4.2 Bug reporting

The purpose of a bug report is to enable someone to fix the bug if it is not known. It isn't important what happens if the bug is already known. Therefore, always write your bug reports on the assumption that the bug is not known.

Sometimes people give a few sketchy facts and ask, "Does this ring a bell?" or "Should this be happening?" This cannot help us fix a bug, so it is basically useless. We can only respond by asking for the details below, so we can investigate. You might as well expedite matters by sending them to begin with.

Try to make your bug report self-contained. If we ask you for more information, it is best if you include all the original information in your response, as well as the new information. We might have discarded the previous message, or even if we haven't, it takes us time to search for it. Similarly, if you've reported bugs before, it is still best to send all the information; we can't possibly remember what environment everyone uses!

4.2.1 Necessary information		What you need to send.
4.2.2 Unnecessary information		What you don't need to send.
4.2.3 Documentation bugs		Report the bugs in the manual, too.