Include(Debugging/Header)

Introduction

Bugs relating to Compiz typically fall into 4 categories:

1. Integration bugs - require a detailed description of the issue, steps to reproduce and screen captures where appropriate.
2. Crasher bugs - Log files from the crash incident are required to track down these.
3. Hardware specific bugs - The developers may not have access to the hardware that triggers this bug. Certain log files and command outputs can help

4. Plugin bugs - Sometimes bug reports about a specific plugin will be reported about compiz in general. However, plugins are provided by different packages and the bug should be moved to the right package. Plugins are provided by the packages compiz-plugins, compiz-fusion-plugins-main, and compiz-fusion-plugins-extra. A reporter may mention a plugin by name based off what it is called in Compiz Config Settings Manager however this doesn't tell you what file to look for in a package. You can determine the plugin name by searching the xml files in /usr/share/compiz/ for what the plugin is called and in that xml file you'll find the plugin name. Using that you can find the right package via dpkg -S <plugin-name>.xml i.e. switcher.

How to file

When reporting a bug about Compiz you should include your ~/.xsession-errors file, /var/log/Xorg.0.log and the output of lspci -vvnn as separate attachments to your bug report.

Additionally, it would be helpful to know if you can recreate the bug with the default preferences. You can reset the preferences by launching "compiz-config-manager" found in System -> Preferences and labelled Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. Click on the "Preferences" button and then on the "Reset to defaults" button.

Bug tags

Compiz provides a variety of plugins for modifying the behavior of your desktop. If the bug is related to a specific plugin it would be helpful to tag it with the plugin name.

Debugging procedure

Make sure to always include ~/.xsession-errors, /var/log/Xorg.0.log, and the output of lspci -vvnn. The output of lspci will contain information about the video card, identified as "Display controller", that the reporter has which is useful because some bugs are hardware specific.

Also try to see if the bug happens with the default settings. To get the default settings, install "compiz-config-manager", launch it and then go to "Preferences" (left bottom corner) and click on the "Reset to defaults" button.

Known bugs

Description of known issues, how to recognise them and stock responses/actions.

Open

Closed

Non-bugs

How to recognise common issues arising from hardware failures, common feature requests and other invalid bugs for this category. Advice how triage them and stock responses.

Also see

• DebuggingProcedures

CategoryBugSquad CategoryDebugging