Launchpad itself

not able to report a bug

Asked by Wolfgang Rohdewald

Using kubuntu 10.10

I am trying to report a stupid packaging bug about python-qt4-dbg making it absolutely useless. It installs the debug libraries into the wrong target directory. Fix:
/usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/pyshared/python2.6# ln -s /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/PyQt4/ .

Now I would expect to be able to report this on launchpad.net. So I logged in. But I was not able to find any option how to report a bug. I have done that before but it seems to get more and more difficult. This is the latest bug I reported successfully:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/+bug/603142

Sometimes when going to the Bugs link on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ I do get a link on the right side "report a new bug", sometimes there is no such link. I have no idea when and why it appears. If I follow this link I am redirected to wiki pages - but the do NOT tell me how to report a bug using the web interface. Those wiki pages contain NON WORKING descriptions how to report a bug:

https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Kubuntu/Bugs/Reporting#Filing bugs at Launchpad.net
if I try the recommended link https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4-dbg/+filebug?no-redirect
I get to an error page.

If I do what this link https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Kubuntu/Bugs/Reporting is telling me, I am redirected to bugs.kde.org - but I want to report a PACKAGING BUG!!!

THIS IS NO WAY HOW TO TREAT YOUR USERS!

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Launchpad itself Edit question
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Solved by:
Gavin Panella
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This question was originally filed as bug #681615.

Revision history for this message
Brad Crittenden (bac) said : 		#1

The issue reported is better handled via the Question section.

Revision history for this message
Brad Crittenden (bac) said : 		#2

Hi Wolfgang,

I'm sorry you experienced frustration trying to report a bug about Qt4 in Kubuntu.

On the Kubuntu wiki page you referenced, under "Filing bugs at Launchpad.net" you'll see the link to "Launchpad's package search feature". If you go there and search for 'python-qt4-dbg' you'll see the actual package is just called 'python-qt4'. That is why the links you handcrafted with '-dbg' gave you an error message -- that package does not exist. The package search page will show you the 'File a bug' link which takes you to:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4/+filebug

Ubuntu encourages the use of apport for users to file bugs since it includes relevant system information.

Let me know if I can help you further.

Revision history for this message
Wolfgang Rohdewald (wolfgang-rohdewald) said : 		#3

On Montag 29 November 2010, Brad Crittenden wrote:
> On the Kubuntu wiki page you referenced, under "Filing bugs at
> Launchpad.net" you'll see the link to "Launchpad's package
> search feature". If you go there and search for
> 'python-qt4-dbg' you'll see the actual package is just called
> 'python-qt4'. That is why the links you handcrafted with
> '-dbg' gave you an error message -- that package does not
> exist.

well - it exists and is installed:
i5:~$ dpkg -l | grep python-qt4-dbg
ii python-qt4-dbg 4.7.4-0ubuntu1 Python bindings for Qt4 (debug extensions)

I really hope Ubuntu did not change the meaning of "package".
If you did, it might be better if you used some other wording
instead.

> The package search page will show you the 'File a
> bug' link which takes you to:
>
> https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4/+filebug

so I filed this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4/+bug/682874

so ubuntu seems to talk about source packages and binary packages.
But then whenever you only say "package" how should I know
what you mean? And why is there not a source package for every
binary package?

> Ubuntu encourages the use of apport for users to file bugs
> since it includes relevant system information.

I tried apport-bug from the shell. This is a strange program -
after specifying twice that I have a problem of type "other" it
wants me to disconnect and reconnect a problematic device.
Later on it seems to think I want to report a bug about the kernel,
asking me lots of things irrelevant to the actual problem. Also,
I prefer to know and control what information is sent.

Reporting ubuntu bugs is way too much trouble, it was much easier
when I was still using Debian.

--
Wolfgang

Revision history for this message
Deryck Hodge (deryck) said : 		#4

Hi, Wolfgang.

I'm sorry you are finding this frustrating, and I agree there are little nuances to filing bugs against Ubuntu that make this more difficult than it should be. However, I hope you can understand that Ubuntu developers are drowning under the great number of bugs filed against Ubuntu every day, many of which lack enough information to help developers even triage, let alone fix, these bugs. The measures we as Launchpad developers are taking to help Ubuntu with bug filing can be frustrating at times, but we have a difficult task on us to make it easy to file bugs while also helping filter out poorly filed or bad quality bugs.

The simplest way to file bugs is to use apport and supply the package name. I tired the following on my system, which worked fine:

ubuntu-bug python-qt4-dbg

Doing this redirected me to the correct package on Launchpad. Often it's knowing the package name that is the tough part, but if you have that, filing bugs is pretty easy if you let apport do the work for you.

Again, I am sorry this has caused you frustration.

Cheers,
deryck

Revision history for this message
Wolfgang Rohdewald (wolfgang-rohdewald) said : 		#5

On Donnerstag 02 Dezember 2010, Deryck Hodge wrote:
> The simplest way to file bugs is to use apport and supply the
> package name. I tired the following on my system, which
> worked fine:
>
> ubuntu-bug python-qt4-dbg

yes, this mostly seems to work. Thank you for your patience.

Could you please add this hint to
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HelpingWithBugs

two small problems with this approach:

ubuntu-bug python-qt4-dbg
Launched ok, pid = 7945
: Fatal IO error: client killed

and when I log out before entering a summary I get
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4/+filebug/+logout
which says "Lost something?"

--
Wolfgang

Revision history for this message
Best Gavin Panella (allenap) said : 		#6

If you go to https://launchpad.net/ubuntu and click "Report a bug" you
will be taken to:

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

which has instructions for using ubuntu-bug to file a new report. I
tried the following:

  $ ubuntu-bug python-qt4-dbg

This uploaded some additional report information to Launchpad, then
took me to:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4/+filebug/<redacted>

where I could enter a bug summary.

It could be a smoother ride, but it does work, and is intended to help
- via ubuntu-bug - to create better quality bug reports. And, now that
you've done it, I think you might find that ubuntu-bug makes it easier
to file bugs.

> so ubuntu seems to talk about source packages and binary packages.
> But then whenever you only say "package" how should I know what you
> mean? And why is there not a source package for every binary
> package?

I totally agree, the source/binary split is confusing. More distinct
names could have been chosen, but I suspect these are now entrenched,
and are not going to change any time soon. However, ubuntu-bug does
know what's going on, as does the package search on Launchpad, so give
those a go.

> I tried apport-bug from the shell. This is a strange program - after
> specifying twice that I have a problem of type "other" it wants me
> to disconnect and reconnect a problematic device. Later on it seems
> to think I want to report a bug about the kernel, asking me lots of
> things irrelevant to the actual problem.

Mmm, that sounds less than useful. For me, on 10.10, it says "You need
to specify a package or a PID" - which is what the ReportingBugs wiki
page suggests anyway - and exits.

> Also, I prefer to know and control what information is sent.

It will give you an opportunity to see all the information it has
collected and give you a chance to cancel before uploading.

Gavin.

Revision history for this message
Gavin Panella (allenap) said : 		#7

> and when I log out before entering a summary I get
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-qt4/+filebug/+logout
> which says "Lost something?"

That's a bug. I'll file a report for that.

Revision history for this message
Wolfgang Rohdewald (wolfgang-rohdewald) said : 		#8

Thanks Gavin Panella, that solved my question.