reporting bugs

[Thorsten Kranzkowski]

This is an answer to a private discussion with Gerald Pfeiffer. He suggested
posting this to the gcc mailing list.

On Sun, Jun 04, 2000 at 05:41:11PM +0200, Gerald Pfeifer wrote:
> On Mon, 22 May 2000, Thorsten Kranzkowski wrote:
>>[stuff deleted]

A bugreport with 'gccbug' should generate an (automated) reply so the sender
has some feedback that the report wasn't lost (something like: Your report 
no. 3756 was sucessfully received. Expect consideration in about 6 months :-) )

Some time ago I posted a bug report with patch (that worked for me) but never
got any reply. Was my mail lost? Was the patch too bad/stupid/wrong/breaking
other stuff? Was the problem unclear? Or had the good guys just no time for
that particular problem?

I had my problem solved (it was about cross compiling from i386 to Alpha) so
I wasn't in the need of urgent help. An automated reply would be good to
know that at least _someday_ someone will look at it.


Another problem is Documentation:

No matter where you start to read docs, there seems to be always a link to
even better docs. Quite frustrating when searching the absolutely ultimate
instructions (eg. where and how to report problems) always to return to the
beginning!

Example:

$ info gcc
->Bugs
-->Where: Bug Lists
--->Please read `<URL: http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/bugs.html >' 
---->Reporting Bugs - The gcc info manual, section Bugs contains complete instructions 

back to step 1   :-/

$ info gcc
->Bugs
-->Reporting: Bug Reporting
--->You may find additional and/or more up-to-date instructions at
    `<URL: http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/bugs.html >
you guess it:
---->Reporting Bugs - The gcc info manual, section Bugs contains complete


That's quite discouraging.
I suggest electing one authorative set of documentation and removal of the
circular links.


> Diesmal hat's leider länger gedauert, sorry! 
No problem, Gerald!


Bye,
Thorsten

please CC me - I'm not on the list

-- 
| Thorsten Kranzkowski        Internet: dl8bcu@gmx.net                        |
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