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Field descriptions
The following fields are present whenever a PR is submitted via the
program send-pr
. PRMS adds additional fields when the PR
arrives at the Support Site; explanations of these follow this list.
>Submitter-Id:
- (TEXT) A unique identification code assigned by the Support Site.
It is used to identify all Problem Reports coming from a particular
site. (Submitters without a value for this field can invoke
send-pr
with the `--request-id' option to apply for one from
the support organization. Problem Reports from those not affiliated
with the support organization should use the default value of `net'
for this field.)
>Originator:
- (TEXT) Originator's real name. The default is the value of the
originator's environment variable
NAME
.
>Organization:
- (MULTITEXT) The originator's organization. The default value is
set with the variable
DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION
in the
send-pr
shell script.
>Confidential:
- (ENUMERATED) Use of this field depends on the originator's
relationship with the support organization; contractual agreements often
have provisions for preserving confidentiality. Conversely, a lack of a
contract often means that any data provided will not be considered
confidential. Submitters should be advised to contact the support
organization directly if this is an issue.
If the originator's relationship to the support organization provides
for confidentiality, then if the value of this field is `yes' the
support organization treats the PR as confidential; any code samples
provided are not made publicly available (e.g., in regression test
suites). The default value is `yes'.
>Synopsis:
- (TEXT) One-line summary of the problem.
send-pr
copies
this information to the `Subject:' line when you submit a Problem
Report.
>Severity:
- (ENUMERATED) The severity of the problem. Accepted values include:
critical
- The product, component or concept is completely non-operational or some
essential functionality is missing. No workaround is known.
serious
- The product, component or concept is not working properly or significant
functionality is missing. Problems that would otherwise be considered
`critical' are rated `serious' when a workaround is known.
non-critical
- The product, component or concept is working in general, but lacks
features, has irritating behavior, does something wrong, or doesn't
match its documentation.
The default value is `serious'.
>Priority:
- (ENUMERATED) How soon the originator requires a solution. Accepted
values include:
high
- A solution is needed as soon as possible.
medium
- The problem should be solved in the next release.
low
- The problem should be solved in a future release.
The default value is `medium'.
>Category:
- (TEXT) The name of the product, component or concept where
the problem lies. The values for this field are defined by the Support
Site.
>Class:
- (ENUMERATED) The class of a problem can be one of the following:
sw-bug
- A general product problem. (`sw' stands for "software".)
doc-bug
- A problem with the documentation.
change-request
- A request for a change in behavior, etc.
support
- A support problem or question.
duplicate (pr-number)
- Duplicate PR. pr-number should be the number of the original PR.
The default is `sw-bug'.
>Release:
- (TEXT) Release or version number of the product, component or
concept.
>Environment:
- (MULTITEXT) Description of the environment where the problem occured:
machine architecture, operating system, host and target types,
libraries, pathnames, etc.
>Description:
- (MULTITEXT) Precise description of the problem.
>How-To-Repeat:
- (MULTITEXT) Example code, input, or activities to reproduce the
problem. The support organization uses example code both to reproduce
the problem and to test whether the problem is fixed. Include all
preconditions, inputs, outputs, conditions after the problem, and
symptoms. Any additional important information should be included.
Include all the details that would be necessary for someone else to
recreate the problem reported, however obvious. Sometimes seemingly
arbitrary or obvious information can point the way toward a solution.
See also section Helpful hints.
>Fix:
- (MULTITEXT) A description of a solution to the problem, or a patch
which solves the problem. (This field is most often filled in at the
Support Site; we provide it to the submitter in case she has solved the
problem.)
PRMS adds the following fields when the PR arrives at the Support
Site:
>Number:
- (ENUMERATED) The incremental identification number for this PR.
The `>Number:' field is often paired with the `>Category:'
field as
category/number
in subsequent email messages. This is for historical reasons, as well
as because Problem Reports are stored in subdirectories which are named
by category.
>State:
- (ENUMERATED) The current state of the PR. Accepted values are:
open
- The PR has been filed and the responsible person notified.
analyzed
- The responsible person has analyzed the problem.
feedback
- The problem has been solved, and the originator has been given a patch
or other fix.
closed
- The changes have been integrated, documented, and tested, and the
originator has confirmed that the solution works.
suspended
- Work on the problem has been postponed.
The initial state of a PR is `open'. See section States of Problem Reports.
>Responsible:
- (TEXT) The person responsible for this category.
>Arrival-Date:
- (TEXT) The time that this PR was received by PRMS. The date
is provided automatically by PRMS.
>Audit-Trail:
- (MULTITEXT) Tracks related electronic mail as well as changes in
the `>State:' and `>Responsible:' fields with the sub-fields:
State-Changed-<From>-<To>: oldstate>-<newstate
- The old and new `>State:' field values.
Responsible-Changed-<From>-<To>: oldresp>-<newresp
- The old and new `>Responsible:' field values.
State-Changed-By: name
Responsible-Changed-By: name
- The name of the maintainer who effected the change.
State-Changed-When: timestamp
Responsible-Changed-When: timestamp
- The time the change was made.
State-Changed-Why: reason...
Responsible-Changed-Why: reason...
- The reason for the change.
The `>Audit-Trail:' field also contains any mail messages received
by PRMS related to this PR, in the order received.
- >Unformatted:
(MULTITEXT) Any random text found outside the fields in the
original Problem Report.
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