Reporting Bugs

Since our developers are unable to test every hardware combination, nor every different way of interacting with the operating system, we are relying on you to give us some input on how things work at your end. Since this is a very early product, it is very likely that you will encounter bugs. We thank you for taking the time to report these. Since our time is limited, we need accurate information. Follow these guidelines to create helpful bug reports:

1. Attempt to reproduce your issue on the current revision of Haiku. Pre-built images for testing purposes are ​available
2. Include basic information such as how you are testing Haiku (on real hardware, on VMWare, on QEMU, etc.),.
3. Mention which revision from SVN you are running. You can find this out in the 'About Haiku' application, in the Deskbar menu.
4. After the bug has been reported, a developer will look at your bug. Remember, we are all volunteers, and as such, sometimes a bug report might go unanswered for a while. Adding new information when it becomes available usually helps getting a bug picked up quicker, but do not try to 'bump' the bug up by adding non-informative comments.
5. Remember, reporting a bug is not something you spend a little time on and then you are done. If you reported a bug, then you are part of the Haiku development process. Developers might come up with questions while they are trying to fix your bug. Stay around to answer these. Consider your participation 'done' when the bug is marked as 'fixed'. Together we can improve Haiku, bit by bit.
6. The remainder of guidelines depend on the type of bug:
   1. applications and other pure software
   2. hardware and its drivers

Software Bugs

Before reporting a bug please make sure that it does not yet exist. You can also use the search function for this.

1. If you find an existing ticket that is open, only add information that is not already on the ticket.
2. After you have established this is a unique bug, make your information as accurate as possible:
   1. Describe the problem you are experiencing. Try to be as accurate as you can: describe the actual behavior, and the behavior you expected.
   2. Describe what steps to you need to perform in order to expose the bug. This will help developers reproduce the bug.
   3. Attach as much information as you have. If it is a GUI bug, or a bug in one of the applications, try to make a screen shot.

Hardware Bugs

For the hardware related issues, it is preferred to always create a new ticket. In the ticket, be sure to include the following, preferably as text attachments.

• listdev (a detailed listing of your hardware, including vendor and pci id's, similar to lshw and lspci)
• listusb -v (assuming its a usb related issue, similar to lsusb)
• open /var/log/syslog (the primary system log used by Haiku, akin to on screen debugging during boot)
• listimage | grep drivers/
• ints (from within Kernel Debugging Land -- KDL)
• On screen debug output (a safe mode boot time option)

Kernel Debugging Land

Enter the kernel debugger by invoking Alt-SysReq-D. Then the ints command will output information about handled and unhandled interrupts . You can get out of the kernel debugger back into a usable system by typing co (for continue). For more information, see this article: ​Welcome to Kernel Debugging Land

On Screen Debug Output

This is only relevant when Haiku fails to boot on your machine. Before the Haiku boot logo appears, press the space bar. This will display a text menu. Select Select safe mode options. Near the bottom, [ ] Enable on screen debug output will be listed. (Note: The other options could be enabled in an attempt to boot Haiku. If Haiku will boot only when one or more options are activated, be sure to mention which ones.) Finally select Return to main menu and then continue booting. One or more pages of text will display on the screen, only the last few lines need to be included on your ticket. For more information on the ​Boot Loader