1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
|
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>How do I use Bugzilla?</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="The Bugzilla Guide - 2.17.5 Development Release"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="Using Bugzilla"
HREF="using.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="Using Bugzilla"
HREF="using.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Hints and Tips"
HREF="hintsandtips.html"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="section"
BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
TEXT="#000000"
LINK="#0000FF"
VLINK="#840084"
ALINK="#0000FF"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="3"
ALIGN="center"
>The Bugzilla Guide - 2.17.5 Development Release</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="using.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="80%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>Chapter 3. Using Bugzilla</TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="hintsandtips.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H1
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="how"
></A
>3.1. How do I use Bugzilla?</H1
><P
>This section contains information for end-users of Bugzilla.
There is a Bugzilla test installation, called
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/"
TARGET="_top"
>Landfill</A
>,
which you are welcome to play with (if it's up.)
However, it does not necessarily
have all Bugzilla features enabled, and often runs cutting-edge versions
of Bugzilla for testing, so some things may work slightly differently
than mentioned here.</P
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="myaccount"
></A
>3.1.1. Create a Bugzilla Account</H2
><P
>If you want to use Bugzilla, first you need to create an account.
Consult with the administrator responsible for your installation of
Bugzilla for the URL you should use to access it. If you're
test-driving Bugzilla, use this URL:
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/"
TARGET="_top"
>http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/</A
>.
</P
><P
></P
><OL
TYPE="1"
><LI
><P
>Click the
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Open a new Bugzilla account"</SPAN
>
link, enter your email address and, optionally, your name in the
spaces provided, then click
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Create Account"</SPAN
>
.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Within moments, you should receive an email to the address
you provided above, which contains your login name (generally the
same as the email address), and a password you can use to access
your account. This password is randomly generated, and can be
changed to something more memorable.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Click the
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Log In"</SPAN
>
link in the yellow area at the bottom of the page in your browser,
enter your email address and password into the spaces provided, and
click
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Login"</SPAN
>.
</P
></LI
></OL
><P
>You are now logged in. Bugzilla uses cookies for authentication
so, unless your IP address changes, you should not have to log in
again.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="bug_page"
></A
>3.1.2. Anatomy of a Bug</H2
><P
>The core of Bugzilla is the screen which displays a particular
bug. It's a good place to explain some Bugzilla concepts.
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/show_bug.cgi?id=1"
TARGET="_top"
> Bug 1 on Landfill</A
>
is a good example. Note that the labels for most fields are hyperlinks;
clicking them will take you to context-sensitive help on that
particular field. Fields marked * may not be present on every
installation of Bugzilla.</P
><P
></P
><OL
TYPE="1"
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Product and Component</EM
>:
Bugs are divided up by Product and Component, with a Product
having one or more Components in it. For example,
bugzilla.mozilla.org's "Bugzilla" Product is composed of several
Components:
<P
></P
><TABLE
BORDER="0"
><TBODY
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Administration:</EM
>
Administration of a Bugzilla installation.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Bugzilla-General:</EM
>
Anything that doesn't fit in the other components, or spans
multiple components.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Creating/Changing Bugs:</EM
>
Creating, changing, and viewing bugs.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Documentation:</EM
>
The Bugzilla documentation, including The Bugzilla Guide.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Email:</EM
>
Anything to do with email sent by Bugzilla.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Installation:</EM
>
The installation process of Bugzilla.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Query/Buglist:</EM
>
Anything to do with searching for bugs and viewing the
buglists.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Reporting/Charting:</EM
>
Getting reports from Bugzilla.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>User Accounts:</EM
>
Anything about managing a user account from the user's perspective.
