D. Bugs and bug reporting

This version of LinkController is still in early development. There are many changes to come. Undoubtedly there are many bugs in the software already and will soon be more.

A bug is when

• the software doesn't do something the documentation says it should
• the software does something the documentation says it shouldn't
• the software does something surprising and that isn't documented
• the software does something strange but the documentation doesn't explain why
• it is difficult or impossible to understand what the documentation is trying to say

some of these mean fixing the documentation and some the software. All of them are bugs and should be reported and fixed.

If you find a bug, I will be grateful to hear about it. Even if you don't know how to fix it or anything, it is useful to know what is wrong so that other people don't get caught out but read the BUGS file first please. If the bug is listed there then the only useful thing that you can do is fix it. If you do this and contribute it to me then that is very useful.

When you report a bug, please tell me what release of link controller you were using. This is the number which was in the name of the file that LinkController came in. If your problem was with a specific program, please also run `program --version' and send the output. This tells me exactly which version of that program you were running.

Since this is a developers release, I'd hope most users would be able to make some level of fixes. If you do this, send me context differences (use `diff -u' if it works or try `diff -c' otherwise). I use CVS, so as long as I know which version you have I will be able to find the original file and see your changes. However it's also important to explain them because I won't be able to use them unless I (relatively stupid computer type) understand them.

Send bug reports to the address you get by changing words into punctuation in the following.

link minus controller at scotclimb dot org dot uk

This mailing address is sent only to me right now, but may become a list in future. Use my (Michael De La Rue) personal address to contact me please. N.B. I am extremely inefficient about answering email. Don't worry if you don't get a reply.

The ideas, and history