Reporting Bugs

If you think you have found a bug with the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, Enlightenment, or an official Enlightenment application, please submit a bug report so that it can be investigated and fixed. Before doing so, however, please read through this document to ensure your report arrives at the correct place and with enough information to be acted upon.

Please remember these key guidelines for a good bug report:

  • Be precise.
  • Be clear.
  • Only detail one bug per report.
  • Only report a bug on Gitea.
  • Re-read the report prior to submission.

Before Reporting a Bug

If you believe you have found a bug, run through the following steps to make sure you have all the information ready to file a bug report.

Reproducing the Bug

Try to reproduce the bug with the latest version of the software. If you are running an older version, particularly one provided by your operating system's package manager rather than compiled from source, it is possible the bug you have encountered has already been resolved. If the issue still exists in the latest version, make sure the bug is reproducible. Double-check that the issue you have encountered is not caused by any custom settings or changes you have made.

Checking for Existing Reports

Check the Gitea to see if your bug has already been reported. If you find no existing report, please create one.

Notes on Visual Bugs

If reporting a visual bug please make absolutely sure you test under the default theme. EFL developers do not support other themes, and bugs related to other themes must be sent directly to that theme's author for investigation.

Debugging Tool Output

If you have gathered a large quantity of output traces during debugging, please attach them to your ticket as file uploads rather than by pasting them into the comment itself. For more information on debugging, please consult Debugging EFL Applications, EFL Debugging and Enlightenment Debugging.

Reporting a Bug

Only report bugs in the Gitea. Please don't send bug reports and patches to the Enlightenment mailing list, as there is a good chance your report will be lost. If there is more discussion needed around the issue, add a bug report before or after carrying out a discussion on the mailing list.

The workflow for reporting a bug is as follows: go to the Gitea, and fill out at least the following fields:

  • Title - A short one-sentence summary that explains the problem clearly and precisely.
  • Assigned To - Leave blank, as the developers will set an assignee.
  • CC - Either leave blank or, if you know of interested users, add them here.
  • Priority - Leave blank, as this will be set by the developers.
  • Select the project(s) in which you found the bug.
  • Description - Include in this section:
    • Step-by-step instructions for recreating the bug;
    • The expected results;
    • The actual results;
    • Any program errors;
    • Short and notable log or trace extracts;
    • Any additional information that may assist the developers.
  • To attach a log or screenshot click on the Upload File button in the toolbar of the description field.
  • Re-read your report to check for clarity, then click Create Task.

Further Reading

Debugging EFL Applications
A guide to debugging applications written with EFL.
EFL Debugging
A guide to debugging EFL itself.
Enlightenment Debugging
A guide to debugging Enlightenment.