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| author | John W. Eaton <jwe@octave.org> |
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| date | Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:13:16 -0400 |
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| 9245 | 1 @c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009 John W. Eaton |
| 7018 | 2 @c |
| 3 @c This file is part of Octave. | |
| 4 @c | |
| 5 @c Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it | |
| 6 @c under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the | |
| 7 @c Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at | |
| 8 @c your option) any later version. | |
| 9 @c | |
| 10 @c Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT | |
| 11 @c ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or | |
| 12 @c FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License | |
| 13 @c for more details. | |
| 14 @c | |
| 15 @c You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License | |
| 16 @c along with Octave; see the file COPYING. If not, see | |
| 17 @c <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. | |
| 3294 | 18 |
| 7018 | 19 @c The text of this file appears in the file BUGS in the Octave |
| 20 @c distribution, as well as in the Octave manual. | |
| 3294 | 21 |
| 22 @ifclear BUGSONLY | |
| 4167 | 23 @node Trouble |
| 3294 | 24 @appendix Known Causes of Trouble |
| 25 @end ifclear | |
| 26 | |
| 27 @ifset BUGSONLY | |
| 28 | |
| 29 This file documents known bugs in Octave and describes where and how to | |
| 30 report any bugs that you may find. | |
| 31 | |
| 6778 | 32 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 2007 John W. Eaton. You may copy, distribute, and |
| 3294 | 33 modify it freely as long as you preserve this copyright notice and |
| 34 permission notice. | |
| 35 | |
| 4167 | 36 @node Trouble |
| 3294 | 37 @chapter Known Causes of Trouble with Octave |
| 38 @end ifset | |
| 39 | |
| 40 @cindex bugs, known | |
| 41 @cindex installation trouble | |
| 42 @cindex known causes of trouble | |
| 43 @cindex troubleshooting | |
| 44 | |
| 45 This section describes known problems that affect users of Octave. Most | |
| 46 of these are not Octave bugs per se---if they were, we would fix them. | |
| 47 But the result for a user may be like the result of a bug. | |
| 48 | |
| 49 Some of these problems are due to bugs in other software, some are | |
| 50 missing features that are too much work to add, and some are places | |
| 51 where people's opinions differ as to what is best. | |
| 52 | |
| 53 @menu | |
| 54 * Actual Bugs:: Bugs we will fix later. | |
| 55 * Reporting Bugs:: | |
| 56 * Bug Criteria:: | |
| 10452 | 57 * Bug Tracker:: |
| 3294 | 58 * Bug Reporting:: |
| 59 * Sending Patches:: | |
| 60 * Service:: | |
| 61 @end menu | |
| 62 | |
| 4167 | 63 @node Actual Bugs |
| 3294 | 64 @appendixsec Actual Bugs We Haven't Fixed Yet |
| 65 | |
| 66 @itemize @bullet | |
| 67 @item | |
| 68 Output that comes directly from Fortran functions is not sent through | |
| 69 the pager and may appear out of sequence with other output that is sent | |
| 70 through the pager. One way to avoid this is to force pending output to | |
| 71 be flushed before calling a function that will produce output from | |
| 72 within Fortran functions. To do this, use the command | |
| 73 | |
| 74 @example | |
| 75 fflush (stdout) | |
| 76 @end example | |
| 77 | |
| 78 Another possible workaround is to use the command | |
| 79 | |
| 80 @example | |
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81 page_screen_output (false); |
| 3294 | 82 @end example |
| 83 | |
| 84 @noindent | |
| 85 to turn the pager off. | |
| 86 @end itemize | |
| 87 | |
| 88 A list of ideas for future enhancements is distributed with Octave. See | |
| 89 the file @file{PROJECTS} in the top level directory in the source | |
| 90 distribution. | |
| 91 | |
| 4167 | 92 @node Reporting Bugs |
| 3294 | 93 @appendixsec Reporting Bugs |
| 94 @cindex bugs | |
| 95 @cindex reporting bugs | |
| 96 | |
| 97 Your bug reports play an essential role in making Octave reliable. | |
| 98 | |
| 99 When you encounter a problem, the first thing to do is to see if it is | |
| 100 already known. @xref{Trouble}. If it isn't known, then you should | |
| 101 report the problem. | |
| 102 | |
| 103 Reporting a bug may help you by bringing a solution to your problem, or | |
| 104 it may not. In any case, the principal function of a bug report is | |
| 105 to help the entire community by making the next version of Octave work | |
| 106 better. Bug reports are your contribution to the maintenance of Octave. | |
| 107 | |
| 108 In order for a bug report to serve its purpose, you must include the | |
| 109 information that makes it possible to fix the bug. | |
| 110 | |
| 111 @menu | |
| 112 * Bug Criteria:: | |
