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@title Contributing Bug Reports
@group detail
Describes how to file an effective Phabricator bug report.
Overview
========
Found a bug with Phabricator? Let us know! This article describes how to file
an effective bug report so we can get your issue fixed or help you work around
it.
The most important things to do are:
- check the list of common fixes below;
- make sure Phabricator is up to date;
- make sure we support your setup;
- gather debugging information;
- explain how to reproduce the issue; and
- create a task in
[[ http://secure.phabricator.com/maniphest/task/create/ | Maniphest ]].
The rest of this article walks through these points in detail.
If you have a feature request (not a bug report), see
@{article:Contributing Feature Requests} for a more tailored guide.
For general information on contributing to Phabricator, see
@{article:Contributor Introduction}.
Common Fixes
============
Before you file a report, here are some common solutions to problems:
- **Update Phabricator**: We receive a lot of bug reports about issues we have
already fixed in HEAD. Updating often resolves issues. It is common for
issues to be fixed in less than 24 hours, so even if you've updated recently
you should update again. If you aren't sure how to update, see the next
section.
- **Update Libraries**: Make sure `libphutil/`, `arcanist/` and
`phabricator/` are all up to date. Users often update `phabricator/` but
forget to update `arcanist/` or `libphutil/`. When you update, make sure you
update all three libraries.
- **Restart Apache or PHP-FPM**: Phabricator uses caches which don't get
reset until you restart Apache or PHP-FPM. After updating, make sure you
restart.
Update Phabricator
==================
Before filing a bug, make sure you are up to date. We receive many bug reports
for issues we have already fixed, and even if we haven't fixed an issue we'll
be able to resolve it more easily if you file a report based on HEAD. (For
example, an old stack trace may not have the right line numbers, which will
make it more difficult for us to figure out what's going wrong.)
To update Phabricator, use a script like this one:
http://www.phabricator.com/rsrc/install/update_phabricator.sh
This script will require some adjustments depending on how your setup is
configured, which webserver you are using, etc.
**If you can not update** for some reason, please include the version of
Phabricator you are running in your report. The version is just the Git hash
of your local HEAD. You can find the version by running `git show` in
`phabricator/` and copy/pasting the first line of output, or by browsing to
{nav Config > All Settings} in the web UI and copy/pasting the information
at the top.
Supported Issues
================
Before filing a bug, make sure you're filing an issue against something we
support.
**We do NOT support prototype applications.** If you're running into an issue
with a prototype application, you're on your own. For more information about
prototype applications, see @{article:User Guide: Prototype Applications}.
**We do NOT support third-party packages or instructions.** If you installed
Phabricator (or configured some aspect of it) using a third-party package or by
following a third-party guide (like a blog post), we can not help you.
Phabricator changes quickly and third-party information is unreliable and often
falls out of date. Contact the maintainer of the package or guide you used,
or reinstall following the upstream instructions.
**We do NOT support custom code development or third-party libraries.** If
you're writing an extension, you're on your own. We provide some documentation,
but can not help you with extension or library development. If you downloaded a
library from somewhere, contact the library maintainer.
**We do NOT support bizarre environments.** If your issue is specific to an
unusual installation environment, we generally will not help you find a
workaround. Install Phabricator in a normal environment instead. Examples of
unusual environments are shared hosts, nontraditional hosts (gaming consoles,
storage appliances), and hosts with unusually tight resource constraints. The
vast majority of users run Phabricator in normal environments (modern computers
with root access) and these are the only environments we support.
Otherwise, if you're having an issue with a supported first-party application
and followed the upstream install instructions on a normal computer, we're happy
to try to help.
Getting More Information
========================
For some issues, there are places you can check for more information. This may
help you resolve the issue yourself. Even if it doesn't, this information can
help us figure out and resolve an issue.
- For issues with `arc` or any other command-line script, you can get more
details about what the script is doing by adding the `--trace` flag.
- For issues with Phabricator, check your webserver error logs.
- For Apache, this is often `/var/log/httpd/error.log`, or
`/var/log/apache2/error.log` or similar.
- For nginx, check both the nginx and php-fpm logs.
- For issues with the UI, check the Javascript error console in your web
browser.
- Some other things, like daemons, have their own debug flags or
troubleshooting steps. Check the documentation for information on
troubleshooting. Adjusting settings or enabling debugging modes may give
you more information about the issue.
Reproducibility
===============
The most important part of your report content is instructions on how to
reproduce the issue. What did you do? If you do it again, does it still break?
Does it depend on a specific browser? Can you reproduce the issue on
`secure.phabricator.com`?
Feel free to try to reproduce issues on the upstream install (which is kept near
HEAD), within reason -- it's okay to make a few test objects if you're having
trouble narrowing something down or want to check if updating might fix an
issue.
It is nearly impossible for us to resolve many issues if we can not reproduce
them.
Unreproducible Problems
=======================
Before we can fix a bug, we need to reproduce it. If we can't reproduce a
problem, we can't tell if we've fixed it and often won't be able to figure out
why it is occurring.
Most problems reproduce easily, but some are more difficult to reproduce. We
will generally make a reasonable effort to reproduce problems, but sometimes
we will be unable to reproduce an issue.
Many of these unreproducible issues turn out to be bizarre environmental
problems that are unique to one user's install, and figuring out what is wrong
takes a very long time with a lot of back and forth as we ask questions to
narrow down the cause of the problem. When we eventually figure it out and fix
it, few others benefit (in some cases, no one else). This sort of fishing
expedition is not a good use of anyone's time, and it's very hard for us to
prioritize solving these problems because they represent a huge effort for very
little benefit.
We will make a reasonable effort to reproduce problems, but can not help with
issues which we can't reproduce. You can make sure we're able to help resolve
your issue by generating clear reproduction steps.
Create a Task in Maniphest
==========================
If you're up to date, supported, have collected information about the problem,
and have the best reproduction instructions you can come up with, you're ready
to file an issue.
We'll look at any issue report we can find (we monitor IRC, email,
StackOverflow, Quora, Facebook and Twitter), but the upstream Maniphest is the
authoritative bug tracker and the best place to file:
https://secure.phabricator.com/maniphest/task/create/
If you don't want to file there (or, for example, your bug relates to being
unable to log in or unable to file an issue in Maniphest) you can file on any
other channel, but we can address reports much more effectively if they're
filed against the upstream than if they're filed somewhere else.
| Effectiveness | Filing Method |
|---|---|
| Best | Upstream Maniphest |
| Ehhh | Quora, StackOverflow, Facebook, email, etc. |
| What | Passive-aggressive tweet |
If you have a quick question or want to discuss something before filing an
issue, IRC is a great way to get a sanity check first. You can find information
about IRC in @{article: Give Feedback! Get Support!}.
Next Steps
==========
Continue by:
- learning about @{article: Contributing Feature Requests}; or
- reading general support information in
@{article: Give Feedback! Get Support!}; or
- returning to the @{article:Contributor Introduction}.
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