reportbug(1) — reportbug — Debian unstable — Debian Manpages

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NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
EXAMPLES
CONFIGURATION FILES
ENVIRONMENT
NOTES
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
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13.2.0
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13.2.0
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reportbug(1)
General Commands Manual
reportbug(1)
NAME
reportbug - reports a bug to a debbugs server
SYNOPSIS
reportbug
[options] absolute-pathname>
DESCRIPTION
reportbug
is primarily designed to report bugs in the
Debian distribution; by default, it creates an email to the Debian bug
tracking system at
submit@bugs.debian.org
with information about the
bug you've found, and makes a carbon copy of the report for you as well.
Using the
--bts
option, you can also report bugs to other
servers that use the Debian bug tracking system,
debbugs
You may specify either a package name or a filename; if you use a
filename, it must either be an absolute filename (so beginning with a
) or if you want
reportbug
to search the system for a
filename, see the
--filename
and
--path
options below. If
installed, also
dlocate
is used to identify the filename location and
thus the package containing it.
You can also specify a
pseudo-package
; these are used in
the Debian bug tracking system to track issues that are not related to one
specific package. Run
reportbug
without any arguments, then enter
other
at the package prompt, to see a list of the most commonly-used
pseudo-packages
OPTIONS
The program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes (`
--
'). A summary of options are
included below.
-h, --help
Show summary of options.
--version
Show the version of
reportbug
and exit.
-A FILENAME,
--attach=FILENAME
Attach a file to the bug report; both text and binary files are
acceptable; this option can be specified multiple times to attach several
files. This routine will create a MIME attachment with the file included;
in some cases (usually text files), it is probably better to use
-i/--include
option. (Please note that Debian's bug tracking system
has limited support for MIME attachments.)
This option supports also globbing (i.e. names with wildcards,
like file.*) but remember to include them between single quotes (the
previous example becomes: 'file.*') else the shell would expand it
before calling reportbug leading to an error.
Be aware that when using an external MUA to send the message
(such as mutt), the attachment feature is not reliable and no file might
be attached at all: the MUA feature to attach files should be used
instead (so from within the MUA).
--archive
Also show archived bugs when browsing bugs.
-b, --no-query-bts
Don't check the Debian bug tracking system to see if this problem has
already been reported; useful for offline use or if you're
really
sure it's a bug.
--query-bts
Check the Debian bug tracking system to see if this problem has already
been reported (default).
-B SYSTEM,
--bts=SYSTEM
Instead of the Debian bug server (or the bug server specified in
/etc/reportbug.conf
), use the server specified by
SYSTEM
Use --bts=help to obtain the list of valid values. Note that if your
$HOME/.reportbugrc
or
/etc/reportbug.conf
include an
smtphost setting that is specific to your default bug server and not a
generic smarthost, you may need to override this using
--smtphost= to be able to report a bug directly to
SYSTEM
--body=BODY
Use the specified
BODY
string as the body of the message. The body
text will be wrapped at 70 columns, and the normal
reportbug
headers and footers will be added as appropriate. The editor prompt and
any "special" prompting will be bypassed.
--body-file=BODYFILE,
--bodyfile=BODYFILE
The contents of the (assumed to be) text file
BODYFILE
will be used
as the message body. This file is assumed to be properly formatted (i.e.
reasonable line lengths, etc.). The usual headers and footers will be
added, and the editor step and "special" prompts will be
skipped. (
BODYFILE
may also be a named pipe; using a device special
file may lead to unusual results.)
-c,
--no-config-files
Omit configuration files from the bug report without asking. By default,
you are asked if you want to include them; in some cases, doing so may
cause sensitive information to be sent via email.
-C CLASS,
--class=CLASS
Specify report class for GNATS BTSes.
--configure
Rerun the
reportbug
first time configuration routine, and write a
new
$HOME/.reportbugrc
file. This will erase any pre-existing
settings in the file; however, a backup will be written as
$HOME/.reportbugrc~
. Reportbug will exit after rewriting its
configuration file, hence this option cannot usefully be combined with
many other options.
