path: root/REPORTING-BUGS

[Some of this is taken from Frohwalt Egerer's original linux-kernel FAQ]

What follows is a suggested procedure for reporting Linux bugs. You aren't
obliged to use the bug reporting format, it is provided as a guide to the
kind of information that can be useful to developers - no more.

If the failure includes an "OOPS:" type message in your log or on screen
please read "Documentation/oops-tracing.txt" before posting your bug
report. This explains what you should do with the "Oops" information to
make it useful to the recipient.

Send the output to the maintainer of the kernel area that seems to be
involved with the problem, and cc the relevant mailing list. Don't worry
too much about getting the wrong person. If you are unsure send it to the
person responsible for the code relevant to what you were doing.  If it
occurs repeatably try and describe how to recreate it. That is worth even
more than the oops itself.  The list of maintainers and mailing lists is
in the MAINTAINERS file in this directory.  If you know the file name that
causes the problem you can use the following command in this directory to
find some of the maintainers of that file:

     perl scripts/get_maintainer.pl -f <filename>

If it is a security bug, please copy the Security Contact listed in the
MAINTAINERS file.  They can help coordinate bugfix and disclosure.  See
Documentation/SecurityBugs for more information.

If you are totally stumped as to whom to send the report, send it to
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org. (For more information on the linux-kernel
mailing list see http://www.tux.org/lkml/).

This is a suggested format for a bug report sent to the Linux kernel mailing
list. Having a standardized bug report form makes it easier for you not to
overlook things, and easier for the developers to find the pieces of
information they're really interested in. Don't feel you have to follow it.

First run the ver_linux script included as scripts/ver_linux, which
reports the version of some important subsystems.  Run this script with
the command "sh scripts/ver_linux".

Use that information to fill in all fields of the bug report form, and
post it to the mailing list with a subject of "PROBLEM: <one line
summary from [1.]>" for easy identification by the developers.

[1.] One line summary of the problem:
[2.] Full description of the problem/report:
[3.] Keywords (i.e., modules, networking, kernel):
[4.] Kernel information
[4.1.] Kernel version (from /proc/version):
[4.2.] Kernel .config file:
[5.] Most recent kernel version which did not have the bug:
[6.] Output of Oops.. message (if applicable) with symbolic information
     resolved (see Documentation/oops-tracing.txt)
[7.] A small shell script or example program which triggers the
     problem (if possible)
[8.] Environment
[8.1.] Software (add the output of the ver_linux script here)
[8.2.] Processor information (from /proc/cpuinfo):
[8.3.] Module information (from /proc/modules):
[8.4.] Loaded driver and hardware information (/proc/ioports, /proc/iomem)
[8.5.] PCI information ('lspci -vvv' as root)
[8.6.] SCSI information (from /proc/scsi/scsi)
[8.7.] Other information that might be relevant to the problem
       (please look in /proc and include all information that you
       think to be relevant):
[X.] Other notes, patches, fixes, workarounds:


Thank you