Saved queries, creating accounts, changing passwords, logging in,
etc.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>User Interface:</EM
>
General issues having to do with the user interface cosmetics (not
functionality) including cosmetic issues, HTML templates,
etc.</TD
></TR
></TBODY
></TABLE
><P
></P
>
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Status and Resolution:</EM
>
These define exactly what state the bug is in - from not even
being confirmed as a bug, through to being fixed and the fix
confirmed by Quality Assurance. The different possible values for
Status and Resolution on your installation should be documented in the
context-sensitive help for those items.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Assigned To:</EM
>
The person responsible for fixing the bug.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>*URL:</EM
>
A URL associated with the bug, if any.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Summary:</EM
>
A one-sentence summary of the problem.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>*Status Whiteboard:</EM
>
(a.k.a. Whiteboard) A free-form text area for adding short notes
and tags to a bug.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>*Keywords:</EM
>
The administrator can define keywords which you can use to tag and
categorise bugs - e.g. The Mozilla Project has keywords like crash
and regression.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Platform and OS:</EM
>
These indicate the computing environment where the bug was
found.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Version:</EM
>
The "Version" field is usually used for versions of a product which
have been released, and is set to indicate which versions of a
Component have the particular problem the bug report is
about.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Priority:</EM
>
The bug assignee uses this field to prioritise his or her bugs.
It's a good idea not to change this on other people's bugs.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Severity:</EM
>
This indicates how severe the problem is - from blocker
("application unusable") to trivial ("minor cosmetic issue"). You
can also use this field to indicate whether a bug is an enhancement
request.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>*Target:</EM
>
(a.k.a. Target Milestone) A future version by which the bug is to
be fixed. e.g. The Bugzilla Project's milestones for future
Bugzilla versions are 2.18, 2.20, 3.0, etc. Milestones are not
restricted to numbers, thought - you can use any text strings, such
as dates.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Reporter:</EM
>
The person who filed the bug.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>CC list:</EM
>
A list of people who get mail when the bug changes.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Attachments:</EM
>
You can attach files (e.g. testcases or patches) to bugs. If there
are any attachments, they are listed in this section.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>*Dependencies:</EM
>
If this bug cannot be fixed unless other bugs are fixed (depends
on), or this bug stops other bugs being fixed (blocks), their
numbers are recorded here.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>*Votes:</EM
>
Whether this bug has any votes.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <EM
>Additional Comments:</EM
>
You can add your two cents to the bug discussion here, if you have
something worthwhile to say.</P
></LI
></OL
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="query"
></A
>3.1.3. Searching for Bugs</H2
><P
>The Bugzilla Search page is is the interface where you can find
any bug report, comment, or patch currently in the Bugzilla system. You
can play with it here:
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/query.cgi"
TARGET="_top"
>http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/query.cgi</A
>.</P
><P
>The Search page has controls for selecting different possible
values for all of the fields in a bug, as described above. For some
fields, multiple values can be selected. In those cases, Bugzilla
returns bugs where the content of the field matches one of the selected
values. If none is selected, then the field can take any value.</P
><P
>Once you've defined a search, you can either run it, or save it
as a Remembered Query, which can optionally appear in the footer of
your pages.</P
><P
>Highly advanced querying is done using Boolean Charts.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="list"
></A
>3.1.4. Bug Lists</H2
><P
>If you run a search, a list of matching bugs will be returned.
The default search is to return all open bugs on the system - don't try
running this search on a Bugzilla installation with a lot of
bugs!</P
><P
>The format of the list is configurable. For example, it can be
sorted by clicking the column headings. Other useful features can be
accessed using the links at the bottom of the list:
<P
></P
><TABLE
BORDER="0"
><TBODY
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Long Format:</EM
>
this gives you a large page with a non-editable summary of the fields
of each bug.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Change Columns:</EM
>
change the bug attributes which appear in the list.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Change several bugs at once:</EM
>
If your account is sufficiently empowered, you can make the same
change to all the bugs in the list - for example, changing their
owner.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Send mail to bug owners:</EM
>
Sends mail to the owners of all bugs on the list.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
> <EM
>Edit this query:</EM
>
If you didn't get exactly the results you were looking for, you can
return to the Query page through this link and make small revisions
to the query you just made so you get more accurate results.</TD
></TR
></TBODY
></TABLE
><P
></P
>
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="bugreports"
></A
>3.1.5. Filing Bugs</H2
><P
>Years of bug writing experience has been distilled for your
reading pleasure into the
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/bugwritinghelp.html"
TARGET="_top"
> Bug Writing Guidelines</A
>.
