How to report problems in Ubuntu Mate

How to report bugs

Ubuntu uses Launchpad to keep track of bugs and their fixes. This page will guide you through the steps required to file a complete and detailed report.

Create a Launchpad account
If you don’t already have one - you need to create a Launchpad account. This will allow you to file new bugs and comment on existing ones.


Determine if the bug is really a bug

Before filing a bug report please use the Ubuntu Mate forum and see if there are other users reporting the same problem. It can be instances when an installation has gone wrong or of a particular PC/Laptop configuration.

Perform a survey of your problem

First, check the release notes of your version of Ubuntu Mate for any known issues. Second, check Launchpad for any duplicates, and make note of those duplicates.

(Reporting non-crash hardware and desktop application bugs. The method for reporting bugs in Ubuntu is by using the tool “ubuntu-bug”, otherwise known as Apport.)


Reporting a problem in Ubuntu Mate

If you know the program package name.

      Press Alt+F2 and type ubuntu-bug "x" (where x is the name of the program)

If you want to collect information about a program with an open window

      Press Alt+F2 and type ubuntu-bug -w

(After you close the dialog, the next window that you click on will have a problem report created for the package that opened the window.)


If you want to collect information from a currently running program

(To file a bug against a program that is currently running, open the System Monitor application and find the ID of the process.)

      Press Alt+F2 and type ubuntu-bug  xxxxx   (where xxxxx is the  process ID)

If you have a hardware issue or don't know the name of the program affected

      Press Alt+F2 and type ubuntu-bug

After running one of the above commands, Ubuntu Mate will gather information about the bug. This may take a few minutes. Review the collected information if you wish. Click Send to continue.

A new web browser tab will open to continue processing the bug data. Ubuntu Mate uses the website Launchpad to manage its bug reports. After logging in to Launchpad, enter a description of the problem in the summary field.

After clicking Next, Launchpad will search for similar bugs in case the bug you are reporting has already been reported. If the bug has been reported, you can mark that bug as also affecting you. You can also subscribe to the bug report to receive updates about progress with fixing it. If the bug has not already been reported, click No, I need to report a new bug.


Fill in the description field with as much information as you can. It's important that you specify three things:

What you expected to happen

What actually happened

And, if possible, a minimal series of steps necessary to make it happen, where step 1 is "start the program"

Your report will be given an ID number, and its' status will be updated as it is being dealt with. Thanks for helping make Ubuntu Mate better!

This documentation is an updated version of https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs and https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/report-ubuntu-bug.html.en

GitHub project page GitHub - apolitech/ReportingBugs

13 Likes

My Ubuntu MATE 18.04 does not seem to have a System Monitor application. How do I find out the package a program is in? When I have tried ubuntu-bug programName it fails. It succeeds if I know which package is in. How can I find which processes are running?