked the mini-FAQ on pkg, but didn't discover any relevant suggestion/s.
TIA's for any tips or clues.
Click to expand...
Thanks for asking this. I have been searching and came here to ask this very question Potential bug logged.

Should this be a sticky?

jmos said:
First & important: I'm understanding your points. But: Telling me that I have to create an account first tells me: Shut up; However *wants* a dialog makes it as easy as possible for the opposite - otherwise many feedback doesn't find its way to you.
Click to expand...
I disagree. For all the work the maintainers etc do, the least I can do is log issues into bugzilla. I mean, I am getting the fruits of their labour for no cost (time or money) to me.
 
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