--check-available
Check for newer releases of the package in Debian package lists (default).
In
advanced
and
expert
mode, check
too.
--no-check-available
Do not check for newer releases of the package at
packages.debian.org
--debconf
Include debconf settings in your report.
--no-debconf
Do not include debconf settings from your report.
-d, --debug
Don't send a real bug report to Debian; send it to yourself instead. This
is primarily used for testing by the maintainer.
--test
Operate in test mode (maintainer use only).
--draftpath=DRAFTPATH
Save the draft (for example, when exiting and saving the report without
reporting it) into
DRAFTPATH
directory (default /tmp).
-e EDITOR,
--editor=EDITOR
Specify the editor to use, overriding any
EDITOR
or
VISUAL
environment variable setting.
--email=ADDRESS
Set the email address your report should appear to be sent from (i.e. the
address that appears in the
From
header). This should be the actual
Internet email address on its own (i.e. without a real name or comment
part, like
foo@example.com
). This setting will override the
EMAIL
and
DEBEMAIL
environment variables, but not
REPORTBUGEMAIL
--envelope-from
Specify the Envelope From mail header (also known as Return-path); by
default it's the From address but it can be selected a different one in
case the MTA doesn't canonicalize local users to public addresses. This
can be set to the empty string if the MTA does not allow setting the
Envelope From.
--mbox-reader-cmd=MBOX_READER_CMD
Specify a command to open the bug reports mbox file. You can use
%s
to substitute the mbox file to be used, and
%%
to insert a literal
percent sign. If no
%s
is specified, the mbox file name is supplied
at the end of the argument list.
-f FILENAME,
--filename=FILENAME
Report a bug in the package containing
FILENAME
so you don't have
to figure out what package the file belongs to. The path will be searched
for an exact path for
FILENAME
before attempting to broaden the
search to all files. If
dlocate
is installed,
FILENAME
is
actually a regular expression.
--from-buildd=BUILDD_FORMAT
This options is a shortcut for buildd admins to report bugs from buildd
log; the option expects a value in the format of
$source_$version
where
$source
is the source package the bug will be reported
against and
$version
is its version.
--path
If the
-f/--filename
option is also specified, only search the path
for the specified
FILENAME
. Specifying an absolute path with the
-f/--filename
option (i.e. one beginning with a
) overrides
this behavior.
-g, --gnupg, --gpg
Attach a digital signature to the bug report using
GnuPG
(the GNU
Privacy Guard). (This argument will be ignored if you are using an MUA to
edit and send your report.)
-G, --gnus
Use the Gnus mail and news reader to send your report, rather than using
the editor.
-H HEADER,
--header=HEADER
Add a custom RFC2822 header to your email. Do not use this option if you
want to submit the report using your MUA, because custom headers cannot be
passed from reportbug to the MUA reliably. To send a carbon copy of the
report to another recipient using
X-Debbugs-CC
, please see the
--list-cc
option.
-i FILE,
--include=FILE
Include the specified
FILE
as part of the body of the message to be
edited. Can be used multiple times to add multiple files; text-only
please! From a suggestion by Michael Alan Dorman in the
bug
mailing
list. (See also the
-A/--attach
option.)
-I,
--no-check-installed
Do not check whether the package is installed before filing a report. This
is generally only useful when filing a report on a package you know is not
installed on your system.
--check-installed
Check if the specified package is installed when filing reports. (This is
the default behavior of
reportbug
.)
-j JUSTIFICATION,
--justification=JUSTIFICATION
Bugs in Debian that have
serious
grave
, or
critical
severities must meet certain criteria to be classified as such. This
option allows you to specify the justification for a release-critical bug,
instead of being prompted for it.
-k, --kudos
Send appreciative email to the recorded maintainer address, rather than
filing a bug report. (You can also send kudos to
packagename@packages.debian.org
, for packages in the Debian
archive; however, this option uses the Maintainer address from the control
file, so it works with other package sources too.)
