Ubuntu Wiki

A rough draft of a bug triaging checklist -

Any State

• Is the bug a workflow report? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage#Developer Process Bugs for criteria

  • Yes - Unless you are familiar with the specific process do not modify the bug report
• Does the bug have a descriptive summary?
  • No - Update the summary so it represents the bug well
• Does the bug affect the wrong project / distro?
  • Yes - Invalidate that affected project / distro
• Does the bug affect the wrong Ubuntu package?

  • Yes - Modify the package so it is the correct one refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage

• Is the bug likely to receive duplicates?

  • Yes - add the tag metabug

• Does the package have special bug tags?

  • Yes - tag it with the appropriate ones refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Tags

• Is the bug assigned to an individual (not a team)?
  • Yes - If it isn't "In Progress" or "Incomplete" unassign it

New bug

• Is it a support request?
  • Yes - Add a comment indicating why it is a question
  • Yes - Convert the bug to a question
• Does it have a package assigned?

  • No - assign package using https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage

• Does it have the release of Ubuntu, package version, what happens and what should happen?
  • No - Set the status to Incomplete, ask for it, and subscribe to the bug
• Is the bug a duplicate of another?
  • Yes - Add a comment that you are marking it as a duplicate and to use the master bug for communication
  • Yes - mark it as a duplicate

  • Possibly - add comment with other bug it might be a duplicate of and tag likely-dup

• Does that package / subsystem have debugging instructions? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures

  • Yes - is that information in the bug report?
    • Yes - Confirm and set priority based on scope of impact
    • No - Set the status to Incomplete, ask for it, and subscribe to the bug
• Has another person confirmed that they have the bug in the comments?
  • Yes - if the bug has minimum requirements Confirm - you need not recreate it
  • No - try and recreate the bug report and add a "TEST CASE" to the description
• Is it a crash bug?
  • Does it have steps leading up to crash?
    • Yes - try to recreate the bug report and add a "TEST CASE" to the description if missing and set the status to Confirmed
    • No - Incomplete, ask, subscribe
    • If it was a random crash leave as New for expert triager
• Is it a feature request?
  • Is there a use case / reason for the feature?
    • No - Set the status to Incomplete, ask for it, and subscribe to the bug
    • Yes - verify feature is missing, set the status to Confirmed and set the status to Wishlist (if possible)
• Is it about a translation?
  • assign it to the language pack
• Is it a string-fix bug?

  • Yes - add the tags string-fix and bitesize

  • Yes - apt-get source pkgname, grep -r "bad string" *
• Does it have a patch?

  • Is the patch properly formatted? refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/PatchSystems

    • Yes - ask reporter to submit the patch upstream, add bug watch and set bug to triaged
    • No - ask the reporter to resubmit or clean the patch up
• Is the bug reported about an earlier release or version?
  • Yes - test with release greater than release reported on
    • Is it fixed?
      • Yes - change status to Fix Released and indicate the release you tested with
      • No - update bug description with latest version tested

Incomplete bug

• Was additional information provided?
  • Yes - confirm and set priority based on scope of impact

  • No - wait 4 weeks and invalidate if no response, tag needs-devrelease-testing if someone else might be able to reproduce it (hardware)

Confirmed / Triaged bug

• Does it have a priority?
  • No - set one
• Is it Ubuntu specific?
  • No - look to see if the bug is already reported upstream
    • Yes - add a bug watch for the upstream bug
    • No - recreate with upstream software version and forward bug if it exists upstream
• Is the bug reported about an earlier release or version?
  • Yes - test with release greater than release reported about
    • Is it fixed?
      • Yes - change status to Fix Released and indicate the release you tested with
      • No - update bug description with latest version tested
• Is there a workaround for the bug? (usually found in the comments)
  • Yes - edit the bug description, and add, at the bottom, the word "WORKAROUND", and describe the workaround e.g. procedure / action / steps.

In Progress

• Is the bug assigned to someone?
  • No - using the activity log determine who set it to In Progress and follow up with them as to why it isn't assigned
• Is the bug old?
  • Yes - ping assignee as to current status and whether or not it should still be In Progress

Fix Committed

• These bugs should, going forward, transition to Fix Released automatically
• Is the bug old?
  • Yes - aptitude changelog PKGNAME see if the bug number is mentioned in the changelog for the package
  • Does the bug have a patch?
    • Yes - apt-get source PKGNAME see if patch exists in package
  • Is the bug about functionality in software?
    • Yes - test with release greater than release reported on to see if it is fixed and change status to Fix Released and indicate the release you tested with

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CategoryBugSquad