Bugzilla

All bugs in the MediaWiki software should be reported at bugzilla.wikimedia.org. This is also the place to request new features or enhancements to the software.

Here is a useful link: List open Bugzilla tickets by number of votes

What is Bugzilla?

For more information, see the Wikipedia article on Bugzilla.

Bugzilla is an online bug-tracking tool, developed by the Mozilla Foundation, and is the system we use to track all open issues with MediaWiki.

The reason we use Bugzilla is that it allows the developers to easily find, track and discuss issues, to spot duplicates and ultimately to resolve them.

Wikimedia's bug tracker is usually referred to as "BugZilla". Older references may call it "MediaZilla".

Reporting a bug

shortcut BUGREPORT

1. Go to bugzilla.wikimedia.org.
2. Use the search box on the main page to see if your bug has already been submitted. You can also perform more advanced searches on the search page.
3. If you are sure that your issue has not already been reported then click enter a new bug in the toolbox on the left. You will be prompted to log in if you have not already done so (see 'Why must I register?', below).
4. Select 'MediaWiki' as the product.
5. Fill in at least the following fields (the for rest, check Bugzilla/Fields):
   • Component (if you don't know, select 'General/Unknown')
   • Summary - a short one-sentence summary of the issue
   • Description - full details of the issue, giving as much detail as possible. Describe only one (1) issue.
6. Click "Commit"

That's it! For maximum chance of your bug being fixed, you are advised to read the bug writing guidelines first.

See also: How to Report Bugs Effectively by Simon Tatham

Requesting a feature

Before making a feature/enhancement request:

• Consider whether a custom extension would be more appropriate.
• If the request is specific to a Wikimedia wiki, please discuss the issue on that wiki first. Devs will usually ask you for a link showing a community consensus.

Then follow the same directions as above, except you probably need to select 'Wikimedia' instead of 'MediaWiki' as the product.

Comments

Bugzilla comments are plain text, you cannot use HTML. However, Bugzilla will automatically make hyperlinks for certain patterns comments:

Link to:

Websites

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Bugzilla

Bug report

bug 1234

Comments

comment 7. Can also be combined with bug: bug 1234 comment 7

Attachments

attachment 4321

SVN commits

r1234 (link to the revision shown in Code review (through Special:Code/MediaWiki)

Change sets in Gerrit

gerrit change 1234
See also bugzilla:35144. The current recognized syntax is this: gerrit(\ change(set)?)?\ ?\#?(\d+), situation evolving.

MediaWiki-style internal links are also supported, by default they point to English Wikipedia. Interwiki prefixes are supported as well (starting from en.wikipedia.org so [[de:Sandbox]] will link to German Wikipedia). However this only works on page names. Using pipes for a different label does not work(i.e. the [[link|name]] part is not supported). Longer interwiki links need to be on their own line, otherwise they're split over two lines and won't be linkified; if an interwiki is not recognized, add a : before it (e.g. [[:MeatBall:Whatever]]); now also non local interwikis will work.

Why must I register?

We need you to register in order to use Bugzilla. This is primarily so that we can contact you if there are further questions regarding your bug submission. For example, if a developer is unable to replicate your problem they will ask for more information. By default you will get e-mail notifications when there is activity on your bug reports.

You can also add/remove yourself from any bug report (including reports created by other users).

You can change your preferences to specify when Bugzilla should (and shouldn't) send emails to you. To change your preferences, log in on Bugzilla and click on your emailaddress at the top right of the page.

How do I register?

Registering is simple and free. Click the "create account" link at the top right of the page, enter your e-mail address (and optionally your real name) and click "create account". Then simply log in using the password you receive in the confirmation e-mail (which can be changed in your preferences once you have logged in). When logging in enter your email address in the login form on any Bugzilla page.

How to hide your email address

Please note that (unlike on Wikimedia projects) your email address will be visible on threads you participate in, and on thread CC lists you have added yourself to. It is visible to everyone who is logged in. It is not visible to people who are not logged in. Your email address can not be hidden from logged-in readers. It is possible to create an additional web-based e-mail address, and then set it to forward email to your main email address. This prevents exposure of your main email address. Google Mail (Gmail) allows free email forwarding. One can automatically forward email from one Gmail account to another Gmail account, or to any email account. You can change your email address or name at anytime on Bugzilla. They are then changed in all bug threads you participated in. So if you decide later on to hide your main email address or name you can still do so.

Why can't I report bugs on the wiki?

You can. You can also report bugs by writing them in chalk on the pavement. However, if you want a developer to act on it then you need to put it somewhere they are likely to see it, namely Bugzilla.

How do I link to a bug?

If you want to create a link from a wiki page to a Bugzilla report, use [[bugzilla:XXX]], where XXX is the number fo the bug report. For example [[bugzilla:4198]] will result in the following link: bugzilla:4198.

What do the priority and severity fields mean?

See Bug management/Bugzilla usage#Priority and Bug management/Bugzilla usage#Severity.

What does the Status field mean? (NEW, RESOLVED, etc.)

See the field description. NEW is also one of the statuses that an open bug might have.

See also

• Bugzilla products & components
• Bug management
• Annoying little bugs
• Bugzilla/Fields – how to fill out different fields in a bug report.
• wikibugs-l – mailing list to follow all Bugzilla activity.
• #mediawiki (IRC) is automatically notified with every change to Bugzilla, as well.
• A bug's life cycle – how the Status and Resolution fields work.