-K KEYID,
--keyid=KEYID
Private key to use for PGP/GnuPG signatures. If not specified, the first
key in the secret keyring that matches your email address will be
used.
--latest-first
Display the bug reports list sorted and with the latest reports at the
top.
--license
Show
reportbug
's copyright and license information on standard
output.
--list-cc=ADDRESS
Send a carbon copy of the report to the specified list after a report
number is assigned; this is the equivalent to the option
-P
'X-Debbugs-CC: ADDRESS'
. This option will only work as intended with
debbugs
systems.
--list-cc-me
Send a carbon copy of the report to your automatically detected email
address after a report number is assigned. This sets an
X-Debbugs-CC
pseudo-header specifying that address. This option
will only work as intended with
debbugs
systems. See the
documentation for the
--email
option and the
ENVIRONMENT
section for information on how reportbug detects your email address.
-m, --maintonly
Only send the bug to the package maintainer; the bug tracking system will
not send a copy to the bug report distribution lists.
--max-attachment-size=MAX_ATTACHMENT_SIZE
Specify the maximum size any attachment file can have (this also include
the file for --body-file option). If an attachment file is too big, there
could be problems in delivering the email (and also to compose it), so we
set a limit to attachment size. By default this is 10 megabytes.
--mirror=MIRRORS
Add a BTS mirror.
--mode=MODE
Set the operating mode for
reportbug
reportbug
currently
has four operating modes:
novice
(the default),
standard
advanced
, and
expert
novice
mode is designed to minimize prompting about
things that "ordinary users" would be unlikely to know or care
about, shifting the triage burden onto the maintainer. Checking for new
versions is only done for the stable distribution in this mode. It is
currently the default mode.
standard
mode includes a relatively large number of
prompts and tries to encourage users to not file frivolous or duplicate
bug reports.
advanced
mode is like
standard
mode, but may
include shortcuts suitable for more advanced users of Debian, without
being as close to the metal (and potential flamage) as
expert
mode. (Currently, the only differences from
standard
mode are
that it assumes familiarity with the "new" queue; it allows
the reporting of bugs on "dependency" packages; and it does
not prompt where to insert the report text in the editor.)
expert
mode is designed to minimize prompts that are
designed to discourage frivolous or unnecessary bug reports,
"severity inflation," and the like. In
expert
mode,
reportbug
assumes the user is thoroughly familiar with Debian
policies. In practice, this means that reporters are no longer required
to justify setting a high severity on a bug report, and certain
automated cleanups of the message are bypassed. Individuals who do not
regularly contribute to the Debian project are
highly
discouraged
from using expert mode, as it can lead to flamage from maintainers when
used improperly.
-M, --mutt
Instead of spawning an editor to revise the bug report, use the
mutt
mail reader to edit and send it.
--mta=MTA
Specify an alternate
MTA
, instead of
/usr/sbin/sendmail
(the
default). Any
smtphost
setting will override this one.
--mua=MUA
Instead of spawning an editor to revise the bug report, use the specified
MUA
(mail user agent) to edit and send it.
--mutt
and
--nmh
options are processed.
-n, --mh, --nmh
Instead of spawning an editor to revise the bug report, use the
comp
command (part of the
nmh
and
mh
mail systems) to
edit and send it.
-N BUGNUMBER, --bugnumber
BUGNUMBER
Run
reportbug
against the specified bug report, useful when
following-up a bug and its number is already known.
--no-bug-script
Do not execute the bug script (if present); this option can be useful
together with --template to suppress every interactive action, since some
bug scripts can ask questions.
--no-cc-menu
Don't display the menu to enter additional addresses (CC).
--no-tags-menu
Don't display the menu to enter additional tags.
-o FILE,
--output=FILE
Instead of sending an email, redirect it to the specified filename.
The output file is a full dump of the email message, so it
contains both headers and mail body. If you want to use it as a template
to create a new bug report, see the --resume-saved option.
-O, --offline
Disable all external queries. Currently has the same effect as
--no-check-available --no-query-bts
-p, --print
Instead of sending an email, print the bug report to standard output, so
you can redirect it to a file or pipe it to another program.
