Reporting Bugs
Bugs in Mozilla Firebird are tracked using the Bugzilla database. With the increasing popularity of the Mozilla Firebird browser, lots of bad bug reports are being filed and many of the good ones are duplicates of already filed bugs. The purpose of this page is to help you file better bug reports, which in the end will help the developers fixing the bug.
Before filing a bug report
There are four crucial steps that you should follow before filing your first bug report:
- Use the latest version of Mozilla Firebird with a new profile
- Check if you can reproduce the bug in Mozilla
- Check if the bug is already filed
- Finally, read the official Bug Writing Guidelines
1. Use the latest version of Mozilla Firebird with a new profile
Make sure you are using the latest nightly build of Mozilla Firebird. Always install it in an empty folder.
Create a new Mozilla Firebird profile by closing Mozilla Firebird completely, then start it using the -p switch. Example:
"C:\Program Files\Firebird\Firebird.exe" -p
Select Create Profile...
and then start Mozilla Firebird using that profile. Now, try to reproduce the bug. Of course, if what you're about to file is not a bug, but an enhancement request (RFE), you can skip this step.
2. Check if you can reproduce the bug in Mozilla
Since Mozilla Firebird is based on the Mozilla codebase, many bugs in Mozilla Firebird are actually bugs in Mozilla. The major difference between Mozilla Firebird and Mozilla is the user interface (e.g. the toolbars, menus, status bar, etc., referred to as the "chrome" in Mozilla terms). This means that if you're experiencing a problem with the toolbar, it's probably a Mozilla Firebird bug, but if you're having problems with web page rendering, connection failures or even printing, they're most likely Mozilla bugs.
Before even thinking of filing a bug report for Mozilla Firebird, download the latest Mozilla nightly and try to reproduce the bug using a clean Mozilla profile. Get the latest nightly for Windows or Linux. If the bug exists in Mozilla, you can of course still file a bug report, but do not file it as a Mozilla Firebird bug!
3. Check if the bug is already filed
The list of previously filed bugs is constantly growing, but if you look in the appropriate category, you'll notice that the list isn't that long. The most common components in Mozilla Firebird are:
Click on the links above to display a list of all bugs for that component (except the duplicates). If this is a new bug in the latest nightly build, you could always look in the list of bugs filed today. For the complete list of Mozilla Firebird bugs, including duplicates, click here.
4. Finally, read the official Bug Writing Guidelines
This last step only needs to be done once (hopefully), and is probably the most important one. You should never file a bug report before reading the official Bug Writing Guidelines, written by Gervase Markham. You will learn how to write a detailed and useful bug report, which will reduce the time it takes for a developer to fix the bug.
Filing a bug report
If you've followed the steps above, you are ready to file the bug report. Follow the instructions on the page. Since you've already searched for previously filed bugs, you can skip Step 1 - search for your bug.