# Submitting Bug Reports

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/submitting-bug-reports/184559>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 4, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/submitting-bug-reports/184559 "2010-03-04T13:51:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alexd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@alexd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexd)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/submitting-bug-reports/184559/1 "2010-03-04T13:51:29Z")

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I have an app that consistently runs for a while and then crashes with a  
segmentation error. The error message says “Bug reports are welcome”  
and gives an http: address of [www.ruby-lang.org/bugreport.html](http://www.ruby-lang.org/bugreport.html). This  
page redirects me to redmine/ruby-lang.org. I registered as a user, but  
can’t find any directions for actually submitting a bug report.

Two questions:

1. Is it worth anyone’s time for me to submit a bug report for a  
segmentation error?

2. If so, how do I submit such a report, and what information is most  
useful. I have screen captures of the error messages received.

Thanks,

–Alex

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**Author:** ![alexd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@alexd](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexd)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/submitting-bug-reports/184559/2 "2010-03-04T19:55:08Z")

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On 3/4/10, Alex DeCaria [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I have an app that consistently runs for a while and then crashes with a  
> segmentation error. The error message says “Bug reports are welcome”  
> and gives an http: address of [www.ruby-lang.org/bugreport.html](http://www.ruby-lang.org/bugreport.html). This  
> page redirects me to redmine/ruby-lang.org. I registered as a user, but  
> can’t find any directions for actually submitting a bug report.
> 
> Two questions:
> 
> 1. Is it worth anyone’s time for me to submit a bug report for a  
> segmentation error?

Yes, these are serious bugs.

> 1. If so, how do I submit such a report, and what information is most  
> useful. I have screen captures of the error messages received.

From the redmine home page, select the version of ruby you are using  
(under ‘Popular Products’). Then, click on the ‘New Issue’ tab (5th  
from the left).

Good practice is to include the complete output of the crashing  
program (as text, not an image file). It will also help a lot if you  
can include a short but complete example program which causes the  
crash (and any input that program might need). This is so the ruby  
maintainers can reproduce the problem you’ve seen on their own  
machines.

If you are using any extensions, it’s likely that one of them is the  
culprit. Try to determine if that’s the case and report the bug to the  
appropriate extension author if so.

If you cannot boil your problem down into a short example program, be  
sure to mention any extensions or libraries you are using. Your  
operating system and its version may also be relevant.

You might want to look through existing bug reports and try to see if  
your problem has been reported already. If so, don’t start a new  
report; just add a comment to the end of the existing one.

Most programmers are interested in working on the latest version of  
their program, not some older version. Therefore, your bug is more  
likely to get attention if you can reproduce it with a fairly recent  
version of ruby. (That said, segfaults in even old versions like 1.8.6  
should get fixed too.) Keep in mind that even if you are using, say  
1.8.6, there may have been a newer release of 1.8.6 than what you’re  
using which fixes the bug.