PERLBUG(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLBUG(1)
NAME
perlbug - how to submit bug reports on Perl
SYNOPSIS
perlbug
perlbug [ -v ] [ -a address ] [ -s subject ] [ -b body | -f inputfile ]
[ -F outputfile ] [ -r returnaddress ] [ -e editor ]
[ -c adminaddress | -C ] [ -S ] [ -t ] [ -d ] [ -A ] [ -h ] [ -T ]
perlbug [ -v ] [ -r returnaddress ]
[ -A ] [ -ok | -okay | -nok | -nokay ]
perlthanks
DESCRIPTION
This program is designed to help you generate 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.
Bug reports should be submitted to the GitHub issue tracker at
<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>. The perlbug@perl.org address no
longer automatically opens tickets. You can use this tool to compose your
report and save it to a file which you can then submit to the issue
tracker.
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 or perl -V to get system configuration information to
include in your issue report.
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 submit your patch via the GitHub Pull Request
workflow as described in perldoc perlhack. You may also send patches
to perl5-porters@perl.org. 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 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.
Please make your issue title 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.
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 issue
tracker (you will be subscribed to notifications for issues you submit or
comment on) 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 v5.30.3 2021-11-13 PERLBUG(1)