HowTo report an issue with Foresight Linux

Log in to JIRA

Visit JIRA, Foresight's issue tracker.  JIRA is much more than a bug reporting tool, not only are bugs filed in JIRA, but JIRA is used to assign tasks to various projects, including Foresight Linux, the Live Media, and Foresight's Infrastructure.  JIRA is then used to help with project management around all aspects of Foresight.

The first time you visit the JIRA homepage, on the right hand of the page is the Login / Sign Up section.  Click on "Signup for an account".  Signing up for an account on Foresight's JIRA also provides you with an account on the Foresight wiki.

 
Choose a Username and Password, and enter your name and email address and click sign up.

JIRA Homepage 

The JIRA homepage will present you with a few different options in the default view.  On the left hand side you have the ability to browse issues by project.  Foresight has five projects in JIRA:

• Installable Media:  The main version of Foresight Linux that is installed on a hard drive and used as your desktop.
• Live Media: Live Media images such as a LiveCD, VMWare, and QEMU images that are full versions of Foresight your run in a virtual machine.
• Foresight, KDE edition:  A KDE version of Foresight Linux, currently in development.
• Foresight, XFCE edition: The XFCE desktop version of Foresight Linux, currently in development.
• Infrastructure: This projects tracks issues and bugs relating to Foresight's infrastructure including the website, JIRA, Confluence, Mercurial and other tools

On the right hand side of the home page are saved filters of search criteria that you can create, as well as recent issues, and open issues assigned to you.

To create an issue: 

Click on "Create New Issue" from the top navigation bar.

Under "Project" choose which project you need to file an issue against.  Most issues are filed against "Foresight Linux".

From the "Issue Type" drop down, select what kind of issue you want to create:

• Bug: Open an issue to report something not behaving correctly
• Package Request: Open an issue to request a package be added to Foresight's repository
• New Feature: Open an issue to ask for a feature improvement in Foresight Linux
• Improvement: Open an issue to request a specific improvement be made
• Task: Open an issue to add a task that needs to be completed.  These are important to the project and contribute to the overall project management of Foresight.

Click Next, and you will be brought to the "Create Issue" page.

The following fields should be filled out:

• Summary:  An overview of the issue being filled out
• Priority: How important is the issue?  Most issues are flagged as normal.  An example of a critical bug would be one that causes your system to not boot or crash repeatedly, and blockers are typically used on the development / tasks of the project that block further development or release.
• Affects Versions: Usually the most current version, which is at the top of the list.
• Environment:  Helpful especially for issues filed against Live Media, but note anything that could be unique to your computer, such as:
  • Foresight Version
  • Kernel you are currently running (type uname -r in a terminal)
  • If you are running propietary drivers such as ATI or Nvidia
  • x86 version, such as x86 or x86_64
  • If the issue is being filed because of something related to hardware, such as a digital camera or monitor, add the vendor and model numbers
• Description:  Add as much detail to the description as you can so developers have a starting point.

Hit next, and the issue will be created, and JIRA will take you to the final page

After the issue has been created

Issues are automatically assigned to the Distro team.  The issue is also emailed to the Foresight Issues mailing list that developers track.  Every time a comment or action is taken against the issue you filed, you will receive an email with the update.

The Foresight Quality Assurance team is responsible for triaging all bugs and assigning them to the correct teams and developers for resolution.

You may receive a comment in the issue filed, which you will be sent an email of as well, asking for more detail.  Once the issue has been closed, either fixed, marked as a duplicate, or market not fixed, you will receive an email with the update to the issue.

If you have further questions, please stop by #foresight on Freenode IRC.