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113 * Where: Bug Tracker. Where to submit your bug report. |
| 3294 | 114 * Reporting: Bug Reporting. How to report a bug effectively. |
| 115 * Patches: Sending Patches. How to send a patch for Octave. | |
| 116 @end menu | |
| 117 | |
| 4167 | 118 @node Bug Criteria |
| 3294 | 119 @appendixsec Have You Found a Bug? |
| 120 @cindex bug criteria | |
| 121 | |
| 122 If you are not sure whether you have found a bug, here are some guidelines: | |
| 123 | |
| 124 @itemize @bullet | |
| 125 @cindex fatal signal | |
| 126 @cindex core dump | |
| 127 @item | |
| 128 If Octave gets a fatal signal, for any input whatever, that is | |
| 129 a bug. Reliable interpreters never crash. | |
| 130 | |
| 131 @cindex incorrect output | |
| 132 @cindex incorrect results | |
| 133 @cindex results, incorrect | |
| 134 @cindex answers, incorrect | |
| 135 @cindex erroneous results | |
| 136 @cindex wrong answers | |
| 137 @item | |
| 138 If Octave produces incorrect results, for any input whatever, | |
| 139 that is a bug. | |
| 140 | |
| 141 @cindex undefined behavior | |
| 142 @cindex undefined function value | |
| 143 @item | |
| 144 Some output may appear to be incorrect when it is in fact due to a | |
| 145 program whose behavior is undefined, which happened by chance to give | |
| 146 the desired results on another system. For example, the range operator | |
| 147 may produce different results because of differences in the way floating | |
| 148 point arithmetic is handled on various systems. | |
| 149 | |
| 150 @cindex erroneous messages | |
| 151 @cindex incorrect error messages | |
| 152 @cindex error messages, incorrect | |
| 153 @item | |
| 154 If Octave produces an error message for valid input, that is a bug. | |
| 155 | |
| 156 @cindex invalid input | |
| 157 @item | |
| 158 If Octave does not produce an error message for invalid input, that is | |
| 159 a bug. However, you should note that your idea of ``invalid input'' | |
| 160 might be my idea of ``an extension'' or ``support for traditional | |
| 161 practice''. | |
| 162 | |
| 163 @cindex improving Octave | |
| 164 @cindex suggestions | |
| 165 @item | |
| 166 If you are an experienced user of programs like Octave, your suggestions | |
| 167 for improvement are welcome in any case. | |
| 168 @end itemize | |
| 169 | |
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170 @node Bug Tracker |
| 3294 | 171 @appendixsec Where to Report Bugs |
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172 @cindex bug tracker |
| 3294 | 173 @cindex reporting bugs |
| 174 @cindex bugs, reporting | |
| 175 | |
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176 To report a bug in Octave, submit a bug report to the Octave bug tracker |
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177 @url{http://bugs.octave.org}. |
| 3294 | 178 |
| 179 @strong{Do not send bug reports to @samp{help-octave}}. Most users of | |
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180 Octave do not want to receive bug reports. |
| 3294 | 181 |
| 4167 | 182 @node Bug Reporting |
| 3294 | 183 @appendixsec How to Report Bugs |
| 184 @cindex bugs, reporting | |
| 185 | |
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186 Submit bug reports for Octave to the Octave bug tracker |
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187 @url{http://bugs.octave.org}. |
| 3294 | 188 |
| 189 The fundamental principle of reporting bugs usefully is this: | |
| 190 @strong{report all the facts}. If you are not sure whether to state a | |
| 191 fact or leave it out, state it! | |
| 192 | |
| 193 Often people omit facts because they think they know what causes the | |
| 194 problem and they conclude that some details don't matter. Thus, you might | |
| 195 assume that the name of the variable you use in an example does not matter. | |
| 196 Well, probably it doesn't, but one cannot be sure. Perhaps the bug is a | |
| 197 stray memory reference which happens to fetch from the location where that | |
| 198 name is stored in memory; perhaps, if the name were different, the contents | |
| 199 of that location would fool the interpreter into doing the right thing | |
| 200 despite the bug. Play it safe and give a specific, complete example. | |
| 201 | |
| 202 Keep in mind that the purpose of a bug report is to enable someone to | |
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203 fix the bug if it is not known. Always write your bug reports on |
| 3294 | 204 the assumption that the bug is not known. |
| 205 | |
| 206 Sometimes people give a few sketchy facts and ask, ``Does this ring a | |
| 207 bell?'' This cannot help us fix a bug. It is better to send a complete | |
| 208 bug report to begin with. | |
| 209 | |
| 210 Try to make your bug report self-contained. If we have to ask you for | |
| 211 more information, it is best if you include all the previous information | |
