======================
Fixing a bug in Ubuntu
======================

Introduction
============

If you followed the instructions to :doc:`get set up with Ubuntu
Development<./getting-set-up>`, you should be all set and ready to go.

.. image:: ../images/fixing-a-bug.png

As you can see in the image above, there is no surprises in the process of
fixing bugs in Ubuntu: you found a problem, you get the code, work on the fix,
test it, push your changes to Launchpad and ask for it to be reviewed and
merged. In this guide we will go through all the necessary steps one by one.


Finding the problem
===================

There are a lot of different ways to find things to work on. It might be a bug
report you are encountering yourself (which gives you a good opportunity to
test the fix), or a problem you noted elsewhere, maybe in a bug report.

Take a look at `the bitesize bugs`_ in Launchpad, and that might give you an
idea of something to work on. It might also interest you to look at the bugs
`triaged`_ by the Ubuntu One Hundred Papercuts team.

.. _the bitesize bugs: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.tag=bitesize
.. _triaged: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/One%20Hundred%20Papercuts/Fix/Lists%20of%20bugs
.. _what-to-fix:

Figuring out what to fix
========================

If you don't know the source package containing the code that has the problem,
but you do know the path to the affected program on your system, you can
discover the source package that you'll need to work on.

Let's say you've found a bug in Bumprace, a racing game. The Bumprace
application can be started by running ``/usr/bin/bumprace`` on the command
line. To find the binary package containing this application, use this command::

    $ apt-file find /usr/bin/bumprace

This would print out::

    bumprace: /usr/bin/bumprace

Note that the part preceding the colon is the binary package name. It's often
the case that the source package and binary package will have different names.
This is most common when a single source package is used to build multiple
different binary packages. To find the source package for a particular binary
package, type::

    $ apt-cache showsrc bumprace | grep ^Package:
    Package: bumprace
    $ apt-cache showsrc tomboy | grep ^Package:
    Package: tomboy

``apt-cache`` is part of the standard installation of Ubuntu.

Confirming the problem
======================

Once you have figured out which package the problem is in, it's time to
confirm that the problem exists.

Let's say the package ``bumprace`` does not have a homepage in its package
description. As a first step you would check if the problem is not solved
already. This is easy to check, either take a look at Software Center or run::

        apt-cache show bumprace

The output should be similar to this::

        Package: bumprace
        Priority: optional
        Section: universe/games
        Installed-Size: 136
        Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
        XNBC-Original-Maintainer: Christian T. Steigies <cts@debian.org>
        Architecture: amd64
        Version: 1.5.4-1
        Depends: bumprace-data, libc6 (>= 2.4), libsdl-image1.2 (>= 1.2.10),
                 libsdl-mixer1.2, libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1)
        Filename: pool/universe/b/bumprace/bumprace_1.5.4-1_amd64.deb
        Size: 38122
        MD5sum: 48c943863b4207930d4a2228cedc4a5b
        SHA1: 73bad0892be471bbc471c7a99d0b72f0d0a4babc
        SHA256: 64ef9a45b75651f57dc76aff5b05dd7069db0c942b479c8ab09494e762ae69fc
        Description-en: 1 or 2 players race through a multi-level maze
         In BumpRacer, 1 player or 2 players (team or competitive) choose among 4
         vehicles and race through a multi-level maze. The players must acquire
         bonuses and avoid traps and enemy fire in a race against the clock.
         For more info, see the homepage at http://www.linux-games.com/bumprace/
        Description-md5: 3225199d614fba85ba2bc66d5578ff15
        Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
        Origin: Ubuntu

A counter-example would be ``gedit``, which has a homepage set::

        $ apt-cache show gedit | grep ^Homepage
        Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/gedit/

Sometimes you will find that a particular problem you are looking into is
already fixed. To avoid wasting efforts and duplicating work it makes sense
to first do some detective work.

Research bug situation
======================

First we should check if a bug for the problem exists in Ubuntu already. Maybe
somebody is working on a fix already, or we can contribute to the solution
somehow. For Ubuntu we have a quick look at
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bumprace and there is no open bug
with our problem there.

.. note:: For Ubuntu the URL
          ``https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/<package>`` should always
          take to the bug page of the source package in question.

For Debian, which is the major source for Ubuntu's packages, we have a look at
http://bugs.debian.org/src:bumprace and can't find a bug report for our
problem either.

.. note:: For Debian the URL ``http://bugs.debian.org/src:<package>`` should
           always take to the bug page of the source package in question.

The problem we are working on is special as it only concerns the
packaging-related bits of ``bumprace``. If it was a problem in the source code
it would be helpful to also check the Upstream bug tracker. This is
unfortunately often different for every package you have a look at, but if
you search the web for it, you should in most cases find it pretty easily.

Offering help
=============

If you found an open bug and it is not assigned to somebody and you are in a
position to fix it, you should comment on it with your solution. Be sure to
include as much information as you can: Under which circumstances does the
bug occur? How did you fix the problem? Did you test your solution?

