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The debian kernel team has a large backlog of bugs. This is due to many reasons:
 * Lack of manpower
 * Not having the hardware/environment to reproduce issues
 * Bugs that are difficult to measure ("seems slower")
 * etc
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There are a number of ways you can help us identify the correct fix for your issue. In order to be able to fix your kernel bug we need relevant information.

= System information =
You need to provide the output of the following commands in bug reports:
 * {{{dmesg}}}
 * {{{lspci -nn}}}
 * {{{lspci -v}}}

This may not be sufficient and we may ask for more in followups, please prepare to be responsive or otherwise the bug report won't help. A big and easy step is to verify if the issue is fixed in a newer kernel.
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= System information =
Please provide the output of the following commands in bug reports:
 * {{{dmesg}}}
 * {{{lspci -nn}}}
 * {{{lspci -v}}}

In order to be able to fix your kernel bug we need relevant information.

System information

You need to provide the output of the following commands in bug reports:

  • dmesg

  • lspci -nn

  • lspci -v

This may not be sufficient and we may ask for more in followups, please prepare to be responsive or otherwise the bug report won't help. A big and easy step is to verify if the issue is fixed in a newer kernel.

Latest Version

Check out unstable for a newer linux-image and see if your issue is fixed. If it is be happy and be assured that soon that image will be pushed to Testing. If it is not you want to checkout trunk snapshot (see DebianKernel page) for the latest upstream development kernel. if it's still does not fix the issue report upstream in bugzilla.kernel.org. The Debian kernel mostly does not deviate from upstream.

The most common case for wanting newer upstream is better acpi or wireless support. The DebianKernel trunk snapshot kernel installs just fine in Testing or Unstable.

If an oops is reproducible on latest please install kerneloops and set the reporting to yes. ?Kernel/Oops will notify upstream. Another way to notify upstream is to file a bug in http://bugzilla.kernel.org/.

Report package versions

Often bug reports come in that list versions like "2.6.18-4" or "2.6.18-4-k7". This is useful information, but it doesn't uniquely identify a Debian version. Please also include the package version. The package version looks more like "2.6.18.dfsg.1-13" or "2.6.22-1". The package version for the running kernel can be found by running:

$ dpkg -l | grep "$(uname -r)"

Note that this is only valid if you have rebooted since your last kernel update, so its always best to report this on a fresh reboot.

Identifying when the bug was introduced

If the problem does not occur on one version but does occur on another, please clearly include this information in your report, for example:

  • This problem occurs in linux-image-2.6.18-4-686 version 2.6.18.dfsg.1-13, but does not occur in linux-image-2.6.22-1-686 version 2.6.22-1.

Also, if there were versions in between the two you've tested, it helps to test those too to help us reduce the possibilities. You can find older versions of the kernel in various locations, including http://snapshot.debian.net. Bleeding edge snapshots are also available at http://kernel-archive.buildserver.net, see DebianKernel for more information on snapshots.

Source Bisecting

One of the best pieces of information you can provide is the specific changeset that introduced or resolved your bug. A good method for doing this is git bisect

Report upstream issues upstream

If you are able to reproduce your problem on the latest upstream kernel version, please report the problem upstream and link the Debian bug to the upstream bug using the "forwarded" command, e.g. (install devscripts for the bts command):

$ bts forwarded 123456 http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1234 

This will allow us to be automatically notified when the bug is resolved upstream.