Most packages have bugs in Debian's BTS (Bug Tracking System). This page describes some ways that anyone can help maintainers to deal with them.
Other documentation
BTS Introduction: How to use BTS
Talks about Bug Triage by Solveig: MiniDebConf BCN 2014 and DebConf18
First read this document on working on bug reports and how to find more informations.
There are many commands that the control interface to the BTS accepts and you might want to read the Guide to bug control on the BTS to find out more about them, so that you know what is possible when talking to control@bugs.debian.org
See also the Guide to bug closing in case you plan to do so.
"Bug triage rants" blog post by Colin Watson.
"How to triage bugs in the Debian bug tracking system" blog post by Raphael Hertzog.
General points
Read this document with a good pinch of common sense
In cases you're not sure, use your own judgement or ask someone who is more experienced (apologies for being patronising but some of this stuff you just get a feel for).
Even small contributions are valuable. You don't have to do everything this page says; do as much as you are comfortable with but don't be put off helping.
Don't be afraid of control@bugs.debian.org; it's a public interface and anyone can help maintainers by helping them to triage bugs.
Do listen to maintainers if they notice you triaging bugs and email you separately giving you advice or guidelines.
Look at the source package bug page on the BTS or look at all that maintainer's bugs in order to get a better overview and to spot duplicate bugs.
Mails to <bugnumber>@bugs.debian.org go to the relevant maintainer(s) automatically but not the submitters or others who may be interested. Be sure to include the bug submitter in the To: or Cc: if you want them to see it.
Most of the time, put <bugnumber>@bugs.debian.org in the Reply-To: so that people know where to follow up to.
Send the mail in text format and not html. (for icedove it's in Account settings > Composition & addressing)
Help Debian out by triaging bugs!
Ways you can help
Trying to reproduce bugs
Confirming bug reproducibility
Try reproducing old bug reports or any recent bug report which isn't tagged confirmed or pending.
If you can reproduce the problem then you should send a message to <bugnumber>@bugs.debian.org saying so and a message to control@bugs.debian.org which says:
found <bugnumber> <versionnumber>
tags <bugnumber> +confirmed
thanks
Tagging unreproducible bugs
If you can't reproduce it but you're not sure it's fixed you could tag the bug as unreproducible and/or moreinfo and mail <bugnumber>@bugs.debian.org and the submitter (and anyone else who has the problem) for more information in order to try to reproduce it.
Closing unreproducible bugs
If you are sure that the bug does not exist in the current version of the package then you should close the bug by mailing <bugnumber>-done@bugs.debian.org with an explanation of why this bug is now fixed (or how you couldn't reproduce it in the current version though be careful as you may just have a different setup to the submitter). Add as the first line of that message:
Version: <current version of the package you tested it under>
so the BTS knows which version it was fixed in and add a blank line under that before your message.
Reassigning bugs
If a bug is filed against a generic or meta-package but actually concerns a different package then please reassign it to the correct package with a message to control@bugs.debian.org which says:
reassign <bugnumber> <correct package>
thanks
To find the correct package if you don't know you might use dpkg -S <some file> to find which package actually ships a particular file or use the interface to search the contents of packages (at the bottom of that page).
You might find when it is reassigned to the correct package that there is another bug for the same issue in which case please merge them (see below).
Merging bugs
If you find two bugs for the same issue then they should be merged together. To be merged bugs must be on the same package and with the same severity and state. You can manipulate the packages, severity and tags with a message to control@bugs.debian.org and at the end to merge the bugs add:
merge <bugnumber for one of the bugs> <bugnumber for the other bug>
thanks
Working with upstream
Many bugs in Debian packages are bugs in the upstream package which have affected Debian users. If the package has an upstream bug tracker (see the upstream webpage for reference) then searching it for similar reports can be useful.
Finding a similar report upstream
If it yields either a work around or in some cases the fact that the upstream author doesn't consider it a bug or doesn't want to fix it.
Both of these are useful information so post to the bug <bugnumber>@bugs.debian.org cc'ing the submitter and let them know. You might like to tell the BTS that the bug exists in upstream's bugtracker by sending the following to control@bugs.debian.org:
forwarded <bugnumber> <URL of the bug in upstream's bugtracker>
thanks
fixed-upstream
If you find a report that upstream claim it's fixed you could tag the bug fixed-upstream but be sure to mail the bug and explain why and which version it's fixed in which may persuade the maintainer to upload the new version.
patched
If you find a bug in upstream's bugtracker has a patch then reviewing and/or testing it and mailing the bug to give the results is useful. If you find a patch that does indeed fix the bug then you could include it in the mail and tag the bug patch.
Forwarding reports upstream
If you can't find a report upstream but it looks like a bug in upstream's software and you can reproduce it then you should file the bug in the upstream bugtracker with all the information necessary to reproduce it.
You should also tell the BTS that you have done so with the forwarded command as above.
Closing bug reports
Normally, the only people that should close a bug report are the submitter of the bug and the maintainer(s) of the package against which the bug is filed.
The best is to write a patch and wait for the maintainer to close the bug once the package is updated with your patch.
You can also close bug reports if a new version fixed the problem, but remember to say in which version it was fixed.
You can close bug reports that are tagged "moreinfo" since more than a year, if no info has been provided and it seems unreproducible.
Help is welcome
Teams that welcome help
If you want to triage bugs, it can be easier to do so inside a team - so you're sure there are many packages with many bugs to triage, and helpful people to answer questions. Teams that welcome bug triaging:
People that welcome help
These people, while not having so many packages as a team, do also welcome bug triaging:
Thanks
If you have triaged bugs in anyway whatsoever then thank you for your contribution to Debian.
Don't stop there though! There are always more bugs and maintainers are always grateful for all the help you can give them.
CategoryBugs | CategoryRedundant: merge with BTS