If no bug report has been filed, you can file a bug for it. What you might
want to bear in mind is: Is the issue so small that just asking for somebody
to commit it is good enough? Did you manage to only partially fix the issue
and you want to at least share your part of it?

It is great if you can offer help and will surely be appreciated.

.. _working-on-a-fix:

Getting the code
================

Once you know the source package to work on, you will want to get a copy of
the code on your system, so that you can debug it. The ubuntu-dev-tools
package has a tool called ``pull-lp-source`` that a developer can use to grab
the source code for any package. For example, to grab the source code for the
tomboy package in ``xenial``, you can type this::

    $ pull-lp-source bumprace xenial

If you do not specify a release such as ``xenial``, it will automatically get
the package from the development version.

Once you've got a local clone of the source package, you can investigate the
bug, create a fix, generate a debdiff, and attach your debdiff to a bug report
for other developers to review. We'll describe specifics in the next sections.

Work on a fix
=============

There are entire books written about finding bugs, fixing them, testing them,
etc. If you are completely new to programming, try to fix easy bugs such as
obvious typos first. Try to keep changes as minimal as possible and document
your change and assumptions clearly.

Before working on a fix yourself, make sure to investigate if nobody else has
fixed it already or is currently working on a fix. Good sources to check are:

* Upstream (and Debian) bug tracker (open and closed bugs),
* Upstream revision history (or newer release) might have fixed the problem,
* bugs or package uploads of Debian or other distributions.

.. XXX: Link to 'update to a new version' article.
.. XXX: Link to 'send stuff upstream/Debian' article. (Launchpad bug 704845)

You may want to create a patch which includes the fix. The command
``edit-patch`` is a simple way to add a patch to a package. Run::

    $ edit-patch 99-new-patch

This will copy the packaging to a temporary directory.  You can now edit files
with a text editor or apply patches from upstream, for example::

    $ patch -p1 < ../bugfix.patch

After editing the file type ``exit`` or press ``control-d`` to quit the
temporary shell.  The new patch will have been added into ``debian/patches``.

You must then add a header to your patch containing meta information so that
other developers can know the purpose of the patch and where it came from. To
get the template header that you can edit to reflect what the patch does, type
this::

    $ quilt header --dep3 -e

This will open the template in a text editor. Follow the template and make
sure to be thorough so you get all the details necessary to describe the
patch.

In this specific case, if you just want to edit ``debian/control``, you do not
need a patch. Put ``Homepage: http://www.linux-games.com/bumprace/`` at the
end of the first section and the bug should be fixed.

Documenting the fix
-------------------

It is very important to document your change sufficiently so developers who
look at the code in the future won't have to guess what your reasoning was and
what your assumptions were. Every Debian and Ubuntu package source includes
``debian/changelog``, where changes of each uploaded package are tracked.

The easiest way to update this is to run::

  $ dch -i

This will add a boilerplate changelog entry for you and launch an editor
where you can fill in the blanks. An example of this could be::

  specialpackage (1.2-3ubuntu4) trusty; urgency=low

    * debian/control: updated description to include frobnicator (LP: #123456)

   -- Emma Adams <emma.adams@isp.com>  Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:53:39 +0200

``dch`` should fill out the first and last line of such a changelog entry for
you already. Line 1 consists of the source package name, the version number,
which Ubuntu release it is uploaded to, the urgency (which almost always is
'low'). The last line always contains the name, email address and timestamp
(in :rfc:`5322` format) of the change.

With that out of the way, let's focus on the actual changelog entry itself:
it is very important to document:

    #. Where the change was done.
    #. What was changed.
    #. Where the discussion of the change happened.

In our (very sparse) example the last point is covered by ``(LP: #123456)``
which refers to Launchpad bug 123456. Bug reports or mailing list threads or
specifications are usually good information to provide as a rationale for a
change. As a bonus, if you use the ``LP: #<number>`` notation for Launchpad
bugs, the bug will be automatically closed when the package is uploaded to
Ubuntu.

In order to get it sponsored in the next section, you need to file a bug
report in Launchpad (if there isn't one already, if there is, use that) and
explain why your fix should be included in Ubuntu. For example, for tomboy,
you would file a bug `here`_ (edit the URL to reflect the package you have a
fix for). Once a bug is filed explaining your changes, put that bug number in
the changelog.

.. _here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/tomboy/+filebug

Testing the fix
===============

To build a test package with your changes, run these commands::

  $ debuild -S -d -us -uc
  $ pbuilder-dist <release> build ../<package>_<version>.dsc

This will create a source package from the branch contents (``-us -uc`` will
just omit the step to sign the source package and ``-d`` will skip the step
where it checks for build dependencies, pbuilder will take care of that) and
``pbuilder-dist`` will build the package from source for whatever ``release``
you choose.

