Wink ;) If you have any doubt about this guide, you can ask any time.


Getting Support

Many times, a problem you're running into isn't a bug in Ubuntu, but rather a problem resulting from your setup, a mistake, or a difficult-to-reproduce glitch. Even if you have found a legitimate bug, making a proper bug report is somewhat of a skill in and of itself. If you're in doubt, or if you don't have the time to learn how to do bug reporting, Ubuntu provides several live chat support channels on Libera.Chat, which you can browse through here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRC/ChannelList. Volunteers here can walk you through how to debug the problem you've run into, and potentially help you fix it, and file a bug report if necessary.

If you're sure you've found a bug, and are interested in learning proper bug reporting, the rest of this guide will walk you through the bug reporting process for Ubuntu.

How to report bugs

Ubuntu uses Launchpad to keep track of bugs and their fixes. This page will guide you through the steps required to file a good and detailed report.

When possible, this will involve running a command 'ubuntu-bug' alias 'apport-bug' alias 'apport-collect'

ubuntu-bug buggy-package-name

that will collect information from the local system on the problematic program, and then open a form in a web browser for your comments.

Create a Launchpad account

If you don’t already have one - you need to create a Launchpad account. This will allow you to file new bugs and comment on existing ones.

Determine if the bug is really a bug

You should not file a bug if you are:

Perform a survey of your problem

First, check the release notes of your supported version of Ubuntu for any known issues from here. Second, check Launchpad for any duplicates, and make note of this.

Warning /!\ If you want to file a translation or misspelling bug, follow the instructions here.

Reporting a crash

If an application crashes, what typically happens is Apport will display a window noting it is collecting information about the crash:

apport-1.png

Once done, it will ask you if you would like to report it.

Warning /!\ Before continuing, make sure the package whoopsie is installed. Otherwise, Apport will appear to upload a crash report, but only actually does so if whoopsie is installed. Whoopsie is installed by default for users of ubuntu-desktop, but for users of alternative desktops, or for server users, whoopsie has to be installed manually with apt-get install whoopsie. See bug #1001630 for details.

If the crash is in Xorg edit /etc/gdm3/custom.conf from:

# Additionally lets the X server dump core if it crashes
#Enable=true

to:

# Additionally lets the X server dump core if it crashes
Enable=true

Once you report the crash, what happens next is dependent on what release you are using.

Reporting crash in the development release

What happens next is a web browser opens requesting you to login, and subsequently create a bug report on Launchpad. This report is automatically processed by Apport Retracing Service, in order to provide developers with debugging information that makes it easier to fix the problem.

Reporting a crash in the stable release

By default, Apport will not upload crash reports to Launchpad for a stable release (see bug #994921). Instead, crash reports are uploaded to Ubuntu's Error Tracker.

If you have a need to file a report on Launchpad anyways (e.g. you don't have access to the errors infrastructure, you want to subscribe others to a report to review it, etc.) one may do so by editing:

/etc/apport/crashdb.conf

and change:

'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

to:

# 'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

Save, close, and file the crash report via:

ubuntu-bug /var/crash/FILENAME.crash

Where FILENAME is the file name of the crash file you want to report.

Reporting a crash when no message shows up and crash files created

Sometimes, Apport creates a crash file, but doesn't display a message asking to make a report about it. In this case, one may file a crash report via a terminal:

ubuntu-bug /var/crash/FILENAME.crash

Where FILENAME is the file name of the crash file you want to report.

To confirm it was reported successfully to Ubuntu's Error Tracker, one may gather the ID via:

sudo cat /var/lib/whoopsie/whoopsie-id

and then go to the following URL with ID replaced with that gathered in the previous terminal command:

https://errors.ubuntu.com/user/ID

Reporting a crash when no message shows up and crash files not created

Sometimes, Apport doesn't create crash files after a crash. If this is due to Apport being disabled one may edit the file:

/etc/default/apport

and change:

enabled=0

to:

enabled=1

If Apport is enabled, then you may have one of the following issues:

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Reporting non-crash hardware and desktop application bugs

The method for reporting bugs in Ubuntu is by using the tool “ubuntu-bug”, otherwise known as Apport. When reporting a bug, you must tell Apport which program or package is at fault.

Collecting information from a specific package

Press Alt+F2 to open the “Run Command” screen:

Filing a bug with the “Run Command” screen

Then, type ubuntu-bug <package name> and press Enter. If you’re not sure which package has the problem, refer to the instructions for finding the right package.

Collecting information about a program with a window open

If you want to file a bug about an application but you don't know what that application's package name is, if it has an open window you are in luck.

In a terminal execute the command 'ubuntu-bug -w'.

terminal with ubuntu-bug -w

After you close the dialog the next window that you click on will have a problem report created for the package that created the window.

