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Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001[Some of this is taken from Frohwalt Egerer's original linux-kernel FAQ]
2
3 What follows is a suggested procedure for reporting Linux bugs. You
4aren't obliged to use the bug reporting format, it is provided as a guide
5to the kind of information that can be useful to developers - no more.
6
7 If the failure includes an "OOPS:" type message in your log or on
8screen please read "Documentation/oops-tracing.txt" before posting your
9bug report. This explains what you should do with the "Oops" information
10to make it useful to the recipient.
11
Tobias Klauser9dcbb322005-09-10 00:26:58 -070012 Send the output to the maintainer of the kernel area that seems to
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070013be involved with the problem. Don't worry too much about getting the
14wrong person. If you are unsure send it to the person responsible for the
15code relevant to what you were doing. If it occurs repeatably try and
16describe how to recreate it. That is worth even more than the oops itself.
17The list of maintainers is in the MAINTAINERS file in this directory.
18
19 If it is a security bug, please copy the Security Contact listed
20in the MAINTAINERS file. They can help coordinate bugfix and disclosure.
Tobias Klauser9dcbb322005-09-10 00:26:58 -070021See Documentation/SecurityBugs for more information.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070022
23 If you are totally stumped as to whom to send the report, send it to
24linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org. (For more information on the linux-kernel
25mailing list see http://www.tux.org/lkml/).
26
Tobias Klauser9dcbb322005-09-10 00:26:58 -070027This is a suggested format for a bug report sent to the Linux kernel mailing
28list. Having a standardized bug report form makes it easier for you not to
29overlook things, and easier for the developers to find the pieces of
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070030information they're really interested in. Don't feel you have to follow it.
31
32 First run the ver_linux script included as scripts/ver_linux, which
33reports the version of some important subsystems. Run this script with
34the command "sh scripts/ver_linux".
35
36Use that information to fill in all fields of the bug report form, and
37post it to the mailing list with a subject of "PROBLEM: <one line
Tobias Klauser9dcbb322005-09-10 00:26:58 -070038summary from [1.]>" for easy identification by the developers.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070039
Tobias Klauser9dcbb322005-09-10 00:26:58 -070040[1.] One line summary of the problem:
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070041[2.] Full description of the problem/report:
42[3.] Keywords (i.e., modules, networking, kernel):
43[4.] Kernel version (from /proc/version):
Andrew Morton30e835e2005-08-05 11:59:32 -070044[5.] Most recent kernel version which did not have the bug:
45[6.] Output of Oops.. message (if applicable) with symbolic information
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070046 resolved (see Documentation/oops-tracing.txt)
Andrew Morton30e835e2005-08-05 11:59:32 -070047[7.] A small shell script or example program which triggers the
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070048 problem (if possible)
Andrew Morton30e835e2005-08-05 11:59:32 -070049[8.] Environment
50[8.1.] Software (add the output of the ver_linux script here)
51[8.2.] Processor information (from /proc/cpuinfo):
52[8.3.] Module information (from /proc/modules):
53[8.4.] Loaded driver and hardware information (/proc/ioports, /proc/iomem)
54[8.5.] PCI information ('lspci -vvv' as root)
55[8.6.] SCSI information (from /proc/scsi/scsi)
56[8.7.] Other information that might be relevant to the problem
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070057 (please look in /proc and include all information that you
58 think to be relevant):
59[X.] Other notes, patches, fixes, workarounds:
60
61
62Thank you