comparison DOCS/bugreports.html @ 8758:ed6cf8b95138

More bug reporting HOWTO links, crash section reordered, compilation section extended, configure section added.

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  information you provide the better are our chances at fixing your problem.
  Please do not forget to also include the valuable information requested below,
  we will be unable to properly diagnose your problem otherwise.</P>

<P>An excellent and well written guide to asking questions in public forums is
  <A HREF="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html">How To Ask
  Questions The Smart Way</A> by Eric S. Raymond. If you follow these guidelines
  you should be safe. But please understand that we all follow the mailing lists
  voluntarily in our free time. We are very busy and cannot guarantee that you
  will get a solution for your problem or even an answer.</P>


<H3>Where to report bugs?</H3>

<P>Subscribe to the mplayer-users mailing list:<BR>

<H3>What to report?</H3>

<H4>System Information:</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>Your Linux distribution or operating system e.g.:
    <UL>
      <LI>Red Hat 7.1</LI>
      <LI>Slackware 7.0 + devel packs from 7.1 ...</LI>
    </UL>
  </LI>

<H4>For compilation problems/errors</H4>

Please include these files:

<UL>
  <LI>configure.log</LI>
  <LI>config.h</LI>
  <LI>config.mak</LI>
  <LI>libvo/config.mak</LI>
</UL>


<H4>For playback problems</H4>

<P>Please include the output of MPlayer at verbosity level 1, but

  sufficient.</P>


<H4>For crashes</H4>

<P>If you have a core dump of the crash continue reading the next paragraph,
  otherwise skip it.</P>


<H4>How to extract meaningful information from a core dump</H4>

<P>Please create the following command file:</P>

  info all-registers</CODE></P>

<P>Then simply execute the following on your command line:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>gdb mplayer --core=core -batch --command=command_file &gt; mplayer.bug</CODE></P>


<H4>How to conserve information about a reproducible crash</H4>

Recompile MPlayer with debugging code enabled:

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;./configure --enable-debug=3<BR>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;make</CODE></P>

and then run MPlayer within gdb using:

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;gdb ./mplayer</CODE></P>

You are now within gdb. Type:

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;run -v [options-to-mplayer] filename</code></P>

and reproduce your crash. As soon as you did it, gdb will
return you to the command line prompt where you have to enter

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;bt<BR>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;disass $pc-32 $pc+32</CODE></P>

and send the complete output to us.


<H3>General note</H3>

<P>If something is quite big (logs for instance) then it is better to upload

8758:ed6cf8b95138

  information you provide the better are our chances at fixing your problem.
  Please do not forget to also include the valuable information requested below,
  we will be unable to properly diagnose your problem otherwise.</P>

<P>An excellent and well written guide to asking questions in public forums is
  <A HREF="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html">How To Ask Questions The Smart Way</A>
  by <A HREF="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</A>. There is another
  called
  <A HREF="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html">How to Report Bugs Effectively</A>
  by <A HREF="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/">Simon Tatham</A>. If
  you follow these guidelines you should be able to get help. But please
  understand that we all follow the mailing lists voluntarily in our free time.
  We are very busy and cannot guarantee that you will get a solution for your
  problem or even an answer.</P>


<H3>Where to report bugs?</H3>

<P>Subscribe to the mplayer-users mailing list:<BR>

<H3>What to report?</H3>

<H4>System Information:</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>Your Linux distribution or operating system and version e.g.:
    <UL>
      <LI>Red Hat 7.1</LI>
      <LI>Slackware 7.0 + devel packs from 7.1 ...</LI>
    </UL>
  </LI>

<H4>For compilation problems/errors</H4>

Please include these files:

<UL>
  <LI><CODE>config.h</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>config.mak</CODE></LI>
</UL>

Only if compilation fails below one of these directories, include these files:

<UL>
  <LI><CODE>Gui/config.mak</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>libvo/config.mak</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>libao2/config.mak</CODE></LI>
</UL>


<H4>For configure problems</H4>

Include <CODE>configure.log</CODE>.


<H4>For playback problems</H4>

<P>Please include the output of MPlayer at verbosity level 1, but

  sufficient.</P>


<H4>For crashes</H4>

<P>You have to run MPlayer inside <CODE>gdb</CODE> and send us the complete
  output or if you have a core dump of the crash you can extract useful
  information from the <CODE>Core</CODE> file. Here's how:</P>

<H4>How to conserve information about a reproducible crash</H4>

Recompile MPlayer with debugging code enabled:

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;./configure --enable-debug=3<BR>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;make</CODE></P>

and then run MPlayer within gdb using:

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;gdb ./mplayer</CODE></P>

You are now within gdb. Type:

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;run -v [options-to-mplayer] filename</code></P>

and reproduce your crash. As soon as you did it, gdb will
return you to the command line prompt where you have to enter

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;bt<BR>
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;disass $pc-32 $pc+32</CODE></P>


<H4>How to extract meaningful information from a core dump</H4>

<P>Please create the following command file:</P>

  info all-registers</CODE></P>

<P>Then simply execute the following on your command line:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>gdb mplayer --core=core -batch --command=command_file &gt; mplayer.bug</CODE></P>


<H3>General note</H3>

<P>If something is quite big (logs for instance) then it is better to upload