Bug report: how to write correctly

May 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Why Do We Need Good Bug Report?

If your bug report is efficient, chances are higher that it will get fixed. So we can say that fixing a bug depends on how effectively you report it. Reporting a bug is nothing but a skill and now we are going to talk about how to reach this skill.



What Are the Characteristics of Good Software Bug Report?

Presence of clearly specified bug number

Reproducible

Be particular



Reporting a Software Bug

Use such simple Bug Report http://qatestlab.com/services/sample-deliverables/bug-reports-examples/ pattern: This is an elementary bug report format. It may vary on the bug report tool you are using. If you are writing bug report manually then some fields need to specifically mention like Bug number which should be assigned manually.



Reporter:

Your name and email address.

Product:

In which product the bug was found.

Version:

The product version.

Component:

These are the major sub modules of the product.

Platform:

Mention the hardware platform where you found this bug.

Operating system:

Mention all operating systems where you found the bug. Operating systems like Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS, SunOS.

Priority:

Priority is commonly set from P1 to P5. P1 as “fix the bug with highest priority” and P5 as ” Fix when time permits”.

Severity:

This portrays the influence of the bug.

Types of Severity:

Blocker: No further testing work can be done.

Critical: Application crash, Loss of data.

Major: Major loss of function.

Minor: Minor loss of function.

Trivial: Some UI enhancements.

Enhancement: Request for new feature or some enhancement in existing one.



Status:

The bug status is ‘New’ by default when you are logging the bug in any bug tracking system.

Assign To:

If you know which developer is liable for that specific module in which bug occurred, then you can specify email address of that developer.

URL:

The page url on which software bug http://qatestlab.com/technologies/software-infrastructure... occurred.

Summary:

A concise summary of the bug is mostly in 60 or less words.

Description:

Use such fields for description field: Reproduce steps: Clearly mention the steps to reproduce the bug.

Expected result: How application should behave on above mentioned steps.

Actual result: What is the actual result on running above steps i.e. the bug behavior?



The Report Kinds Are:

Coding error

Documentation issue

New suggestion

Hardware problem

Design error

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