This option only outputs a template for a bug report (but,
differently from
--template
it's more interactive); you will need
to fill in the long description.
--paranoid
Show the contents of the message before it is sent, including all headers.
Automatically disabled if in template mode.
--no-paranoid
Don't show the full contents of the message before it is sent
(default).
--pgp
Attach a digital signature to the bug report using
PGP
(Pretty Good
Privacy). Please note, however, that the Debian project is phasing out the
use of
PGP
in favor of
GnuPG
. (This argument will be ignored
if using an MUA to edit and send your report.)
--proxy=PROXY,
--http_proxy=PROXY
Specify the WWW proxy server to use to handle the query of the bug
tracking system. You should only need this parameter if you are behind a
firewall. The
PROXY
argument should be formatted as a valid HTTP
URL, including (if necessary) a port number; for example,
-P PSEUDO-HEADER,
--pseudo-header=PSEUDO-HEADER
Add a custom pseudo-header to your report; for example, to add the
mytag
usertag for the user
humberto@example.com
to the bug,
you could use
-P 'User: humberto@example.com' -P 'Usertags:
mytag'
-q, --quiet
Suppress diagnostic messages to standard error.
-Q, --query-only
Do not submit a bug report; just query the BTS. Option ignored if you
specify
--no-bts-query
--query-source
Query on all binary packages built by the same source, not just the binary
package specified.
--no-query-source
Only query on the binary package specified on the command line.
--realname=NAME
Set the real name (human-readable name) to use for your report.
--report-quiet
Register the bug in the bug tracking system, but don't send a report to
the package maintainer or anyone else. Don't do this unless you're the
maintainer of the package in question, or you really know what you are
doing.
--reply-to=ADDRESS,
--replyto=ADDRESS
Set the
Reply-To
address header in your report.
-r TEMPFILE,
--resume-saved=TEMPFILE
Use this to resume an unsent report previously saved by reportbug. Note
that attachments stored in
TEMPFILE
are ignored; if you want to
attach any files you need to do that again.
-s SUBJECT,
--subject=SUBJECT
Set the subject of the bug report (i.e. a brief explanation of the
problem, less than 60 characters). If you do not specify this switch, you
will be prompted for a subject.
--security-team
If the 'security' tag is set, this option will explicitly specify to send
the report only to the Debian Security Team, as this is an undisclosed
vulnerability.
--no-security-team
If the 'security' tag is set, this option will explicitly specify to not
send the report only to the Debian Security Team, as this is not an
undisclosed vulnerability.
-S SEVERITY,
--severity=SEVERITY
Specify a severity level, from
critical
grave
serious
important
normal
minor
, and
wishlist
--smtphost=HOST[:PORT]
Use the mail transport agent (MTA) at
HOST
to send your report,
instead of your local
/usr/sbin/sendmail
program. This should
generally be your ISP's outgoing mail server; you can also use 'localhost'
if you have a working mail server running on your machine. If the
PORT
is omitted, the standard port for SMTP, port 25, is used.
--timeout=SECONDS
Specify the network timeout, the number of seconds to wait for a resource
to respond. If nothing is specified, a default timeout of 1 minute is
selected.
In case of a network error, there are chances it's due to a
too low timeout: try passing the --timeout option with a higher value
than default.
--tls
If using SMTP, use Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption to secure the
connection to the mail server. Some SMTP servers may require this option.
Note that this option is ignored if you connect to your SMTP server via
port 465, which already implies using SSL/TLS.
--smtpuser=USERNAME
If using SMTP, use the specified
USERNAME
for authentication.
--smtppasswd=PASSWORD
If using SMTP, use the specified
PASSWORD
for authentication. If
the password isn't specified on the command line or in the configuration
file, a prompt will be displayed asking for it.
Use of this option is insecure on multiuser systems. Instead,
you should set this option in
$HOME/.reportbugrc
and ensure it is
only readable by your user (e.g. with
chmod 600
$HOME/.reportbugrc
).