While some of the advice is Mozilla-specific, the basic principles of
reporting Reproducible, Specific bugs, isolating the Product you are
using, the Version of the Product, the Component which failed, the
Hardware Platform, and Operating System you were using at the time of
the failure go a long way toward ensuring accurate, responsible fixes
for the bug that bit you.</P
><P
>The procedure for filing a test bug is as follows:</P
><P
></P
><OL
TYPE="1"
><LI
><P
>Go to
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/"
TARGET="_top"
> Landfill</A
>
in your browser and click
<A
HREF="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/enter_bug.cgi"
TARGET="_top"
> Enter a new bug report</A
>.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Select a product - any one will do.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Fill in the fields. Bugzilla should have made reasonable
guesses, based upon your browser, for the "Platform" and "OS"
drop-down boxes. If they are wrong, change them.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Select "Commit" and send in your bug report.</P
></LI
></OL
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H2
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer"
></A
>3.1.6. Patch Viewer</H2
><P
>Viewing and reviewing patches in Bugzilla is often difficult due to
lack of context, improper format and the inherent readability issues that
raw patches present. Patch Viewer is an enhancement to Bugzilla designed
to fix that by offering increased context, linking to sections, and
integrating with Bonsai, LXR and CVS.</P
><P
>Patch viewer allows you to:</P
><P
></P
><TABLE
BORDER="0"
><TBODY
><TR
><TD
>View patches in color, with side-by-side view rather than trying
to interpret the contents of the patch.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
>See the difference between two patches.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
>Get more context in a patch.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
>Collapse and expand sections of a patch for easy
reading.</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
>Link to a particular section of a patch for discussion or
review</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
>Go to Bonsai or LXR to see more context, blame, and
cross-references for the part of the patch you are looking at</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
>Create a rawtext unified format diff out of any patch, no
matter what format it came from</TD
></TR
></TBODY
></TABLE
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_view"
></A
>3.1.6.1. Viewing Patches in Patch Viewer</H3
><P
>The main way to view a patch in patch viewer is to click on the
"Diff" link next to a patch in the Attachments list on a bug. You may
also do this within the edit window by clicking the "View Attachment As
Diff" button in the Edit Attachment screen.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_diff"
></A
>3.1.6.2. Seeing the Difference Between Two Patches</H3
><P
>To see the difference between two patches, you must first view the
newer patch in Patch Viewer. Then select the older patch from the
dropdown at the top of the page ("Differences between [dropdown] and
this patch") and click the "Diff" button. This will show you what
is new or changed in the newer patch.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_context"
></A
>3.1.6.3. Getting More Context in a Patch</H3
><P
>To get more context in a patch, you put a number in the textbox at
the top of Patch Viewer ("Patch / File / [textbox]") and hit enter.
This will give you that many lines of context before and after each
change. Alternatively, you can click on the "File" link there and it
will show each change in the full context of the file. This feature only
works against files that were diffed using "cvs diff".</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_collapse"
></A
>3.1.6.4. Collapsing and Expanding Sections of a Patch</H3
><P
>To view only a certain set of files in a patch (for example, if a
patch is absolutely huge and you want to only review part of it at a
time), you can click the "(+)" and "(-)" links next to each file (to
expand it or collapse it). If you want to collapse all files or expand
all files, you can click the "Collapse All" and "Expand All" links at the
top of the page.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_link"
></A
>3.1.6.5. Linking to a Section of a Patch</H3
><P
>To link to a section of a patch (for example, if you want to be
able to give someone a URL to show them which part you are talking
about) you simply click the "Link Here" link on the section header. The
resulting URL can be copied and used in discussion. (Copy Link
Location in Mozilla works as well.)</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_bonsai_lxr"
></A
>3.1.6.6. Going to Bonsai and LXR</H3
><P
>To go to Bonsai to get blame for the lines you are interested in,
you can click the "Lines XX-YY" link on the section header you are
interested in. This works even if the patch is against an old
version of the file, since Bonsai stores all versions of the file.</P
><P
>To go to LXR, you click on the filename on the file header
(unfortunately, since LXR only does the most recent version, line
numbers are likely to rot).</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="section"
><H3
CLASS="section"
><A
NAME="patchviewer_unified_diff"
></A
>3.1.6.7. Creating a Unified Diff</H3
><P
>If the patch is not in a format that you like, you can turn it
into a unified diff format by clicking the "Raw Unified" link at the top
of the page.</P
></DIV
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="using.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="hintsandtips.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>Using Bugzilla</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="using.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>Hints and Tips</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>
|