kernel

Introduction

  • If your downstream bug report on Launchpad has been marked Triaged, and a Ubuntu community member asked you to read this, thank you for doing so! By reading and following this completely, you are maximizing the speed with which your bug will be fixed. Please take care to read every step carefully.

First step: Prepare the Kernel.org format information

  • Note the below Kernel.org format was taken directly from upstream.

  • Warning /!\ Please ensure you follow the below format word for word. Just because you tested the latest mainline kernel, may have bisected a kernel regression, or others say they are experiencing the same problem, doesn't mean you should omit anything. Providing this information is vital for a developer to fix your problem, and to maximize the chance of your bug being addressed.

  • Warning /!\ Please take care that when you provide the below information, check once again that you are booted into the newest available upstream mainline kernel only. Folks have had their bug marked Triaged, sent their e-mail, but had a newer kernel release come out without them realizing this. Hence, if upstream didn't ignore your report altogether, they will ask you to test this in the newest release that just came out and you didn't check for. Failure to do this will have negative unintended consequences. The Ubuntu kernel is the Ubuntu Community's responsibility, the upstream mainline kernel is the Kernel.org Community's responsibility, of which Ubuntu is a part of.


[1.] One line summary of the problem:
Please paste the Launchpad bug summary, and remove all references to Ubuntu and Ubuntu's kernels. The reason this is being reported upstream is because this is not just a downstream (Ubuntu) issue, but both an up and down one.

[2.] Full description of the problem/report:
While booted into the newest mainline kernel only describe how the bug is reproducible in the latest mainline kernel only. If this is a regression, please note the specific commit.

[3.] Keywords (i.e., modules, networking, kernel): Please do not put anything here. This is how Kernel.org uses an undocumented keyword system, which has nothing to do with Ubuntu Tags system.

[4.] Kernel version (from /proc/version):
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, please execute the following in a terminal and paste the results:
cat /proc/version

[5.] Output of Oops.. message (if applicable) with symbolic information resolved (see Documentation/oops-tracing.txt)
This is only relevant if you had a oops crash (ex. flashing Caps Lock light). While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, if you have a kernel oops, one may consult http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/oops-tracing.txt . If this is too daunting please ask for help in your bug report, and of the Ubuntu community.

[6.] A small shell script or example program which triggers the problem (if possible)
This is for advanced community members. If you feel comfortable enough to do this, please do it. It is not critical if this is beyond your skill level.

  • Warning /!\ For input problems only
    For reports that would normally be sent to the linux-input mailing list, as requested by the maintainer, please do not send any of the information from section [7.] through [7.7] below.

[7.] Environment
Please execute the following in a terminal, and paste the results:
lsb_release -rd

[7.1.] Software (add the output of the ver_linux script here)
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, this is found in the directory:
/usr/src/linux-headers-<VERSION>/scripts

where <VERSION> is the version of the kernel you are using, found in the directory /usr/src. You may run the script by changing to the directory via a terminal, and paste the results:
sh ver_linux

[7.2.] Processor information (from /proc/cpuinfo):
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, execute the following in a terminal, and paste the results:
cat /proc/cpuinfo

[7.3.] Module information (from /proc/modules):
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, execute the following in a terminal, and paste the results:
cat /proc/modules

[7.4.] Loaded driver and hardware information (/proc/ioports, /proc/iomem)
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, execute the following in a terminal, and paste the results:
cat /proc/ioports
cat /proc/iomem

[7.5.] PCI information ('lspci -vvv' as root)
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, execute the following via a terminal, and paste the results:
sudo lspci -vvv

[7.6.] SCSI information (from /proc/scsi/scsi)
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, execute the following via a terminal, and paste the results:
cat /proc/scsi/scsi

[7.7.] Other information that might be relevant to the problem (please look in /proc and include all information that you think to be relevant):
While booted into the newest upstream mainline kernel only, execute the following via a terminal, and paste the results:
ls /proc

[X.] Other notes, patches, fixes, workarounds:
Please provide a link to your Launchpad bug report.

As well, it is quite helpful that any further debugging information from http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/ using the newest upstream mainline kernel available is provided.
In addition, please be 100% certain you have included all relevant comment information not included in the Bug Description and a kernel developer should review. They are some of the busiest people in the Linux space. They do not need to dive through downstream bug reports to find something that should have been provided when the bug was first filed. If you are unsure about anything asked for, or intend on not following this format, please do not file a report. Instead, continue to ask questions in Launchpad, and of the Ubuntu community, until all issues are cleared up.

Bluetooth problem only
Please execute the following in a terminal and post the results:
sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices

Second step: E-Mail the maintainer mailing list with Kernel.org format

Now that you have prepared the Kernel.org format information, the next step is identifying the proper upstream mailing list to e-mail your problem to, and how to do it.

  • Please note, when e-mailing a maintainer mailing list, do so in plain text, not html. Otherwise, it will be flagged as SPAM, and silently discarded without notification to you. For more on this and other reasons your post would be flagged as SPAM, please see here.

  • Do not post any of the Kernel.org information as an attachment when e-mailing a maintainer mailing list. Instead, provide the information word for word in the body of your e-mail.

  • Please ensure you e-mail all maintainers of the driver in the TO: field, and CC the mailing list. The author of the driver (which may or may not be the current maintainer) may be found via a terminal: 

    modinfo DRIVER
    Where DRIVER is the name of the kernel driver. It would be acceptable to also put the author in the TO: field of your email.
  • If this is a regression, also put the submitter of the regression commit in the TO: field.

  • Please ensure you post in your Launchpad report a URL of your e-mail from the mailing list found from the mailing list archives. It can take a day or two for the e-mail to show up to the respective archive.

Reporting non-WiFi USB bugs upstream

  • First, please note that for non-WiFi USB bugs, the USB maintainer(s) do not want anyone to create an upstream bug report. For more on this, please see this upstream report comment. If you do open an upstream report anyways, it will be immediately closed, and cause negative unintended consequences. Instead, please send an e-mail to the maintainer(s), and CC the linux-usb@vger.linux.org mailing list.

Reporting Graphics card driver bugs

Reporting all other bug types

A list of all kernel drivers and their maintainers may be found here. One may send an e-mail to the maintainer(s), and CC the mailing list indicated by the 'L:'. If no list is specified, send an e-mail directly to the maintainer(s). However, if your driver isn't listed, or if you aren't sure which maintainer(s) and list to send to, here are some helpful suggestions:

  • Touchpad or clickpad doesn't work at all - E-mail the maintainer(s) and CC linux-input@vger.kernel.org.

  • WiFi - A list of WiFi drivers, maintainer(s), and respective mailing list may be found here.

Third step: No response from maintainer mailing list

If no response has been received within a week from your e-mail to the appropriate mailing list, and the issue is still reproducible with the latest mainline kernel available, then if the issue is related to:

Negative unintended consequences

  • If you contact upstream, please follow the Kernel.org format created by Kernel.org developers. Failure to follow these directions exactly as shown may have the following negative unintended consequences:
    • May likely result in your bug requiring upstream developers to ask unnecessary follow up questions that should have been provided in the first place.
    • May likely result in your bug being promptly ignored by the kernel maintainer, sub-maintainer, or community developer(s) responsible to fix your kernel bug.

    • May create friction between you, the Ubuntu Community, and the kernel.org developers, which is not very Ubuntu.

CategoryKernel

Bugs/Upstream/kernel (last edited 2016-09-11 17:11:46 by penalvch)