89 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
Writing good issue reports
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==========================
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First things first: **the issue tracker is NOT for tech support**. It is for
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reporting bugs and requesting features. If your issue amounts to "I can't get
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YCM to work on my machine" and the reason why is obviously related to your
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machine configuration and the problem would not be resolved with _reasonable_
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changes to the YCM codebase, then the issue is likely to be closed.
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**A good place to ask questions is the [ycm-users][] Google group**. Rule of
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thumb: if you're not sure whether your problem is a real bug, ask on the group.
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**YCM compiles just fine**; [the build bots say so][build-bots]. If the bots are
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green and YCM doesn't compile on your machine, then _your machine is the root
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cause_. Now read the first paragraph again.
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Realize that quite literally _thousands_ of people have gotten YCM to work
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successfully so if you can't, it's probably because you have a peculiar
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system/Vim configuration or you didn't go through the docs carefully enough.
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It's very unlikely to be caused by an actual bug in YCM because someone would
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have already found it and reported it.
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This leads us to point #2: **make sure you have checked the docs before
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reporting an issue**. The docs are extensive and cover a ton of things; there's
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also an FAQ at the bottom that quite possibly addresses your problem.
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Further, **search the issue tracker for similar issues** before creating a new
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one. There's no point in duplication; if an existing issue addresses your
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problem, please comment there instead of creating a duplicate.
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You should also **search the archives of the [ycm-users][] mailing list**.
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Lastly, **make sure you are running the latest version of YCM**. The issue you
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have encountered may have already been fixed. **Don't forget to recompile
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ycm_core.so too** (usually by just running `install.sh` again).
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OK, so we've reached this far. You need to create an issue. First realize that
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the time it takes to fix your issue is a multiple of how long it takes the
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developer to reproduce it. The easier it is to reproduce, the quicker it'll be
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fixed.
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Here are the things you should do when creating an issue:
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1. **Write a step-by-step procedure that when performed repeatedly reproduces
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your issue.** If we can't reproduce the issue, then we can't fix it. It's
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that simple.
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2. **Create a test case for your issue**. This is critical. Don't talk about how
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"when I have X in my file" or similar, _create a file with X in it_ and put
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the contents inside code blocks in your issue description. Try to make this
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test file _as small as possible_. Don't just paste a huge, 500 line source
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file you were editing and present that as a test. _Minimize_ the file so that
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the problem is reproduced with the smallest possible amount of test data.
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3. **Include your OS and OS version.**
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4. **Include the output of `vim --version`.**
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Creating good pull requests
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===========================
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1. **Follow the code style of the existing codebase.**
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- The Python code **DOES NOT** follow PEP 8. This is not an oversight, this
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is by choice. You can dislike this as much as you want, but you still need
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to follow the existing style. Look at other Python files to see what the
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style is.
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- The C++ code has an automated formatter (`style_format.sh` that runs
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`astyle`) but it's not perfect. Again, look at the other C++ files and
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match the code style you see.
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- Same thing for VimScript. Match the style of the existing code.
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2. **Explain in detail why your pull request makes sense.** Ask yourself, would
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this feature be helpful to others? Not just a few people, but a lot of YCM’s
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users? See, good features are useful to many. If your feature is only useful
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to you and _maybe_ a couple of others, then that’s not a good feature.
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There is such a thing as “feature overload”. When software accumulates so
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many features of which most are only useful to a handful, then that software
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has become “bloated”. We don’t want that.
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Requests for features that are obscure or are helpful to but a few, or are
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not part of YCM's "vision" will be rejected. Yes, even if you provide a
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patch that completely implements it.
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Please include details on exactly what you would like to see, and why. The
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why is important - it's not always clear why a feature is really useful. And
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sometimes what you want can be done in a different way if the reason for the
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change is known. _What goal are you trying to accomplish?_
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[build-bots]: https://travis-ci.org/Valloric/YouCompleteMe
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[ycm-users]: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/ycm-users
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