Creating new Problem Reports

Invoking send-pr presents a PR template with a number of fields already filled in. Complete the template as thoroughly as possible to make a useful bug report. Submit only one bug with each PR.

A template consists of three sections:

Comments

The top several lines of a blank template consist of a series of comments that provide some basic instructions for completing the Problem Report, as well as a list of valid entries for the `>Category:' field. These comments are all preceded by the string `SEND-PR:' and are erased automatically when the PR is submitted. The instructional comments within `<' and `>' are also removed. (Only these comments are removed; lines you provide that happen to have those characters in them, such as examples of shell-level redirection, are not affected.)

Mail Header

send-pr creates a standard mail header. send-pr completes all fields except the `Subject:' line with default values. (See section Problem Report format.)

PRMS fields

These are the informational fields that PRMS uses to route your Problem Report to the responsible party for further action. They should be filled out as completely as possible. (See section Problem Report format. Also see section Helpful hints.)

For examples of a Problem Report template and complete Problem Report, see section An Example.

The default template contains your preconfigured `>Submitter-Id:'. send-pr attempts to determine values for the `>Originator:' and `>Organization:' fields (see section Problem Report format). send-pr also attempts to find out some information about your system and architecture, and places this information in the `>Environment:' field if it finds any.

You may submit problem reports to different Support Sites from the default site by specifying the alternate site when you invoke send-pr. Each site has its own list of categories for which it accepts Problem Reports. (See section Setting a default site.)

send-pr also provides the mail header section of the template with default values in the `To:', `From:', and `Reply-To:' fields. The `Subject:' field is empty.

The template begins with a comment section:

SEND-PR: -*- send-pr  -*-
SEND-PR: Lines starting with `SEND-PR' will be removed
SEND-PR: automatically as well as all comments (the text 
SEND-PR: below enclosed in `<' and `>').
SEND-PR: 
SEND-PR: Please consult the document `Reporting Problems 
SEND-PR: Using send-pr' if you are not sure how to fill out
SEND-PR: a problem report.
SEND-PR:
SEND-PR: Choose from the following categories:

and also contains a list of valid >Category: values for the Support Site to whom you are submitting this Problem Report. One (and only one) of these values should be placed in the >Category: field. A complete sample bug report, from template to completed PR, is shown in section An Example. For a complete list of valid categories, type `send-pr -L' at your prompt. See section Valid Categories, for a sample list of categories, .

The mail header is just below the comment section. Fill out the `Subject:' field, if it is not already completed using the value of `>Synopsis:'. The other mail header fields contain default values.

To: support-site
Subject: complete this field
From: your-login@your-site
Reply-To: your-login@your-site
X-send-pr-version: send-pr 3.95-95q4

where support-site is an alias for the Support Site you wish to submit this PR to.

The rest of the template contains PRMS fields. Each field is either automatically completed with valid information (such as your `>Submitter-Id:') or contains a one-line instruction specifying the information that field requires in order to be correct. For example, the `>Confidential:' field expects a value of `yes' or `no', and the answer must fit on one line; similarly, the `>Synopsis:' field expects a short synopsis of the problem, which must also fit on one line. Fill out the fields as completely as possible. See section Helpful hints, for suggestions as to what kinds of information to include.

In this example, words in italics are filled in with pre-configured information:

>Submitter-Id: your submitter-id
>Originator:   your name here
>Organization:  
    your organization
>Confidential:<[ yes | no ] (one line)>
>Synopsis:    <synopsis of the problem (one line)>
>Severity:    <[non-critical | serious | critical](one line)>
>Priority:    <[ low | medium | high ] (one line)>
>Category:    <name of the product (one line)>
>Class:       <[sw-bug | doc-bug | change-request | support]>
>Release:     <release number or tag (one line)>
>Environment:
         <machine, os, target, libraries (multiple lines)>

>Description:
       <precise description of the problem (multiple lines)>
>How-To-Repeat:
       <code/input/activities to reproduce (multiple lines)>
>Fix:
       <how to correct or work around the problem, if known 
        (multiple lines)>

When you finish editing the Problem Report, send-pr mails it to the address named in the `To:' field in the mail header. send-pr checks that the complete form contains a valid `>Category:'.

Your copy of send-pr should have already been customized on installation to reflect your `>Submitter-Id:'. (See section Installing send-pr on your system.) If you don't know your `>Submitter-Id:', you can request it using `send-pr --request-id'. If your organization is not affiliated with the site you send Problem Reports to, a good generic `>Submitter-Id:' to use is `net'.

If your PR has an invalid value in one of the ENUMERATED fields (see section Problem Report format), send-pr places the PR in a temporary file named `/tmp/pbadnnnn' on your machine. nnnn is the process identification number given to your current send-pr session. If you are running send-pr from the shell, you are prompted as to whether or not you wish to try editing the same Problem Report again. If you are running send-pr from Emacs, the Problem Report is placed in the buffer `*send-pr-error*'; you can edit this file and then submit it with

M-x prms-submit-pr

Any further mail concerning this Problem Report should be carbon-copied to the PRMS mailing address as well, with the category and identification number in the `Subject:' line of the message.

Subject: Re: PR category/prms-id: original message subject

Messages which arrive with `Subject:' lines of this form are automatically appended to the Problem Report in the `>Audit-Trail:' field in the order received.