perlbug

PERLBUG(1)             Perl Programmers Reference Guide             PERLBUG(1)

NAME
       perlbug - how to submit bug reports on Perl

SYNOPSIS
       perlbug

       perlbug [-v] [-aaddress] [-ssubject] [-bbody|-finputfile]
       [-Foutputfile] [-rreturnaddress] [-eeditor] [-cadminaddress|-C] [-S]
       [-t]  [-d]  [-A]  [-h] [-T]

       perlbug [-v] [-rreturnaddress]
        [-A] [-ok|-okay|-nok|-nokay]

       perlthanks

DESCRIPTION
       This program is designed to help you generate and send bug reports (and
       thank-you notes) about perl5 and the modules which ship with it.

       In most cases, you can just run it interactively from a command line
       without any special arguments and follow the prompts.

       If you have found a bug with a non-standard port (one that was not part
       of the standard distribution), a binary distribution, or a non-core
       module (such as Tk, DBI, etc), then please see the documentation that
       came with that distribution to determine the correct place to report
       bugs.

       If you are unable to send your report using perlbug (most likely
       because your system doesn't have a way to send mail that perlbug
       recognizes), you may be able to use this tool to compose your report
       and save it to a file which you can then send to perlbug@perl.org using
       your regular mail client.

       In extreme cases, perlbug may not work well enough on your system to
       guide you through composing a bug report. In those cases, you may be
       able to use perlbug -d to get system configuration information to
       include in a manually composed bug report to perlbug@perl.org.

       When reporting a bug, please run through this checklist:

       What version of Perl you are running?
           Type "perl -v" at the command line to find out.

       Are you running the latest released version of perl?
           Look at http://www.perl.org/ to find out.  If you are not using the
           latest released version, please try to replicate your bug on the
           latest stable release.

           Note that reports about bugs in old versions of Perl, especially
           those which indicate you haven't also tested the current stable
           release of Perl, are likely to receive less attention from the
           volunteers who build and maintain Perl than reports about bugs in
           the current release.

           This tool isn't appropriate for reporting bugs in any version prior
           to Perl 5.0.

       Are you sure what you have is a bug?
           A significant number of the bug reports we get turn out to be
           documented features in Perl.  Make sure the issue you've run into
           isn't intentional by glancing through the documentation that comes
           with the Perl distribution.

           Given the sheer volume of Perl documentation, this isn't a trivial
           undertaking, but if you can point to documentation that suggests
           the behaviour you're seeing is wrong, your issue is likely to
           receive more attention. You may want to start with perldoc perltrap
           for pointers to common traps that new (and experienced) Perl
           programmers run into.

           If you're unsure of the meaning of an error message you've run
           across, perldoc perldiag for an explanation.  If the message isn't
           in perldiag, it probably isn't generated by Perl.  You may have
           luck consulting your operating system documentation instead.

           If you are on a non-UNIX platform perldoc perlport, as some
           features may be unimplemented or work differently.

           You may be able to figure out what's going wrong using the Perl
           debugger.  For information about how to use the debugger perldoc
           perldebug.

       Do you have a proper test case?
           The easier it is to reproduce your bug, the more likely it will be
           fixed -- if nobody can duplicate your problem, it probably won't be
           addressed.

           A good test case has most of these attributes: short, simple code;
           few dependencies on external commands, modules, or libraries; no
           platform-dependent code (unless it's a platform-specific bug);
           clear, simple documentation.

           A good test case is almost always a good candidate to be included
           in Perl's test suite.  If you have the time, consider writing your
           test case so that it can be easily included into the standard test
           suite.

       Have you included all relevant information?
           Be sure to include the exact error messages, if any.  "Perl gave an
           error" is not an exact error message.

           If you get a core dump (or equivalent), you may use a debugger
           (dbx, gdb, etc) to produce a stack trace to include in the bug
           report.

           NOTE: unless your Perl has been compiled with debug info (often
           -g), the stack trace is likely to be somewhat hard to use because
           it will most probably contain only the function names and not their
           arguments.  If possible, recompile your Perl with debug info and
           reproduce the crash and the stack trace.

       Can you describe the bug in plain English?
           The easier it is to understand a reproducible bug, the more likely
           it will be fixed.  Any insight you can provide into the problem
           will help a great deal.  In other words, try to analyze the problem
           (to the extent you can) and report your discoveries.

       Can you fix the bug yourself?
           If so, that's great news; bug reports with patches are likely to
           receive significantly more attention and interest than those
           without patches.  Please attach your patch to the report using the
           "-p" option.  When sending a patch, create it using "git
           format-patch" if possible, though a unified diff created with "diff
           -pu" will do nearly as well.

           Your patch may be returned with requests for changes, or requests
           for more detailed explanations about your fix.

           Here are a few hints for creating high-quality patches:

           Make sure the patch is not reversed (the first argument to diff is
           typically the original file, the second argument your changed
           file).  Make sure you test your patch by applying it with "git am"
           or the "patch" program before you send it on its way.  Try to
           follow the same style as the code you are trying to patch.  Make
           sure your patch really does work ("make test", if the thing you're
           patching is covered by Perl's test suite).

