User:Qgil-WMF/Contributing to a bug report

You just found an interesting bug report in MediaWiki's Bugzilla. You want to help but you are not sure how to start. The short answer is "Be as bold as editing Wikipedia". :) Just go ahead and you will find help along the way.

The slightly longer answer:


 * 1) Understand this: What happens in Bugzilla stays in Bugzilla.
 * 2) * You will get better results following these Bugzilla steps than asking through other channels like email or IRC instead.
 * 3) If you don't already have an account, register.
 * 4) * Why must I register? How do I register?
 * 5) If you don't feel like asking yet, you can still start watching the bug by adding yourself to the CC list.
 * 6) * This way you will receive notifications when the bug report has updates.
 * 7) If you have questions, just post them as comments. After clicking "Save Changes" you will see who receives your comment as a notification.
 * 8) * E.g. "I made the following change... Is this what you would be expecting?"
 * 9) Assume the right developers and maintainers are already watching that bug, but if you feel someone is missing add him/her to the CC list. It is fine to add people without asking them beforehand as long as you feel they should know about this bug.
 * 10) * Start typing their names or email addresses and they will show up.
 * 11) Take the bug as soon as you decide to work on it and fix it.
 * 12) * Click the "take" link in the "Assigned To" field.
 * 13) For code related bugs, a patch in Gerrit is expected.
 * 14) * Starting point: Git/TLDR.
 * 15) * If it's your first time, the fix is straightforward and you are new to Git / Gerrit, you might want to try just attaching your fix to the bug report while you get yourself up to git speed.
 * 16) Hopefully sooner than later someone will apply / approve / merge your fix. Then the bug can be resolved as FIXED.
 * 17) * Receiving a silent no-answer instead? Some steps to move forward:
 * 18) *# Maybe wait another day? :)
 * 19) *# Check the list of Developers/Maintainers and make sure the right people are CCed to the report.
 * 20) *# Go to the #wikimedia IRC channel and raise your voice & link to the bug report.
 * 21) *# If none of this works, send an email to the right mailing list.