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Should I file bug reports for open source projects even if I am bad at writing bug reports? (feddit.org)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

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[–] placatedmayhem 38 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes. I'm not sure what you think makes you bad at writing bug reports, but here are tips I give to everyone (my day job involves working with bug reports).

Nominally, a decent bug report should have:

the steps that got you the bug
whether you can reproduce the bug
what you expected to happen instead of the bug

Doing any of these things makes bug reports so much more actionable. You can do it. I believe in you!

Edit: Including a contact method so the software developer can have a conversation with you can also be helpful but not strictly required. Some bug reporting methods do this implicitly, like email bug reports and GitHub issues.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

You’re not going to get better unless you practice!

(Maybe note in the report that you are unsure how to write a good report and are available to help clarify)

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

Much better than not reporting and wondering why the issues never get fixed.

[–] jadedwench 11 points 1 month ago

Yes. Even if you get bitched at. Decent people will just ask more questions until they get what they need from you. Better to give more information than none. Try your best.

Actually, sometimes going through every single step on how you ended up with the issue solves it... Done that a few times.

[–] JoeKrogan 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes and you will get better at it from the experience and its a goof thing for your CV. Maybe you even start trying to fix some issues down the line.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yes. Describe it as best as you can and let the developer reach out to you if you want. A good maintainer will ask follow up questions for more specific stuff that you may not have provided at the start.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

If you're unsure, write a draft that gets all the basic ideas while still fresh on your mind. Then look at a past example to give you some ideas of what the maintainers would expect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In what ways are you bad at writing but reports?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

I can't describe the problems and retest patches reliably.