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1 | Background |
2 | ========== | |
3 | ||
4 | The upstream Linux kernel maintainers only fix bugs for specific kernel | |
5 | versions. Those versions include the current "release candidate" (or -rc) | |
6 | kernel, any "stable" kernel versions, and any "long term" kernels. | |
7 | ||
8 | Please see https://www.kernel.org/ for a list of supported kernels. Any | |
9 | kernel marked with [EOL] is "end of life" and will not have any fixes | |
10 | backported to it. | |
11 | ||
12 | If you've found a bug on a kernel version isn't listed on kernel.org, | |
13 | contact your Linux distribution or embedded vendor for support. | |
14 | Alternatively, you can attempt to run one of the supported stable or -rc | |
15 | kernels, and see if you can reproduce the bug on that. It's preferable | |
16 | to reproduce the bug on the latest -rc kernel. | |
17 | ||
18 | ||
19 | How to report Linux kernel bugs | |
20 | =============================== | |
21 | ||
22 | ||
d60418bc SS |
23 | Identify the problematic subsystem |
24 | ---------------------------------- | |
25 | ||
26 | Identifying which part of the Linux kernel might be causing your issue | |
27 | increases your chances of getting your bug fixed. Simply posting to the | |
28 | generic linux-kernel mailing list (LKML) may cause your bug report to be | |
29 | lost in the noise of a mailing list that gets 1000+ emails a day. | |
30 | ||
31 | Instead, try to figure out which kernel subsystem is causing the issue, | |
32 | and email that subsystem's maintainer and mailing list. If the subsystem | |
33 | maintainer doesn't answer, then expand your scope to mailing lists like | |
34 | LKML. | |
35 | ||
36 | ||
37 | Identify who to notify | |
38 | ---------------------- | |
39 | ||
40 | Once you know the subsystem that is causing the issue, you should send a | |
41 | bug report. Some maintainers prefer bugs to be reported via bugzilla | |
42 | (https://bugzilla.kernel.org), while others prefer that bugs be reported | |
43 | via the subsystem mailing list. | |
44 | ||
45 | To find out where to send an emailed bug report, find your subsystem or | |
46 | device driver in the MAINTAINERS file. Search in the file for relevant | |
47 | entries, and send your bug report to the person(s) listed in the "M:" | |
48 | lines, making sure to Cc the mailing list(s) in the "L:" lines. When the | |
49 | maintainer replies to you, make sure to 'Reply-all' in order to keep the | |
50 | public mailing list(s) in the email thread. | |
51 | ||
52 | If you know which driver is causing issues, you can pass one of the driver | |
53 | files to the get_maintainer.pl script: | |
54 | perl scripts/get_maintainer.pl -f <filename> | |
55 | ||
56 | If it is a security bug, please copy the Security Contact listed in the | |
57 | MAINTAINERS file. They can help coordinate bugfix and disclosure. See | |
58 | Documentation/SecurityBugs for more information. | |
59 | ||
60 | If you can't figure out which subsystem caused the issue, you should file | |
61 | a bug in kernel.org bugzilla and send email to | |
62 | linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, referencing the bugzilla URL. (For more | |
63 | information on the linux-kernel mailing list see | |
64 | http://www.tux.org/lkml/). | |
65 | ||
66 | ||
1da177e4 LT |
67 | [Some of this is taken from Frohwalt Egerer's original linux-kernel FAQ] |
68 | ||
7883a250 SS |
69 | Gather information |
70 | ------------------ | |
3b12c21a | 71 | |
7883a250 SS |
72 | The most important information in a bug report is how to reproduce the |
73 | bug. This includes system information, and (most importantly) | |
74 | step-by-step instructions for how a user can trigger the bug. | |
3b12c21a | 75 | |
7883a250 SS |
76 | If the failure includes an "OOPS:", take a picture of the screen, capture |
77 | a netconsole trace, or type the message from your screen into the bug | |
78 | report. Please read "Documentation/oops-tracing.txt" before posting your | |
79 | bug report. This explains what you should do with the "Oops" information | |
80 | to make it useful to the recipient. | |
1da177e4 | 81 | |
7883a250 SS |
82 | This is a suggested format for a bug report sent via email or bugzilla. |
83 | Having a standardized bug report form makes it easier for you not to | |
9dcbb32f | 84 | overlook things, and easier for the developers to find the pieces of |
7883a250 SS |
85 | information they're really interested in. If some information is not |
86 | relevant to your bug, feel free to exclude it. | |
1da177e4 | 87 | |
3b12c21a | 88 | First run the ver_linux script included as scripts/ver_linux, which |
1da177e4 LT |
89 | reports the version of some important subsystems. Run this script with |
90 | the command "sh scripts/ver_linux". | |
91 | ||
92 | Use that information to fill in all fields of the bug report form, and | |
93 | post it to the mailing list with a subject of "PROBLEM: <one line | |
9dcbb32f | 94 | summary from [1.]>" for easy identification by the developers. |
1da177e4 | 95 | |
9dcbb32f | 96 | [1.] One line summary of the problem: |
1da177e4 LT |
97 | [2.] Full description of the problem/report: |
98 | [3.] Keywords (i.e., modules, networking, kernel): | |
4e229bef RD |
99 | [4.] Kernel information |
100 | [4.1.] Kernel version (from /proc/version): | |
101 | [4.2.] Kernel .config file: | |
30e835e3 AM |
102 | [5.] Most recent kernel version which did not have the bug: |
103 | [6.] Output of Oops.. message (if applicable) with symbolic information | |
1da177e4 | 104 | resolved (see Documentation/oops-tracing.txt) |
30e835e3 | 105 | [7.] A small shell script or example program which triggers the |
1da177e4 | 106 | problem (if possible) |
30e835e3 AM |
107 | [8.] Environment |
108 | [8.1.] Software (add the output of the ver_linux script here) | |
109 | [8.2.] Processor information (from /proc/cpuinfo): | |
110 | [8.3.] Module information (from /proc/modules): | |
111 | [8.4.] Loaded driver and hardware information (/proc/ioports, /proc/iomem) | |
112 | [8.5.] PCI information ('lspci -vvv' as root) | |
113 | [8.6.] SCSI information (from /proc/scsi/scsi) | |
114 | [8.7.] Other information that might be relevant to the problem | |
1da177e4 LT |
115 | (please look in /proc and include all information that you |
116 | think to be relevant): | |
117 | [X.] Other notes, patches, fixes, workarounds: | |
118 | ||
119 | ||
120 | Thank you |