How to report a bug

Main page: Bugzilla.

These guidelines explain how to write a good bug report or feature request in Wikimedia's bugtracker. Effective bug reports are the most likely to be fixed.

Quick recommendations for reports

• Be precise
• Be clear - explain how to reproduce the problem, step by step, so others can reproduce the bug
• Only one problem per report

Before you report a bug or request a new feature

1. In case you plan to report a bug, try to reproduce your bug using a recent version of the software, to see whether it has already been fixed. (If the bug is on a wiki site like Wikipedia you could try testing the latest software version on test2.wikipedia.org.)
   
2. Use the search box at the bottom of bugzilla.wikimedia.org to see if your bug has already been reported. You can also perform more advanced searches on the search page.
   

Reporting a New Bug or Feature Request

If you have faced a bug in a recent version and no-one else appears to have reported it, then:

1. Go to bugzilla.wikimedia.org
   
2. Choose "Enter a new bug". You will be asked to log in if you have not already done so (see 'Why must I register?').
   
3. Select the product in which you've found the bug - this could for example be "MediaWiki" for the wiki software itself, or "Wikimedia" for configuration changes of the Wikimedia wiki sites.
   
4. Fill out at least the following fields (for the rest, check Bugzilla/Fields):
   

Component: The part of the software the bug happens in. On the right you can see descriptions for each component. If none seems appropriate, use "General/Unknown".
Version: Select a version (current version is 1.20.x for the MediaWiki software, and 1.21-git on Wikimedia website)
Severity: If you request a new feature, please set the severity to enhancement.
Summary: A short one-sentence summary that explains the problem (not your suggested solution).

• Good: "Selecting Gender is not functional"
  
• Bad: "Software crashes"
  

Description: Full details of the issue, giving as much detail as possible. This can include:

• Steps to Reproduce: Minimized, easy-to-follow steps that will trigger the described problem. Include any special setup steps.
  

Example:

1. Go to https://en.wikipedia.org with Internet Explorer version 10.0
2. Make sure you are logged in
3. Select "My Preferences" menu
4. Go to "Gender" and select female gender from box list
5. Click 'Save' button

• Actual Results: What the application did after performing the above steps.
  

Example:

There is no female gender in front of my user name

• Expected Results: What the application should have done, were the bug not present.
  

Example:

My gender is shown in front of my user name

Please also provide any other information that might be useful.

Attachment: You may attach a log file or screenshot (but make sure that no confidential data is shown on the screenshot).

Check if your report is complete, then press "Submit bug". Your bug report will now be in the database and somebody will hopefully take a look at it soon.

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That's all! Thanks for your help to improve MediaWiki and the Wikimedia project!

See also

• How to Report Bugs Effectively by Simon Tatham