Help: Bug report
Some guidelines for writing a bug report
========================================
In 99% of cases using 'bug'-command for reporting bugs is
recommended. There are of course exceptions, such as broken
code that traps you somewhere with your equipment on while
Armageddon is yelling about 4 minutes to sunset - it is quite
reasonable to try and find an unidle wizard at this point.
Also if you find something that can be considered major, such
as a way to make indefinite money in a flick of your wrist,
it might be a good idea to talk to a wizard or archwizard
directly.
A bug report should contain some basic things and not contain
others, it should be clearly formatted and (if possible) aimed
at the right object and therefore the right wizard. You want
to describe the problem briefly and precisely, nothing else.
Examples:
Lets assume that the room you are in bugs. You think it should
have a 'secret' that you access by 'pull torch', but when you
type 'pull torch' all you get is a typo message. Now when the
bug is in the room, you do not need to address it to anyone.
Just start editing your bug report by typing 'bug':
> Typing 'pull torch' in this room results in a typo message.
That's it! No long-winded ramblings about what the weather is
like, who your favorite Canadian artist is or where you are
going to go for lunch. You of course want to be in the room
the bug occurred in when you send the report, so the exact
room is displayed to the wizard in question with your report.
Now lets assume you have a weapon that goes by the name of
'long sword' but you cannot use it with the skill 'slash';
the skill complains something like "You need a weapon to be
able to use strike." This is a bit trickier because you
can't be certain whether the problem is with the sword or
with the skill, but it is reasonable to assume that the skill
works, thus you'd aim the bug report at the sword: 'bug sword'.
> When I try to use slash with this sword, the skill tells me
> that I need a weapon.
Again, brief and precise. The wizard will receive an exact
pointer to that 'long sword' - IF you managed to aim the bug
report at it, so it is needless to explain what sword is in
question.
Final example, a bug that is not in a specific object. Lets
assume you've found a bug from a spell. You cast 'moon sense'
and instead of showing the moon phase to you, it prints the
following: "A shimmering image of a [undefined] moon appears
in the center of the room. The moon disappears almost
immediately."
It'd be quite difficult for you to tell where the problem is,
moon sense as a spell is not owned by any specific wizard and
you cannot aim the report at it - you have two choices left.
You could just type 'bug' and start the editor and type in
a report, now the bug report will be sent to the owner of the
room you are in... or you could choose a wizard to send it to,
by starting the editor with something like 'bug shardik'. The
wizard should obviously be an active one, though old wizards'
bug reports are often automatically re-directed to active ones.
> When I cast moon sense I received 'A shimmering image of a
> [undefined] moon appears in the center of the room. The moon
> disappears almost immediately.'
Complicated bugs may naturally demand longer explanations, it
is more important to have it precise than brief. With abstract
bugs like the last example, you want to check out 'help who to
ask' to see if someone has it covered.
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