Opened 15 years ago
Last modified 14 years ago
#4165 new enhancement
Support-aiding Haiku runtime data request application and web integration
| Reported by: | jonas.kirilla | Owned by: | haiku-web |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority: | low | Milestone: | Unscheduled |
| Component: | Website/Trac | Version: | |
| Keywords: | Cc: | ||
| Blocked By: | Blocking: | ||
| Platform: | All |
Description
Learning to provide the right info in bug reports (or to ask for it) isn't difficult, but it's likely to take a few exchanges per new user. So here's an idea to improve bug reporting and user-to-user support (on IRC or web forums).
I suggest creating a Haiku application to allow person A, needing information on person B's Haiku installation, to select the desired information sources (e.g. syslog, listdev, ..) by ticking a set of checkboxes, and have a file (or link to a file) created, which could be shared with person B.
Person B would receive the file, "run" it, have some output and be able to upload, email it or take it to another Haiku box, say with a working net connection.
This hinges on the ease of creating and sharing such a file, and on the ease of getting it, using it and returning the requested info.
Ideally the creation of the request-files would be possible also directly in Trac. (Developer would press button "Request runtime info", tick relevant checkboxes, and have the file created and linked in the same bug report.)
The request-file could contain an email address or Trac report number, to offer the user to email the data or upload it to the bug tracker.
The application and its request files could also be used pro-actively by experienced bug reporters to volonteer the right information, up front.
The request file could be as simple as a bash script, but web-delivered bash scripts don't run by simply opening them, and from a security point of view passing bash scripts over the internet begs to be abused. Instead I suggest a more limited file format. Text based for easy inspection. With its own MIME type and a dedicated filename extension, e.g. .haikusupport. While webservers do supply a MIME type, the extension is more reliable, and will make Haiku recognize the file's type immediately, which is important here.
The output would preferrably be a single file when saved and transferred manually.
Debian has a tool called reportbug that allow you to fill in all the needed info for a good bug report then send it to their bugtracker by mail. It may be interesting to have a look at it.