<html lang="en"> <head> <title>Reporting Bugs - Untitled</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="Untitled"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="up" href="Trouble.html#Trouble" title="Trouble"> <link rel="prev" href="Actual-Bugs.html#Actual-Bugs" title="Actual Bugs"> <link rel="next" href="Bug-Criteria.html#Bug-Criteria" title="Bug Criteria"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="Reporting-Bugs"></a> <p> Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Bug-Criteria.html#Bug-Criteria">Bug Criteria</a>, Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Actual-Bugs.html#Actual-Bugs">Actual Bugs</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Trouble.html#Trouble">Trouble</a> <hr> </div> <h3 class="appendixsec">E.2 Reporting Bugs</h3> <p><a name="index-bugs-2517"></a><a name="index-reporting-bugs-2518"></a> Your bug reports play an essential role in making Octave reliable. <p>When you encounter a problem, the first thing to do is to see if it is already known. See <a href="Trouble.html#Trouble">Trouble</a>. If it isn't known, then you should report the problem. <p>Reporting a bug may help you by bringing a solution to your problem, or it may not. In any case, the principal function of a bug report is to help the entire community by making the next version of Octave work better. Bug reports are your contribution to the maintenance of Octave. <p>In order for a bug report to serve its purpose, you must include the information that makes it possible to fix the bug. <p><a name="index-bug_005freport-2519"></a> If you have Octave working at all, the easiest way to prepare a complete bug report is to use the Octave function <code>bug_report</code>. When you execute this function, Octave will prompt you for a subject and then invoke the editor on a file that already contains all the configuration information. When you exit the editor, Octave will mail the bug report for you. <!-- ./miscellaneous/bug_report.m --> <p><a name="doc_002dbug_005freport"></a> <div class="defun"> — Function File: <b>bug_report</b> ()<var><a name="index-bug_005freport-2520"></a></var><br> <blockquote><p>Have Octave create a bug report template file, invoke your favorite editor, and submit the report to the bug-octave mailing list when you are finished editing. </p></blockquote></div> <ul class="menu"> <li><a accesskey="1" href="Bug-Criteria.html#Bug-Criteria">Bug Criteria</a> <li><a accesskey="2" href="Bug-Lists.html#Bug-Lists">Where</a>: Where to send your bug report. <li><a accesskey="3" href="Bug-Reporting.html#Bug-Reporting">Reporting</a>: How to report a bug effectively. <li><a accesskey="4" href="Sending-Patches.html#Sending-Patches">Patches</a>: How to send a patch for Octave. </ul> </body></html>