Open Source Support

How To Report Problems

Bug tracking system is open to everybody. Please search there before you report a problem, chances are, someone else has already reported it. This is especially important if you use old version of the product. We keep bugs open (but in state "Fixed") during development cycle to avoid duplicate reports. Bug reports are closed when new version of Firewall Builder is released that includes fixes.

Please include the following information when you open bug report or send us email to report problems:

• The distribution you are using.
• The version of Firewall Builder you are using.
• If you installed from a binary package, please state which one.
• Important: The complete error message you are getting, if applicable.
• If you wish to send us your log file, please try to filter it to remove irrelevant log entries
• If the program crashed, please send detailed step-by-step scenario that leads to the crash. In order to fix the problem, we need to be able to reproduce it and for that we need to repeat what you did. Be careful to list all steps in maximum details. For example, please do not just say "create object X", please specify how did you create it, such as, which menu item was used. Or, just saying "open file z" is not enough, we need to know if you started the GUI with the file name as a parameter on the command line or used menu "File/Open". Basically, the scenario must be very detailed.
• If program crashes on Linux or BSD system, try to obtain stack trace if you have development tools on your machine. This helps a lot to pinpoint the problem. Do get stack trace, you need to locate core dump file. Ususally, this file is located in your home directory (or a directory that was current when you ran the program) and has a name "core" or "core.NNNN" where NNNN is process number. Find the latest file that matches this name pattern, the time it was created should match the time when the program crashed. Then run debugger as follows:

  gdb /usr/bin/fwbuilder core
                  

  When debugger arrives at its command line prompt (gdb), use command bt to get stack trace. Copy and paste it into email or bug report.
• If the program crashes on Linux (both RPM based or DEB based distributions), please download script check_libs.sh and run it with the name and path of the program as follows:

  check_libs.sh /usr/bin/fwbuilder
                  

  Then copy and paste the output into email or bug report. This script finds all dynamic libraries that the program links with when it runs and finds what packages (rpm or deb) these libraries are part of.
• If we ask you to send your data file (the .fwb file), please send it in zip archive attached to email
• If your data file contains confidential information, you can encrypt it using PGP before sending it via email. Use PGP key ID=0x8B08DC58, or you can download public key from one of the key servers

We try to answer all email, but please understand that we receive a lot of mail, so it might take a while. Mail us again if you think our spam filter ate your message.