Collecting information from a currently running program

To file a bug against a program that is currently running, open the System Monitor application and find the ID of the process.

System Monitor Processes tab

Then type "ubuntu-bug " followed by the process ID into the “Run Command” screen.

Filing a bug with the “Run Command” screen and a process ID

Filing a general bug against no particular package

First, please review potential package candidates here. Only after reviewing this, if are still not sure which package is affected by the bug, type ubuntu-bug in the “Run Command” screen and press Enter. This will guide you through a series of questions to gather more information about the bug and help you assign it to the appropriate package.

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Complete the bug report filing process

After running one of the above commands, Apport (the Ubuntu bug reporter) will gather information about the bug.

Apport collecting information about the bug

A window will then pop up, asking you if you want to report the bug. Click "Send Report" if you wish to proceed, or click "Content of the report" if you want to review the information Apport collected.

Apport asking you to send the report

Apport will then upload the problem information to Launchpad, and a new browser window will then open to inform you that the bug report is being processed.

Apport uploading the problem information

Launchpad processing the bug report data

After the bug report data has been processed, a new page will open that will ask you for the bug report's title. The bug title will appear in all bug listings so make sure it represents the bug well. When you're done, click "Next".

Launchpad asking for a bug title

A search will then occur based on the title you gave to the bug report, and will show potentially similar ones. If one of these seems to be the exact bug you're reporting, click its title, then "Yes, this is the bug I'm trying to report". If not, click "No, I need to report a new bug".

Launchpad search results about the bug title

Launchpad will then ask you for further information. It's important that you specify three things:

  1. What you expected to happen
  2. What actually happened
  3. If possible, a minimal series of steps necessary to make it happen, where step 1 is "start the program"

Fill in the description field with as much information as you can, it is better to have too much information in the description than not enough.

Launchpad asking for further information

At then bottom of the page, there are some extra options you can use to make your bug report more complete:

lspci -vvnn
lspci -vnvn

This is due to how Launchpad automatically generates this as an additional attachment.

Launchpad presenting extra options

When you're done, click "Submit bug report".

Tips and tricks

Filing bugs when offline or using a headless setup

In the event that you have an issue with your internet connection, want to file a bug for another system, or have trouble reporting from a headless setup, you can still do this using apport.

Filing bugs manually at Launchpad.net

Before you proceed, you should think about the nature of the problem you're facing. If Ubuntu or its software seems to simply be generally "misbehaving", it might not be a software bug, but it is still a problem we want to help fix. We have an entire community of people who can help you in real time on our live IRC chat channels. You can find a list of these channels at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRC/ChannelList. On the other hand, if you are absolutely sure that you've encountered a legitimate error in the software's behavior (especially one that can be reproduced regularly), and you're sure you don't need any help, then continue with the bug reporting process.

If for some reason you cannot file a bug using the Apport tool you can file one via Launchpad's own bug report form. When doing so it is best if you have determined which package it should be filed against. Read 'finding the right package' for guidance or use Launchpad's package search feature. We don't recommend this method for most bug reports because they will likely be missing crucial information, use ubuntu-bug if you can!

To file a bug against a specific package you can also use a URL like the following:

where PACKAGENAME is the name of the source package about which you want to file the bug report.

In the event that you want to request a piece of software be packaged for Ubuntu please follow the instructions in the wiki.

Error: The launchpadlib Python module is not installed

If one gets the following error while trying to perform apport-collect:

ERROR: The launchpadlib Python module is not installed. This functionality
is not available.

please install the following package:

sudo apt-get -y install python-launchpadlib

Package libreoffice not installed and no hook available, ignoring

If one attempts to apport-collect and gets the error message:

Package libreoffice not installed and no hook available, ignoring

one has to install the following package:

sudo apt-get -y install libreoffice

Non-crash userspace bugs

Sometimes it is useful to take a picture (with a camera or via PrtSc button), or screencast of the problem to demonstrate how you reproduced it, what the bug specifically shows, and the impact it has.

Filing a translation bug

You should file a translation bug if you are experiencing one of the following issues:

In case of doubt, you can always contact the Translations team.

All translation issues should be filed against the Ubuntu Translations project. From there the bugs will be triaged and assigned to the right person and package.

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Bug reporting etiquette

Following bug reporting etiquette best presents your Launchpad report so that it gets addressed as soon as possible. As well, it minimizes unnecessary pain points for developers, triagers, and original reporters.

All bug reports

Hardware bug reports (linux kernel, xorg, sound, etc.)

Getting advice

Still have doubts about the bug report filing process? You can ask someone on #ubuntu-bugs on the https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InternetRelayChat server or on the bugsquad mailing list.

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Other languages

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See Also

ReportingBugs (last edited 2023-06-06 17:23:38 by nio-wiklund)