| 212 in your response, as well as the information that was missing. | |
| 213 | |
| 214 To enable someone to investigate the bug, you should include all these | |
| 215 things: | |
| 216 | |
| 217 @itemize @bullet | |
| 218 @item | |
| 219 The version of Octave. You can get this by noting the version number | |
| 220 that is printed when Octave starts, or running it with the @samp{-v} | |
| 221 option. | |
| 222 | |
| 223 @item | |
| 224 A complete input file that will reproduce the bug. | |
| 225 | |
| 226 A single statement may not be enough of an example---the bug might | |
| 227 depend on other details that are missing from the single statement where | |
| 228 the error finally occurs. | |
| 229 | |
| 230 @item | |
| 231 The command arguments you gave Octave to execute that example | |
| 232 and observe the bug. To guarantee you won't omit something important, | |
| 233 list all the options. | |
| 234 | |
| 235 If we were to try to guess the arguments, we would probably guess wrong | |
| 236 and then we would not encounter the bug. | |
| 237 | |
| 238 @item | |
| 239 The type of machine you are using, and the operating system name and | |
| 240 version number. | |
| 241 | |
| 242 @item | |
| 243 The command-line arguments you gave to the @code{configure} command when | |
| 244 you installed the interpreter. | |
| 245 | |
| 246 @item | |
| 247 A complete list of any modifications you have made to the interpreter | |
| 248 source. | |
| 249 | |
| 250 Be precise about these changes---show a context diff for them. | |
| 251 | |
| 252 @item | |
| 253 Details of any other deviations from the standard procedure for installing | |
| 254 Octave. | |
| 255 | |
| 256 @cindex incorrect output | |
| 257 @cindex incorrect results | |
| 258 @cindex results, incorrect | |
| 259 @cindex answers, incorrect | |
| 260 @cindex erroneous results | |
| 261 @cindex wrong answers | |
| 262 @item | |
| 263 A description of what behavior you observe that you believe is | |
| 264 incorrect. For example, "The interpreter gets a fatal signal," or, "The | |
| 265 output produced at line 208 is incorrect." | |
| 266 | |
| 267 Of course, if the bug is that the interpreter gets a fatal signal, then | |
| 268 one can't miss it. But if the bug is incorrect output, we might not | |
| 269 notice unless it is glaringly wrong. | |
| 270 | |
| 271 Even if the problem you experience is a fatal signal, you should still | |
| 272 say so explicitly. Suppose something strange is going on, such as, your | |
| 273 copy of the interpreter is out of synch, or you have encountered a bug | |
| 274 in the C library on your system. Your copy might crash and the copy | |
| 275 here would not. If you said to expect a crash, then when the | |
| 276 interpreter here fails to crash, we would know that the bug was not | |
| 277 happening. If you don't say to expect a crash, then we would not know | |
| 278 whether the bug was happening. We would not be able to draw any | |
| 279 conclusion from our observations. | |
| 280 | |
| 281 Often the observed symptom is incorrect output when your program is run. | |
| 282 Unfortunately, this is not enough information unless the program is | |
| 283 short and simple. It is very helpful if you can include an explanation | |
| 284 of the expected output, and why the actual output is incorrect. | |
| 285 | |
| 286 @item | |
| 287 If you wish to suggest changes to the Octave source, send them as | |
| 288 context diffs. If you even discuss something in the Octave source, | |
| 289 refer to it by context, not by line number, because the line numbers in | |
| 290 the development sources probably won't match those in your sources. | |
| 291 @end itemize | |
| 292 | |
| 293 Here are some things that are not necessary: | |
| 294 | |
| 295 @itemize @bullet | |
| 296 @cindex bugs, investigating | |
| 297 @item | |
| 298 A description of the envelope of the bug. | |
| 299 | |
| 300 Often people who encounter a bug spend a lot of time investigating which | |
| 301 changes to the input file will make the bug go away and which changes | |
| 302 will not affect it. Such information is usually not necessary to enable | |
| 303 us to fix bugs in Octave, but if you can find a simpler example to | |
| 304 report @emph{instead} of the original one, that is a convenience. | |
| 305 Errors in the output will be easier to spot, running under the debugger | |
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306 will take less time, etc. Most Octave bugs involve just one function, so |
| 3294 | 307 the most straightforward way to simplify an example is to delete all the |
| 308 function definitions except the one in which the bug occurs. | |
| 309 | |
| 310 However, simplification is not vital; if you don't want to do | |
| 311 this, report the bug anyway and send the entire test case you | |
| 312 used. | |
| 313 | |
| 314 @item | |
