Ask HN: How to write a bug?

5 points·bobnarizes··5 comments

Dear HN,

once you get a ticket for a bug, what do you wish it would be on it so you can efficiently work on it?

The most important thing for me is detailed steps to reproduce.

What version it affects, if this applicable.

If it was a crash and this resulted in a stack trace being available. I want the stack trace.

Lower down on the priorities is a video of happening if this can be captured, as I've found steps to reproduce can sometimes leave out a crucial step. I've worked at a place where you got video of the bug happening and they can occasionally be helpful.

Also can be helpful the number of times it's happened.

Also if it was found by internal tester, then the details of that tester in case I need to ask them further questions.

Also if the PO can have input, what prioroty the bug has. i.e. do I need to stop what I'm working on to fix this ASAP.

Steps to reproduce, Screenshots, verions/setup, expected behavior and output, priority (high, low, etc), category (UI, functional, etc).

That’s it.

Who reports: steps to reproduce, details on system (browser, version, OS, whatever is relevant). Component(s) if known (assuming a big system/company).

I particularly appreciate when who files the bug spends the time to minimize the steps to repro and tests on multiple platforms to understand the scope (or, he/she clearly says "I couldn't test on other platforms").

Who triages: assign priority, define expected behavior if not clear already, mark duplicates, close non-repro or won't fix.

Could you (or a mod) change the title of this post to "How to write a bug report"? "How to write a bug" is a bit misleading... (Usually, people don't have to learn how to write them ;-) )