How to report a bug in Debian Live
==================================

"No software is perfect... we need your help!"

Debian Live is far from being perfect, but we want to make it as close as
possible to perfect - with your help.

Do not hesitate to report a bug: it is better to fill a report twice than never.
However, here are some recommendations how to file good bug reports.


1. Where does the bug appear?
-----------------------------

...at build time while bootstrapping?

make-live first bootstraps a basic Debian system with cdebootstrap(1) or
debootstrap(8). Depending on both cdebootstrap/debootstrap and the Debian
distribution it is bootstrapping, it runs sucessful or not. If a bug appears
here, check if the error is related to a specific Debian package (most likely),
or if it is related to cdebootstrap/debootstrap itself. Running lh_bootstrap
with --debug gives you more information.

In both cases, this is not a bug in Debian Live, but rather in Debian itself. We
can not fix this directly. Instead, report such a bug against the cdebootstrap
package, or the failing package.


...at build time while installing packages?

Debian Live installs additional packages from the Debian archive. Depending on
the Debian distribution used and the daily archive state, it can fail. If a bug
appears here, check if the error is also reproducible on a normal system.

If this is the case, this is not a bug in Debian Live, but rather in Debian
again. Report it against the failing package.


...at boot time?

If your image does not boot, please report it to the mailing list together with
the information requested in 2. Do not forget to mention, how/when the image
failed, in qemu, vmware or real hardware. If you are using a virtualization
technology of any kind, do always run it on real hardware before reporting a
bug. Nevertheless, providing a screenshot of the failure is also very helpfull.


...at run time?

If a package was successfully installed, but fails while actually running the
Live system, this is probably a bug in Debian Live and you are welcome to report
it to us.


2. Where to send the bug report?
--------------------------------

Report error logs of build time errors to live-helper and run time errors to
live-initramfs in the Debian Bug Tracking System. If you are unsure or need more
help before submitting a bug report, you can always send a message to
<debian-devel-live@lists.alioth.debian.org>. We will help you to figure it out.

To make the most out of your bug report, we require at least the following
information:

	* Architecture of the host system
	* Version of live-helper on the host system
	* Version of live-initramfs on the live system
	* Version of cdebootstrap and/or debootstrap on the host system

	* Architecture of the live system
	* Distribution of the live system
	* Version of the kernel on the live system

Additionally, to rule out other errors, it is always a good idea to tar up your
config directory and upload it somewhere (do *NOT* send it as an attachment to
the mailinglist), so that we can try to reproduce the errors you encountered.