--src,
--source
Specify to report the bug against the source package, and not the binary
package (default behaviour). In order for this option to work, you have to
populate the relevant 'deb-src' lines in /etc/apt/sources.list so that apt
cache will know about source packages too.
You can also specify the package name with a 'src:' prefix
instead of using this option if you already know the name of the source
package.
-t TYPE, --type=TYPE
Specify the type of report to be submitted; currently accepts either
gnats
or
debbugs
-T TAG, --tag=TAG
Specify a tag to be filed on this report, for example
--tag=patch
Multiple tags can be specified using multiple
-T/--tag
arguments.
Alternatively, you can specify the 'tag'
none
to bypass
the tags prompt without specifying any tags; this will also ignore any
tags specified on the command line.
--template
Output a template report to standard output. Differently from
-p/--print
, it tries to be not interactive, and presents a template
without user's input. You may need to combine it with --no-bug-script if
you want to avoid all user interaction.
-u INTERFACE,
--interface=INTERFACE, --ui=INTERFACE
Specify the user interface to use. Valid options are
text
urwid
, and
gtk
; default is taken from the
reportbug
configuration files.
-v, --verify
Verify the integrity of the package (if installed) using
debsums
before reporting.
--no-verify
Do not verify the integrity of the package with
debsums
-V VERSION,
--package-version=VERSION
Specify the version of the package the problem was found in. This is
probably most useful if you are reporting a bug in a package that is not
installable or installed on a different system.
-x, --no-cc
Don't send a blind carbon copy (BCC) of the bug report to the submitter
(i.e. yourself).
-z, --no-compress
Don't compress configuration files by removing comments and blank
lines.
EXAMPLES
reportbug
lynx-ssl
Report a bug in the lynx-ssl package.
reportbug
--path --filename=ls
Report a bug in the installed package that includes a program in your path
called
ls
CONFIGURATION FILES
From version 0.22 on,
reportbug
has supported a simple run
control file syntax. Commands are read from
/etc/reportbug.conf
and
$HOME/.reportbugrc
with commands in the latter overriding those in
the former.
Commands are not case sensitive, and currently take 0 or 1
argument; arguments containing whitespace must be enclosed in quotes.
Any line starting with
is taken to be a comment and will
be ignored.
Generally, options corresponding to the long options for
reportbug
are supported, without leading
--
sequences. See
reportbug.conf(5)
for all acceptable options and detailed
information.
ENVIRONMENT
VISUAL
Editor to use for editing your bug report.
EDITOR
Editor to use for editing the bug report (overridden by
VISUAL
).
REPORTBUGEMAIL,
DEBEMAIL, EMAIL
Email address to use as your from address (in this order). If no
environment variable exists, the default is taken from your user name and
/etc/mailname
DEBFULLNAME,
DEBNAME, NAME
Real name to use; default is taken from
/etc/passwd
REPLYTO
Address for
Reply-To
header in outgoing mail.
MAILCC
Use the specified CC address on your email. Note you can also use the
-H
option for this (and for Bcc's too).
MAILBCC
Use the specified BCC address, instead of your email address. (CC and BCC
based on suggestions from Herbert Thielen in the
bug
wishlist).
http_proxy
Provides the address of a proxy server to handle the BTS query. This
should be a valid
http
URL for a proxy server, including any
required port number (simply specifying a hostname, or omitting a port
other than 80, WILL NOT WORK).
NOTES
reportbug
should probably be compatible with other bug
tracking systems, like
bugzilla
(used by the GNOME and Mozilla
projects) and
jitterbug
(used by Samba, AbiSource and FreeCiv) but it
isn't.
SEE ALSO
reportbug.conf(5)
for available tags,
querybts(1)
AUTHOR
Chris Lawrence , Sandro Tosi
.
Source file:
reportbug.1.en.gz (from
reportbug 13.2.0
Source last updated:
2025-06-01T14:01:06Z
Converted to HTML:
2025-12-30T11:25:04Z
debiman HEAD, see
github.com/Debian/debiman
Found a problem? See the
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