Webhelp - help for the web interface
Help for users of the web interface, searching, objects and their fields, etc.
The search mask has no pre-selected entries, click query and an indiscriminate list of all the bugs in the database will be returned.
Filterering is achieved by selecting options from the popup menus, or entering data in the text fields, as described below.
Once an item is returned for viewing, links to it's constituent parts may be followed.
The following describe fields not described under OBJECTS below.
List of active administrators who are registered against 1 or more bugs.
Boolean switch to decide whether or not to AND or to OR the query fields together, in the creation of the SQL search query.
Determine whether to return records found in ASCENDING or DESCENDING order.
Restrict records created on or after the selected date.
Note that you can also construct a query to retrieve the bugs since this Christmas by using something of the form:
http://bugs.perl.org/perlbug/perlbug.cgi?req=date&date=20001225
Usage of a valid 8 figure date is recommended, otherwise you're on your own :-)
Determine the display format of the records found. This for example, means you can still get an ascii list (for applying a script against, perhaps), even while using the web frontend which naturally has the default return format in HTML form.
The contents of the actual Message-Id: field belonging to each bug or reply.
Restrict the number of found records to the given number. Also divides the remainder up into similarly sized chunks for convenient browsing thereafter.
Display the SQL executed. This may help to pinpoint problems where searches are not returning expected results.
All text fields are searched using the SQL LIKE operator. bugid, noteid, patchid, testid, version, change and /fixed fields are used as seen, that is, if a wildcard is not provided, one will not be used.
Conversly subject, body and source address fields have %
pre-placed around the search query by default.
What this means is that entering 20001122.
, in the bugid field, will probably not return much, but 20001122.%
' might. Of course a complete bugid could be entered on it's own eg: 20001122.003
Whereas entering only strict in the subject field will still use %strict%
during the search.
The available SQL wildcards: any single character _
and none or more characters %
are allowed in all fields. Note also that for convenience(?),
an asterisk(
*
) will be simply mapped to the sql wildcard %
'.
N.B. It can be a good idea to use the show_sql switch to display what's being searched for.
Bugs are initially returned in either list or block format, with an optional trimming mechanism which defaults to 25. At the base of the page is a list of all the other bugs found during the query, sectioned into similarly managable portions. The list format is designed for quickly moving around a list of bugs, while the block format is aimed at finding all information relating to said bug, without having to hop around.
Certain fields are common to all objects:
The date this record was created in the database.
The date this record was in some way modified.
The list of all modifications to each item, and who submitted them.
The main potato:
The internally generated bugid.
The subject line of the original report.
Usually the From: address of the original report.
The body of the original message which generated the bug report.
During a web search, the bodies of all messages in the database will be inspected, unless the boolean and_or switch AND is selected whereby the search criteria is narrowed down.
The status of the bug, with the following options:
abandoned - no longer worked on
busy - currently being looked at by an administrator
closed - considered fixed
duplicate - a report erroneously filed a second time
ok - a 'build reported OK:' report, (not the same as closed)
onhold - undecided as to whether this is a bug or not
open - undealt with, needing attention
The category of the bug has the following options:
bounce - report had invalid format, common with spam mail
core - central functionality affected
docs - not a code bug, a docs bug (or typo)
install - bug in the installation procedure
library - not a central routine, rather a library or module bug
notabug - at all, could be misread instructions or even spam
patch - this fixed another bug
unknown - first port of call, bug usually assigned to another valid group
utilities - a utility function misbehaved
The severity of the bug has the following options, in descending order or severity:
fatal - top priority!
high - non-fatal, but has to be fixed quickly
medium - should be fixed soon
low - would be good to fix when time permits
wishlist - would be nice to have someone look at this sometime
none - a bit like 'wishlist' but more so
The name of the operating system this report was generated on:
Many differing values possible.
aix, dec, hpux, irix, linux, macos, next, os2, solaris, vms, winnt, etc.
...
The Project, which currently uses the
perl4 - once
perl5 - and [now]
perl6 - future
...
There are several field relating to versions, patches, changes which may at first be somewhat inter-related.
The version against which this report was first noticed/generated.
Typically has one of the following forms:
5
5.0053
5.00.5.3
5.6
5.6.0
5.7.1
...
The version in which this bug was fixed, same format as version above.
The changeID of the target source for the fix. this is an external reference about which we know very little.
Typically has one of the following forms: 5
5810
0053
...
History of administrative operations against this bug, changes of status/category, etc..
List of email addresses for this bug. Will contain the source address, any adminitrator who has modified the bug record, and any people who have been on the Cc: list of any of the messages assigned to this bug.
The internal-ids of messages belonging to this bug (replies).
Not to be confused with the externally supplied message_id's of each email.
The bugid of any other bug to which this bug may belong.
The bugid of any other bug which belongs to this bug.
An administrator can assign a note to a bug when he/she modifies it.
The body of the note.
The internally generated noteid.
A bug may be fixed by a patch, this can be assigned along with a changeid.
Bear in mind the difference between the internally generated /patchid and the externally offered /changeid.
The body of the patch.
The internally generated patchid.
A test may be assigned to a bug, if the test succeeds the bug may be regarded as fixed.
The body of the test.
The internally generated testid.
Richard Foley <richard@rfi.net> 2001