by Coder Geek

Created on: August 20, 2007

As a developer, I feel that it is everyone's responsibility to report bugs they find in software. Debugging software is a community effort with software users finding the bugs and the software developers fixing the bugs.

However, as some of my colleagues will point out, the first thing you must do is as the question: is it really a bug? Could this be intended functionality? Is it merely not doing what *you* want it to be doing? Of course, it's always better to over-report bugs than let bugs go unreported.

As soon as you encounter a bug, I recommend going immediately to that software author's website. Many now have a bug reporting and tracking system. Some websites may label this as "Bugzilla." If the company does not appear to have a bug submission system, contact their technical support team. The worst that could happen is they give you a direct link to their bug submission system for you to file a bug report.

The most important thing to remember is: provide a very detailed description. Nothing is more annoying than a report "It don't work!" What doesn't work? What were you doing in the program that doesn't work? Unfortunately, "It don't work" bug submissions are all too common. It's also a great way to completely annoy a developer and leave your inquiry with the lowest possible priority. Details are important, it's a way of respecting the efforts of the technical and development staff.

If you are using a program that logs errors and know where those logs are kept, be sure to provide those as well. Otherwise, wait for someone to help you provide such logs (if they exist). Another thing to include is what Operating System you are running on as well as what version of the software you are running. For Windows applications, you can typically retrieve the version of a program by going to the Help menu and selecting About. For Mac OS X applications, go to the menu that is the name of the application and select About. For other Unix applications, execute the program with the -v or -version parameter.

In the case of software where upgrades are free, expect the first response to be "upgrade to the latest version." This is not designed to be a snide comment to brush aside your valid concerns. Instead, it is likely that the bug you have encountered has been previously fixed and the developers need to determine if for some reason that fix does not work for you.

Last but not least, a great bug report is one where the developers can experience the bug in their own environment (known as "replicating"). To assist with this, provide step by step instructions on how to re-create the bug (known as a "walkthrough"). An okay example would be "I tried to save the document." A better example is "I went to the File menu and clicked Save to try to save the document."

When possible, provide screenshots of any errors, actions or lack thereof. This will show that you are serious about fixing the bug and informs the developers on a subliminal level that you're willing to help them if they help you. Keep in mind, IT folk tend not to be treated well by customers so being nice to them can go a very long way.

While it can take some time to file a bug report properly, it's well worth the effort to ensure the software you use everyday works properly.

Learn more about this author, Coder Geek.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.