Sending Problem Reports

To make it easier to send problem reports, the Concert release includes a bug reporting package called GNATS. To report problems using GNATS, be sure to include $CONCERT_ROOT_PATH/bin in your path and include the following line in your .emacs file.

(load "${CONCERT_ROOT_PATH}lib/concert.el")

GNATS can be invoked from emacs by type M-x send-pr. This brings up a problem report which can be edited and sent. The mini-buffer will prompt for values of the Category, Confidential, Severity, Priority, Class and Release fields, successively. The Category field refers to the category of the problem. This field has no default value and must be filled with one of the following values.

1. emulator - the problem is with the emulator.
2. compiler - The problem is with the compiler.
3. runtime - The problem is with the runtime.
4. debugger - the problem is with the debugger.
5. CM5 - the problem is with the CM5 runtime version.
6. doc - the problem is with th e documentation.
7. general - the problem does not fall in any of the above mentioned categories.

You can use the default values for all the other fields by typing in the return key. After entering values for all the fields, the buffer should contain a problem report similar to the one shown below.

SEND-PR: -*- send-pr -*-
SEND-PR: Lines starting with `SEND-PR' will be removed automatically as
SEND-PR: well as all comments (the text below enclosed in `<' and `>').
SEND-PR:
SEND-PR: Please consult the man page `send-pr(1)' if you are not sure,
SEND-PR: how to fill out a problem report.
SEND-PR:
SEND-PR: Choose from the following categories:
SEND-PR:
SEND-PR: CM5         compiler    debugger    doc
SEND-PR: emulator    general     runtime
SEND-PR:
To: bug-reports@red-herring.cs.uiuc.edu
Subject:
From: xz9591@ehsn15.cen.uiuc.edu
Reply-To: xz9591@ehsn15.cen.uiuc.edu
X-send-pr-version: 3.01

>Submitter-Id:   external
>Originator:     XXX
>Organization:
Concert.
>Confidential:   no
>Synopsis:      <synopsis of the problem (one line)>
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Category:       general
>Class:          sw-bug
>Release:        concert-2.0.1
>Environment:
        <machine, os, target, libraries (multiple lines)>
System: SunOS ehsn15.ce 4.1.3 3 sun4c
Architecture: sun4

>Description:
        <precise description of the problem (multiple lines)>
>How-To-Repeat:
        <code/input/activities to reproduce the problem (multiple lines)>

After editting the Subject, Description, Environment and How-to-Repeat fields, you can send the report using C-c C-c, which emails the report to concert-bugs@red-herring.cs.uiuc.edu.