Reporting Problems
Reporting Software Bugs
Reporting bugs effectively is a fundamental way to help PostGIS
development. The most effective bug report is that enabling PostGIS
developers to reproduce it, so it would ideally contain a script
triggering it and every information regarding the environment in which it
was detected. Good enough info can be extracted running SELECT
postgis_full_version()
[for postgis] and SELECT
version()
[for postgresql].
If you aren't using the latest release, it's worth taking a look at
its release
changelog first, to find out if your bug has already been
fixed.
Using the PostGIS bug
tracker will ensure your reports are not discarded, and will keep
you informed on its handling process. Before reporting a new bug please
query the database to see if it is a known one, and if it is please add
any new information you have about it.
You might want to read Simon Tatham's paper about How to Report
Bugs Effectively before filing a new report.
Reporting Documentation Issues
The documentation should accurately reflect the features and
behavior of the software. If it doesn't, it could be because of a software
bug or because the documentation is in error or deficient.
Documentation issues can also be reported to the PostGIS bug
tracker.
If your revision is trivial, just describe it in a new bug tracker
issue, being specific about its location in the documentation.
If your changes are more extensive, a Subversion patch is definitely
preferred. This is a four step process on Unix (assuming you already have
Subversion
installed):
Check out a copy of PostGIS' Subversion trunk. On Unix,
type:
svn checkout
http://svn.osgeo.org/postgis/trunk/
This will be stored in the directory ./trunk
Make your changes to the documentation with your favorite text
editor. On Unix, type (for example):
vim trunk/doc/postgis.xml
Note that the documentation is written in DocBook XML rather than HTML,
so if you are not familiar with it please follow the example of the
rest of the documentation.
Make a patch file containing the differences from the master
copy of the documentation. On Unix, type:
svn diff trunk/doc/postgis.xml >
doc.patch
Attach the patch to a new issue in bug tracker.