       Can you use "perlbug" to submit the report?
           perlbug will, amongst other things, ensure your report includes
           crucial information about your version of perl.  If "perlbug" is
           unable to mail your report after you have typed it in, you may have
           to compose the message yourself, add the output produced by
           "perlbug -d" and email it to perlbug@perl.org.  If, for some
           reason, you cannot run "perlbug" at all on your system, be sure to
           include the entire output produced by running "perl -V" (note the
           uppercase V).

           Whether you use "perlbug" or send the email manually, please make
           your Subject line informative.  "a bug" is not informative.
           Neither is "perl crashes" nor is "HELP!!!".  These don't help.  A
           compact description of what's wrong is fine.

       Can you use "perlbug" to submit a thank-you note?
           Yes, you can do this by either using the "-T" option, or by
           invoking the program as "perlthanks". Thank-you notes are good. It
           makes people smile.

       Having done your bit, please be prepared to wait, to be told the bug is
       in your code, or possibly to get no reply at all.  The volunteers who
       maintain Perl are busy folks, so if your problem is an obvious bug in
       your own code, is difficult to understand or is a duplicate of an
       existing report, you may not receive a personal reply.

       If it is important to you that your bug be fixed, do monitor the
       perl5-porters@perl.org mailing list (mailing lists are moderated, your
       message may take a while to show up) and the commit logs to development
       versions of Perl, and encourage the maintainers with kind words or
       offers of frosty beverages.  (Please do be kind to the maintainers.
       Harassing or flaming them is likely to have the opposite effect of the
       one you want.)

       Feel free to update the ticket about your bug on http://rt.perl.org if
       a new version of Perl is released and your bug is still present.

OPTIONS
       -a      Address to send the report to.  Defaults to perlbug@perl.org.

       -A      Don't send a bug received acknowledgement to the reply address.
               Generally it is only a sensible to use this option if you are a
               perl maintainer actively watching perl porters for your message
               to arrive.

       -b      Body of the report.  If not included on the command line, or in
               a file with -f, you will get a chance to edit the message.

       -C      Don't send copy to administrator.

       -c      Address to send copy of report to.  Defaults to the address of
               the local perl administrator (recorded when perl was built).

       -d      Data mode (the default if you redirect or pipe output).  This
               prints out your configuration data, without mailing anything.
               You can use this with -v to get more complete data.

       -e      Editor to use.

       -f      File containing the body of the report.  Use this to quickly
               send a prepared message.

       -F      File to output the results to instead of sending as an email.
               Useful particularly when running perlbug on a machine with no
               direct internet connection.

       -h      Prints a brief summary of the options.

       -ok     Report successful build on this system to perl porters. Forces
               -S and -C. Forces and supplies values for -s and -b. Only
               prompts for a return address if it cannot guess it (for use
               with make). Honors return address specified with -r.  You can
               use this with -v to get more complete data.   Only makes a
               report if this system is less than 60 days old.

       -okay   As -ok except it will report on older systems.

       -nok    Report unsuccessful build on this system.  Forces -C.  Forces
               and supplies a value for -s, then requires you to edit the
               report and say what went wrong.  Alternatively, a prepared
               report may be supplied using -f.  Only prompts for a return
               address if it cannot guess it (for use with make). Honors
               return address specified with -r.  You can use this with -v to
               get more complete data.  Only makes a report if this system is
               less than 60 days old.

       -nokay  As -nok except it will report on older systems.

       -p      The names of one or more patch files or other text attachments
               to be included with the report.  Multiple files must be
               separated with commas.

       -r      Your return address.  The program will ask you to confirm its
               default if you don't use this option.

       -S      Send without asking for confirmation.

       -s      Subject to include with the message.  You will be prompted if
               you don't supply one on the command line.

       -t      Test mode.  The target address defaults to
               perlbug-test@perl.org.  Also makes it possible to command
               perlbug from a pipe or file, for testing purposes.

       -T      Send a thank-you note instead of a bug report.

       -v      Include verbose configuration data in the report.

AUTHORS
       Kenneth Albanowski (<kjahds@kjahds.com>), subsequently doctored by
       Gurusamy Sarathy (<gsar@activestate.com>), Tom Christiansen
       (<tchrist@perl.com>), Nathan Torkington (<gnat@frii.com>), Charles F.
       Randall (<cfr@pobox.com>), Mike Guy (<mjtg@cam.ac.uk>), Dominic Dunlop
       (<domo@computer.org>), Hugo van der Sanden (<hv@crypt.org>), Jarkko
       Hietaniemi (<jhi@iki.fi>), Chris Nandor (<pudge@pobox.com>), Jon Orwant
       (<orwant@media.mit.edu>, Richard Foley (<richard.foley@rfi.net>), Jesse
       Vincent (<jesse@bestpractical.com>), and Craig A. Berry
       (<craigberry@mac.com>).

SEE ALSO
       perl(1), perldebug(1), perldiag(1), perlport(1), perltrap(1), diff(1),
       patch(1), dbx(1), gdb(1)

BUGS
       None known (guess what must have been used to report them?)

perl v5.30.0                      2023-11-23                        PERLBUG(1)