Problem Report fields

Field descriptions

The following fields are present whenever a PR is submitted via the program send-pr. GNATS adds additional fields when the PR arrives at the Support Site; explanations of these follow this list.

>Submitter-Id:

(TEXT) A unique identification code assigned by the Support Site. It is used to identify all Problem Reports coming from a particular site. (Submitters without a value for this field can invoke send-pr with the `--request-id' option to apply for one from the support organization. Problem Reports from those not affiliated with the support organization should use the default value of `net' for this field.)

>Originator:

(TEXT) Originator's real name. The default is the value of the originator's environment variable NAME.

>Organization:

(MULTITEXT) The originator's organization. The default value is set with the variable DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION in the `config' file (see section The config file).

>Confidential:

(ENUMERATED) Use of this field depends on the originator's relationship with the support organization; contractual agreements often have provisions for preserving confidentiality. Conversely, a lack of a contract often means that any data provided will not be considered confidential. Submitters should be advised to contact the support organization directly if this is an issue. If the originator's relationship to the support organization provides for confidentiality, then if the value of this field is `yes' the support organization treats the PR as confidential; any code samples provided are not made publicly available (e.g., in regression test suites). The default value is `yes'.

>Synopsis:

(TEXT) One-line summary of the problem. send-pr copies this information to the `Subject:' line when you submit a Problem Report.

>Severity:

(ENUMERATED) The severity of the problem. Accepted values include:

critical

The product, component or concept is completely non-operational or some essential functionality is missing. No workaround is known.

serious

The product, component or concept is not working properly or significant functionality is missing. Problems that would otherwise be considered `critical' are rated `serious' when a workaround is known.

non-critical

The product, component or concept is working in general, but lacks features, has irritating behavior, does something wrong, or doesn't match its documentation.

The default value is `serious'.

>Priority:

(ENUMERATED) How soon the originator requires a solution. Accepted values include:

high

A solution is needed as soon as possible.

medium

The problem should be solved in the next release.

low

The problem should be solved in a future release.

The default value is `medium'.

>Category:

(TEXT) The name of the product, component or concept where the problem lies. The values for this field are defined by the Support Site. See section The categories file, for details.

>Class:

(ENUMERATED) The class of a problem can be one of the following:

sw-bug

A general product problem. (`sw' stands for "software".)

doc-bug

A problem with the documentation.

change-request

A request for a change in behavior, etc.

support

A support problem or question.

duplicate (pr-number)

Duplicate PR. pr-number should be the number of the original PR.

mistaken

No problem, user error or misunderstanding. This value is valid only at the Support Site.

The default is `sw-bug'.

>Release:

(TEXT) Release or version number of the product, component or concept.

>Environment:

(MULTITEXT) Description of the environment where the problem occured: machine architecture, operating system, host and target types, libraries, pathnames, etc.

>Description:

(MULTITEXT) Precise description of the problem.

>How-To-Repeat:

(MULTITEXT) Example code, input, or activities to reproduce the problem. The support organization uses example code both to reproduce the problem and to test whether the problem is fixed. Include all preconditions, inputs, outputs, conditions after the problem, and symptoms. Any additional important information should be included. Include all the details that would be necessary for someone else to recreate the problem reported, however obvious. Sometimes seemingly arbitrary or obvious information can point the way toward a solution. See also section Helpful hints.

>Fix:

(MULTITEXT) A description of a solution to the problem, or a patch which solves the problem. (This field is most often filled in at the Support Site; we provide it to the submitter in case she has solved the problem.)

GNATS adds the following fields when the PR arrives at the Support Site:

>Number:

(ENUMERATED) The incremental identification number for this PR. This is included in the automated reply to the submitter (if that feature of GNATS is activated; see section Changing your local configuration). It is also included in the copy of the PR that is sent to the maintainer. The `>Number:' field is often paired with the `>Category:' field as

category/number

in subsequent email messages. This is for historical reasons, as well as because Problem Reports are stored in subdirectories which are named by category.

>State:

(ENUMERATED) The current state of the PR. Accepted values are:

open

The PR has been filed and the responsible person notified.

analyzed

The responsible person has analyzed the problem.

feedback

The problem has been solved, and the originator has been given a patch or other fix.

closed

The changes have been integrated, documented, and tested, and the originator has confirmed that the solution works.

suspended

Work on the problem has been postponed.

The initial state of a PR is `open'. See section States of Problem Reports.

>Responsible:

(TEXT) The person responsible for this category. GNATS retrieves this information from the `categories' file (see section The categories file).

>Arrival-Date:

(TEXT) The time that this PR was received by GNATS. The date is provided automatically by GNATS.

>Audit-Trail:

(MULTITEXT) Tracks related electronic mail as well as changes in the `>State:' and `>Responsible:' fields with the sub-fields:

State-Changed-<From>-<To>: oldstate>-<newstate

The old and new `>State:' field values.

Responsible-Changed-<From>-<To>: oldresp>-<newresp

The old and new `>Responsible:' field values.

State-Changed-By: name

Responsible-Changed-By: name

The name of the maintainer who effected the change.

State-Changed-When: timestamp

Responsible-Changed-When: timestamp

The time the change was made.

State-Changed-Why: reason...

Responsible-Changed-Why: reason...

The reason for the change.

The `>Audit-Trail:' field also contains any mail messages received by GNATS related to this PR, in the order received.

>Unformatted:

(MULTITEXT) Any random text found outside the fields in the original Problem Report.

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