How to report a bug

Main page: Bugzilla.

Effective bug reports are the most likely to be fixed.

These guidelines explain how to write a good bug report in Wikimedia's bugtracker.

Principles Preliminaries
 * Be precise
 * Be clear - explain how to reproduce the problem, step by step, so others can reproduce the bug
 * Only one problem per report


 * 1) Reproduce your bug using a recent build of the software, to see whether it has already been fixed. (If the bug is on a wiki site like Wikipedia you could try testing the latest software version on test2.wikipedia.org.)


 * 1) Search Bugzilla, to see whether your bug has already been reported.

'''Reporting a New Bug '''

If you have reproduced the bug in a recent build and no-one else appears to have reported it, then:


 * 1) Choose "Enter a new bug"


 * 1) Select the product in which you've found the bug (MediaWiki)


 * 1) Fill out the form. Here is some help understanding it:

Component: In which sub-part of the software does it exist?

This field is required. Click the word "Component" to see a description of each component. If none seems appropriate, look for a "General/Unknown" component.

Version: On which version of the software did you find it?

This field is required. Select a version (current version is 1.20.x for the MediaWiki software, and 1.21-git on Wikimedia webiste)

OS: On which operating system (OS) did you find it? (e.g. Linux, Windows, Mac OS X.)

If you know the bug happens on more than one type of operating system, choose All. If your OS isn't listed, choose Other.

Summary: How would you shortly describe the bug?

A good summary should quickly and uniquely identify a bug report. It should explain the problem, not your suggested solution.


 * Good: "Selecting Gender is not functional"


 * Bad: "Software crashes"

Description: The details of your problem report, including:


 * Overview: More detailed restatement of summary.

(example)   Selecting Gender from my Preferences menu on https://en.wikipedia.org is not functional

Steps to Reproduce: Minimized, easy-to-follow steps that will trigger the described problem. Include any special setup steps.

(example)
 * 1) Go to https://en.wikipedia.org


 * 1) Make sure you are logged in


 * 1) Select "My Preferences" menu


 * 1) Go to "Gender" and select female gender from box list


 * 1) Click 'Save' button

Actual Results: What the application did after performing the above steps.

(example)
 * There is no female gender in front of my user name

Expected Results: What the application should have done, were the bug not present.

(example)
 * My gender is shown in front of my user name

Additional Information: Any other useful information.

Attachment: You may attach a log file or screenshot (but make sure that no confidential data is shown on the screenshot).

Check if your report is complete, then press "Submit a bug". Your bug report will now be in the database and somebody will hopefully take a look at it soon.