* README (Reporting Bugs): Rewritten to a more complete and
concise guide to providing a good bug report.
* README.alpha (Reporting Bugs): Adjust to match.
---
ChangeLog | 5 +++++
README | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
README.alpha | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
3 files changed, 66 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9db58e1..2e04bda 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
2010-09-18 Gary V. Vaughan <g...@gnu.org>
+ maint: improve `Reporting Bugs' in README and README.alpha.
+ * README (Reporting Bugs): Rewritten to a more complete and
+ concise guide to providing a good bug report.
+ * README.alpha (Reporting Bugs): Adjust to match.
+
maint: consolidate Introductions of README and README.alpha.
* README (Introduction): Rewritten to a more logical order for
first time users, incorporating some additional text that was
diff --git a/README b/README
index acf8f8b..a40f96c 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -39,11 +39,37 @@ details.
2. Reporting Bugs
=================
-If you have any suggestions or bug reports, or you wish to port Libtool
-to a new platform, please send electronic mail to the libtool mailing
-list <libt...@gnu.org> or bug reports to <bug-libt...@gnu.org>. Be sure
-to send us your information from the end of the help message given by
-`./libtool --help'.
+If this distribution doesn't work for you, before you report the
+problem, at least try upgrading to the latest released version first,
+and see whether the issue persists. If you feel able, you can also
+check whether the issue has been fixed in the development sources for
+the next release (see `Obtaining the Latest Sources' below).
+
+Once you've determined that your bug is still not fixed in the latest
+version, please send a full report to <bug-libt...@gnu.org>, including:
+
+ 1. the information from the end of the help message given by
+ `./libtool --help', and the verbose output of any failed tests
+ (see `The Test Suites' immediately below);
+ 2. complete instructions for how to reproduce your bug, along with
+ the results you were expecting, and how they differ from what you
+ actually see;
+ 3. a workaround or full fix for the bug, if you have it;
+ 4. a copy of `tests/testsuite.log' if you are experiencing failures
+ in the Autotest testsuite.
+ 5. new test cases for the testsuite that demonstrate the bug are
+ especially welcome, and will help to ensure that future releases
+ don't reintroduce the problem - if you're not able to write a
+ complete testsuite case, a simple standalone shell script is
+ usually good enough to help us write a test for you.
+
+If you have any other suggestions, or if you wish to port Libtool to a
+new platform, please send email to the mailing list <libt...@gnu.org>.
+
+Please note that if you send us an non-trivial code for inclusion in a
+future release, we may ask you for a copyright assignment (for brief
+details see the `Copyright Assignment' section on our `Contributing'
+webpage <http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/contribute.html>).
3. The Test Suites
diff --git a/README.alpha b/README.alpha
index 6f4ed3b..a8912a6 100644
--- a/README.alpha
+++ b/README.alpha
@@ -40,20 +40,36 @@ details.
=================
If this distribution doesn't work for you, before you report the
-problem, please try upgrading to the latest version first (see
-`Obtaining the latest sources' below).
-
-The `bootstrap' script sets up the source directory for you to hack,
-though it may take quite some time to run. If you don't intend to
-re-run the test suite, you can speed up the `bootstrap' step by an
-order of magnitude if you call it like this instead:
-
- reconfdirs='. libltdl' ./bootstrap
-
-If your bug is still not fixed in the latest version, please send a full
-report to <bug-libt...@gnu.org>, including the information from the end
-of the help message given by `./libtool --help', and the verbose output
-of any failed test groups (as described below).
+problem, at least try upgrading to the latest released version first,
+and see whether the issue persists. If you feel able, you can also
+check whether the issue has been fixed in the development sources for
+the next release (see `Obtaining the Latest Sources' below).
+
+Once you've determined that your bug is still not fixed in the latest
+version, please send a full report to <bug-libt...@gnu.org>, including:
+
+ 1. the information from the end of the help message given by
+ `./libtool --help', and the verbose output of any failed tests
+ (see `The Test Suites' immediately below);
+ 2. complete instructions for how to reproduce your bug, along with
+ the results you were expecting, and how they differ from what you
+ actually see;
+ 3. a workaround or full fix for the bug, if you have it;
+ 4. a copy of `tests/testuite.log' if you are experiencing failures
+ in the Autotest testsuite.
+ 5. new test cases for the testsuite that demonstrate the bug are
+ especially welcome, and will help to ensure that future releases
+ don't reintroduce the problem - if you're not able to write a
+ complete testsuite case, a simple standalone shell script is
+ usually good enough to help us write a test for you.
+
+If you have any other suggestions, or if you wish to port Libtool to a
+new platform, please send email to the mailing list <libt...@gnu.org>.
+
+Please note that if you send us an non-trivial code for inclusion in a
+future release, we may ask you for a copyright assignment (for brief
+details see the `Copyright Assignment' section on our `Contributing'
+webpage <http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/contribute.html>).
3. The Test Suites
--
1.7.2.2
