Should I file bug reports for open source projects even if I am bad at writing bug reports? - eviltoast
  • placatedmayhem@lemmy.world
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    2 months 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.

  • sanpo@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

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

  • Scratch@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months 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)

  • 🐍🩶🐢@lemmy.world
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    2 months 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.

  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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    2 months 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.

  • JoeKrogan@lemmy.world
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    2 months 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.

  • pastermil@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months 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.

    • 101@feddit.orgOP
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      2 months ago

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