From: softlib.cs.rice.edu
Last mod: September 23, 1994

How to Submit a Useful Bug Report

Any bug reports on FASTLINK should be sent to Alejandro Schaffer (schaffer@cs.rice.edu). I have been trying to investigate all bug reports as quickly as possible.

The purpose of this document is to tell you what you should send me, so that I can track down any problem as quickly as possible without having to ask for more information. I am really anxious to find and fix whatever bugs remain in FASTLINK and LINKAGE. All the bug reports I've gotten so far have helped tremendously. However, I would like to speed up the process by guiding you in what I need to know to track down a bug successfully.

In general, there are four categories of bugs:

  1. Compilation Problems
  2. Crash during a run
  3. Results obviously bogus or inconsistent with LINKAGE
  4. Anything else
Here is what you should send me for each type of bug report:

Compilation Problems:

  1. A script showing your compilation attempt and the errors you got.
  2. Some indication which version number of FASTLINK you are using
  3. Your Makefile
  4. If the compilation complains that something is not defined, send me your current versions of the files, commondefs.h, moddefs.h, and slowmoddefs.h

Crash or Results obviously bogus or inconsistent with LINKAGE

  1. Which program and version (number, fast or slow) you are using
  2. Your data files (e.g., pedin.dat, datain.dat)
  3. Whatever shell script you are using to run the programs
  4. An indication of whether the results you are getting are bogus or are plausible but inconsistent with LINKAGE.

Anything else

  1. Which program and version (number, fast or slow) you are using
  2. Your data files (e.g., pedin.dat, datain.dat)
  3. An explanation with sample scripts of how the behavior deviates from what you expected.

If you run the programs directly rather than using a shell script, then instead of pedin.dat, datain.dat, and script, I would want pedfile.dat, ipedfile.dat, speedfile.dat, datafile.dat.

Beyond the items above, please describe any symptoms that seem relevant to you. I'd rather too much information than too little. However, you should just report behaviors that you see, not any speculations about the causes of those unexpected behaviors.

All data sent to me will be kept in complete confidence.

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