4.2. Reporting the Bug
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### 4.2. Reporting the Bug

Okay, so you have done everything you could to make sure, and you still think it's probably a bug. You should then go ahead and file a bug report. To do this, begin by going to http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi, and go down the page until you can select the component "Gimp".

| Note
The first time you file a bug report, you will be asked to create a Bugzilla account. The process is easy and painless, and you probably won't even get any spam as a result.

This takes you to the bug report form, which you should fill out as follows. Note that most of the information you enter can be changed later by the developers if you get it wrong, so try to get it right but don't be obsessive about it.

Summary

  Give a one-sentence summary that is descriptive enough so that somebody searching for similar bugs would find your bug report on the basis of the words this summary contains.

Steps to reproduce the bug

  Follow the directions. Be as specific as you can, and include all information that you think might possibly be relevant. The classic totally useless bug report is, "Gimp crashes. This program sucks". There is no hope that the developers can solve a problem if they can't tell what it is. If at all possible, give a procedure that will reliably reproduce the buggy behavior, and give it in enough detail so that a moron could follow it.

Component

  Set this to the part of Gimp that the bug affects. You have to pick something here, but if you aren't sure, make a guess and don't worry about it.

Severity

  In most cases you should either leave this as "Normal" or set it to "Enhancement", if it is an enhancement request rather than a malfunction. The maintainers will adjust the severity if they think it is warranted.

Priority

  In most cases you should leave this at "Normal", and allow the maintainers to adjust it. Setting the priority to "Immediate" or "Urgent" usually just manages to annoy people.

Version

  Set this to the version of Gimp that you are using. Leave the Gnome version unspecified.

Operating System

  Set this to your OS unless you have a very good reason for thinking that the bug applies to all operating systems.

You can ignore the rest. When you have filled out all of these things, press the "Commit" button and your bug report will be submitted. It will be assigned a number, which you may want to make note of; you will, however, be emailed any time somebody makes a comment on your bug report or otherwise alters it, so you will receive reminders in any case. You can see the current state of your bug report at any time by going to http://bugzilla.gnome.org and, at the bottom of the page, in the "Actions:" area, entering the bug number and pressing the "Find" button.

Sometimes it is very helpful to augment a bug report with a screenshot or some other type of data. If you need to do this, go to the web page for your bug report, click on the link "Create a New Attachment", and follow the directions. But please don't do this unless you think the attachment is really going to be useful–and if you need to attach a screenshot, don't make it any larger than necessary. Bug reports are likely to remain on the system for years, so there is no sense in wasting memory.

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