RE: "If you're still seeing problems, please reopen." [Was: bug#25148:]

[Drew Adams]

> > What exactly would it be good for users to know?
> > When and how can we tell them?
> 
> There is another, related problem (it was already posted to this group
> but got no answers):
> 
> M-x report-emacs-bug is not even always a good way to file Emacs bug
> reports.  For example, the org developers wish that org related bug
> reports appear in their own list - org-mode bugs reported to
> gnu.emacs.bug get no attention for years.
> 
> This works automatically when you use M-x org-submit-bug-report - but I
> didn't find that command, even though I searched for it, because the
> name doesn't fit the naming scheme report-.*-bug.  Other users will not
> even know that some packages may have special commands for bug
> reporting.
> 
> And other Emacs packages use even different naming schemes:
> 
> calc-report-bug
> reftex-report-bug
> eshell-report-bug
> gnuplot-bug-report
> c-submit-bug-report
> 
> Though several modes are also using the naming similar to
> org-submit-bug-report:
> 
> c-submit-bug-report
> diredp-send-bug-report
> org-edna-submit-bug-report
> 
> Oh, and a happy New Year to all of you!


Ditto - Happy new year, to all.

---

You ask how a user can find out how to submit
a bug report for a given library/package.

Good question.  It's not so easy - there are
several places a user might look for such info.
To be helpful, you have to cover a few of them.

---

Here's what I do, FWIW:

1. `C-h m' gives the mode doc (many libraries
have one or more main modes, major or minor).

That help prominently tells you how to submit
a bug report.  E.g.:

  Send a Dired+ bug report:
  'M-x diredp-send-bug-report'

(For my libraries I use "send" as the verb,
not "submit" or "report", because you send me
an email to report the bug.)

2. For a customize group (many libraries have
one), `M-x customize-group' shows a Customize
buffer for the group.  A title/description of
the group is just above the `State' button.
Just under the `State' button are some links,
one of which is, for my libraries, `Send Bug
Report'.

That's provided by :link with a `url-link' of
"mailto:"; with template text that fills out
email address, library name, and instructions.

3. Similarly, each global `define-minor-mode'
I define has a bug-report email :link.  (Not
that many people will actually use Customize
for the mode, but why not?)

4. I mention the command to send a bug report
in the library doc.

If I had to guess, I'd guess that users come
across the info most often in the doc (which
is also on the web) or from `C-h m'.

---

It's also possible to add a menu item to the
`Help' menu for help on the major mode of a
buffer, i.e., for `C-h m'.  It might even be
good for Emacs to do that systematically.