.. note::
   If ``debuild`` errors out with "Version number suggests Ubuntu changes, but
   Maintainer: does not have Ubuntu address" then run the ``update-maintainer``
   command (from ubuntu-dev-tools) and it will automatically fix this for you.
   This happens because in Ubuntu, all Ubuntu Developers are responsible for all
   Ubuntu packages, while in Debian, packages have maintainers.

In this case with bumprace, run this to view the package information::

  $ dpkg -I ~/pbuilder/*_result/bumprace_*.deb

As expected, there should now be a ``Homepage:`` field.

.. note::
   In a lot of cases you will have to actually install the package to make
   sure it works as expected. Our case is a lot easier. If the build
   succeeded, you will find the binary packages in
   ``~/pbuilder/<release>_result``. Install them via
   ``sudo dpkg -i <package>.deb`` or by double-clicking on them in your file
   manager.

Submitting the fix and getting it included
==========================================

With the changelog entry written and saved, run ``debuild`` one more time::

  $ debuild -S -d

and this time it will be signed and you are now ready to get your diff to
submit to get sponsored.

In a lot of cases, Debian would probably like to have the patch as well (doing
this is best practice to make sure a wider audience gets the fix). So, you
should submit the patch to Debian, and you can do that by simply running this::

  $ submittodebian


This will take you through a series of steps to make sure the bug ends up in
the correct place. Be sure to review the diff again to make sure it does not
include random changes you made earlier.

Communication is important, so when you add some more description to it to the
inclusion request, be friendly, explain it well.

If everything went well you should get a mail from Debian's bug tracking
system with more information. This might sometimes take a few minutes.

It might be beneficial to just get it included in Debian and have it flow
down to Ubuntu, in which case you would not follow the below process. But,
sometimes in the case of security updates and updates for stable releases,
the fix is already in Debian (or ignored for some reason) and you would follow
the below process. If you are doing such updates, please read our
:doc:`Security and stable release updates<./security-and-stable-release-updates>`
article. Other cases where it is acceptable to wait to submit patches to
Debian are Ubuntu-only packages not building correctly, or Ubuntu-specific
problems in general.

But if you're going to submit your fix to Ubuntu, now it's time to generate a
"debdiff", which shows the difference between two Debian packages. The name of
the command used to generate one is also ``debdiff``. It is part of the
``devscripts`` package. See ``man debdiff`` for all the details. To compare
two source packages, pass the two dsc files as arguments::

  $ debdiff <package_name>_1.0-1.dsc <package_name>_1.0-1ubuntu1.dsc

In this case, ``debdiff`` the dsc you downloaded with ``pull-lp-source`` and
the new dsc file you generated. This will generate a patch that your sponsor
can then apply locally (by using ``patch -p1 < /path/to/debdiff``). In this
case, pipe the output of the debdiff command to a file that you can then
attach to the bug report::

  $ debdiff <package_name>_1.0-1.dsc <package_name>_1.0-1ubuntu1.dsc > 1-1.0-1ubuntu1.debdiff

The format shown in ``1-1.0-1ubuntu1.debdiff`` shows:

    #. ``1-`` tells the sponsor that this is the first revision of your patch.
       Nobody is perfect, and sometimes follow-up patches need to be provided.
       This makes sure that if your patch needs work, that you can keep a
       consistent naming scheme.
    #. ``1.0-1ubuntu1`` shows the new version being used. This makes it easy
       to see what the new version is.
    #. ``.debdiff`` is an extension that makes it clear that it is a debdiff.

While this format is optional, it works well and you can use this.

Next, go to the bug report, make sure you are logged into Launchpad, and click
"Add attachment or patch" under where you would add a new comment. Attach the
debdiff, and leave a comment telling your sponsor how this patch can be
applied and the testing you have done. An example comment can be::

  This is a debdiff for Artful applicable to 1.0-1. I built this in pbuilder
  and it builds successfully, and I installed it, the patch works as intended.

Make sure you mark it as a patch (the Ubuntu Sponsors team will automatically
be subscribed) and that you are subscribed to the bug report. You will then
receive a review anywhere between several hours from submitting the patch to
several weeks. If it takes longer than that, please join ``#ubuntu-motu`` on
Libera Chat and mention it there. Stick around until you get an answer from
someone, and they can guide you as to what to do next.

Once you have received a review, your patch was either uploaded, your patch
needs work, or is rejected for some other reason (possibly the fix is not fit
for Ubuntu or should go to Debian instead). If your patch needs work, follow
the same steps and submit a follow-up patch on the bug report, otherwise
submit to Debian as shown above.

Remember: good places to ask your questions are ``ubuntu-motu@lists.ubuntu.com``
and ``#ubuntu-motu`` on Libera Chat. You will easily find a lot of new friends
and people with the same passion that you have: making the world a better
place by making better Open Source software.

Additional considerations
=========================

If you find a package and find that there are a couple of trivial things you
can fix at the same time, do it. This will speed up review and inclusion.

If there are multiple big things you want to fix, it might be advisable to
send individual patches or merge proposals instead. If there are individual
bugs filed for the issues already, this makes it even easier.