| 315 A patch for the bug. Patches can be helpful, but if you find a bug, you | |
| 316 should report it, even if you cannot send a fix for the problem. | |
| 317 @end itemize | |
| 318 | |
| 4167 | 319 @node Sending Patches |
| 3294 | 320 @appendixsec Sending Patches for Octave |
| 321 @cindex improving Octave | |
| 322 @cindex diffs, submitting | |
| 323 @cindex patches, submitting | |
| 324 @cindex submitting diffs | |
| 325 @cindex submitting patches | |
| 326 | |
| 327 If you would like to write bug fixes or improvements for Octave, that is | |
| 328 very helpful. When you send your changes, please follow these | |
| 329 guidelines to avoid causing extra work for us in studying the patches. | |
| 330 | |
| 331 If you don't follow these guidelines, your information might still be | |
| 332 useful, but using it will take extra work. Maintaining Octave is a lot | |
| 333 of work in the best of circumstances, and we can't keep up unless you do | |
| 334 your best to help. | |
| 335 | |
| 336 @itemize @bullet | |
| 337 @item | |
| 338 Send an explanation with your changes of what problem they fix or what | |
| 339 improvement they bring about. For a bug fix, just include a copy of the | |
| 340 bug report, and explain why the change fixes the bug. | |
| 341 | |
| 342 @item | |
| 343 Always include a proper bug report for the problem you think you have | |
| 344 fixed. We need to convince ourselves that the change is right before | |
| 345 installing it. Even if it is right, we might have trouble judging it if | |
| 346 we don't have a way to reproduce the problem. | |
| 347 | |
| 348 @item | |
| 349 Include all the comments that are appropriate to help people reading the | |
| 350 source in the future understand why this change was needed. | |
| 351 | |
| 352 @item | |
| 353 Don't mix together changes made for different reasons. | |
| 354 Send them @emph{individually}. | |
| 355 | |
| 356 If you make two changes for separate reasons, then we might not want to | |
| 357 install them both. We might want to install just one. | |
| 358 | |
| 359 @item | |
| 360 Use @samp{diff -c} to make your diffs. Diffs without context are hard | |
| 361 for us to install reliably. More than that, they make it hard for us to | |
| 362 study the diffs to decide whether we want to install them. Unidiff | |
| 363 format is better than contextless diffs, but not as easy to read as | |
| 364 @samp{-c} format. | |
| 365 | |
| 366 If you have GNU diff, use @samp{diff -cp}, which shows the name of the | |
| 367 function that each change occurs in. | |
| 368 | |
| 369 @item | |
| 370 Write the change log entries for your changes. | |
| 371 | |
| 372 Read the @file{ChangeLog} file to see what sorts of information to put | |
| 373 in, and to learn the style that we use. The purpose of the change log | |
| 374 is to show people where to find what was changed. So you need to be | |
| 375 specific about what functions you changed; in large functions, it's | |
| 376 often helpful to indicate where within the function the change was made. | |
| 377 | |
| 378 On the other hand, once you have shown people where to find the change, | |
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379 you need not explain its purpose. Thus, if you add a new function, all |
| 3294 | 380 you need to say about it is that it is new. If you feel that the |
| 381 purpose needs explaining, it probably does---but the explanation will be | |
| 382 much more useful if you put it in comments in the code. | |
| 383 | |
| 384 If you would like your name to appear in the header line for who made | |
| 385 the change, send us the header line. | |
| 386 @end itemize | |
| 387 | |
| 4167 | 388 @node Service |
| 3294 | 389 @appendixsec How To Get Help with Octave |
| 390 @cindex help, where to find | |
| 391 | |
| 5041 | 392 The mailing list @email{help@@octave.org} exists for the discussion of |
| 393 matters related to using and installing Octave. If would like to join | |
| 394 the discussion, please send a short note to | |
| 395 @email{help@strong{-request}@@octave.org}. | |
| 3294 | 396 |
| 397 @strong{Please do not} send requests to be added or removed from the | |
| 398 mailing list, or other administrative trivia to the list itself. | |
| 399 | |
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400 If you think you have found a bug in Octave or in the installation |
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401 procedure, however, you should submit a complete bug report to |
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402 the Octave bug tracker at @url{http://bugs.octave.org}. |
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403 But before you submit a bug report, please read |
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404 @url{http://www.octave.org/bugs.html} to learn how to submit a useful |
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405 bug report. |