BUGS.txt needs an upgrade

Thu Dec 9 14:47:44 GMT 1999

  The message returned by the (now obsolete) samba-bugs at samba.org
mailing address needs some work, and BUGS.txt is out of date.  I'll
suggest you add BUGS.txt to the reply, and consider the following 
as an update of the contents.

--dave
-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | Always do right. This will gratify some people
185 Ellerslie Ave.,   | and astonish the rest.        -- Mark Twain
Willowdale, Ontario   | //www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/author.html
Work: (905) 415-2849 Home: (416) 223-8968 Email: davecb at canada.sun.com

!==
!== BUGS.txt for Samba release 2.0.6 11 Nov 1999
!==
Contributor:	Samba Team
Updated:	9 December 1999

Subject: This file describes how to report Samba bugs. 
============================================================================

>> Bugs are now reported via the samba at samba.org mailing list. <<

Please take the time to read this file before you submit a bug report
to the list. Also, please see if it has changed between releases, as
we have changed the bug reporting mechanisms on occasion.

Please also do as much as you can yourself to help track down the
bug. Samba is maintained by a dedicated group of people who volunteer
their time, skills and efforts. We receive far more mail about it than
we can possibly answer, so you have a much higher chance of an answer
and a fix if you send us a "developer friendly" bug report that lets
us fix it fast. The last section of this file shows a useful format
for a bug report.

If you suspect that your problem is not a bug but a configuration
problem 
then it is best to send to to either the Samba mailing list or 
comp.protocols.smb, as there are (at last count) 5000 other users on 
the list that may be able to help you.

You may also like to look though the recent mailing list archives,
which are conveniently accessible on the Samba web pages
at http://samba.org/samba/ 

GENERAL INFO
------------

Before submitting a bug report check your config for silly
errors. Look in your log files for obvious messages that tell you that
you've misconfigured something and run testparm to test your config
file for correct syntax.

Have you run through DIAGNOSIS.txt? This is very important.

If you include part of a log file with your bug report then be sure to
annotate it with exactly what you were doing on the client at the
time, and exactly what the results were.

DEBUG LEVELS
------------

If the bug has anything to do with Samba behaving incorrectly as a
server (like refusing to open a file) then the log files will probably
be very useful. Depending on the problem a log level of between 3 and
10 showing the problem may be appropriate. A higher level gives more
detail, but may use too much disk space.

To set the debug level use "log level =" in your smb.conf. You may
also find it useful to set the log level higher for just one machine
and keep separate logs for each machine. To do this use:

log level = 10
log file = /usr/local/samba/lib/log.%m
include = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m

then create a file "/usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.machine" where
"machine" is the name of the client you wish to debug. In that file
put any smb.conf commands you want, for example "log level=" may be
useful. This also allows you to experiment with different security
systems, protocol levels etc on just one machine.

The smb.conf entry "log level =" is synonymous with the entry
"debug level =" that has been used in older versions of Samba and
is being retained for backwards compatibility of smb.conf files.

As the "log level =" value is increased you will record a
significantly
increasing level of debugging information. For most debugging
operations
you may not need a setting higher than 3. Nearly all bugs can be
tracked
at a setting of 10, but be prepared for a VERY large volume of log
data.

INTERNAL ERRORs
---------------

If you get a "INTERNAL ERROR" message in your log files it means that
Samba got an unexpected signal while running. It is probably a
segmentation fault and almost certainly means a bug in Samba (unless
you have faulty hardware or system software)

If the message came from smbd then it will probably be accompanied by
a message which details the last SMB message received by smbd. This
info is often very useful in tracking down the problem so please
include it in your bug report.

You should also detail how to reproduce the problem, if
possible. Please make this reasonably detailed.

You may also find that a core file appeared in a "corefiles"
subdirectory of the directory where you keep your samba log
files. This file is the most useful tool for tracking down the bug. To
use it you do this:

gdb smbd core

adding appropriate paths to smbd and core so gdb can find them. If you
don't have gdb then try "dbx". Then within the debugger use the
command "where" to give a stack trace of where the problem
occurred. Include this in your mail.

If you known any assembly language then do a "disass" of the routine
where the problem occurred (if its in a library routine then
disassemble the routine that called it) and try to work out exactly
where the problem is by looking at the surrounding code. Even if you
don't know assembly then including this info in the bug report can be
useful. 

ATTACHING TO A RUNNING PROCESS
------------------------------

Unfortunately some unixes (in particular some recent linux kernels)
refuse to dump a core file if the task has changed uid (which smbd
does often). To debug with this sort of system you could try to attach
to the running process using "gdb smbd PID" where you get PID from
smbstatus. Then use "c" to continue and try to cause the core dump
using the client. The debugger should catch the fault and tell you
where it occurred.

PATCHES
-------

The best sort of bug report is one that includes a fix! These can be
submitted via the http://samba.org/samba-patches/ page.  Make sure
your do the diff against a clean version of the source and let me know
exactly what version you used.

SUGGESTED REPORT FORMAT
-----------------------

Machine Information:
  Machine Arch: _________ OS: __________
	  OS Version:________ Kernel:___

  Compiler: _____________
          Libc Version: ________

  Samba Version: ___________

  Network Layout:
	  (where applicable):

  What else is on machine :
          (services, etc)

Description:
	  (what you did and what happened)

Logs:
	   (samba logs, plus packet captures and truss/strace 
	    output where applicable. 

	    Annotate your logs with what you were doing on the client
	    at the time, and exactly what the results were.

	    Please avoid using attachments, or any form of encoding 
	    in your email. Just send plain ascii.)