-\versionid $Id: feedback.but,v 1.6 2002/08/05 10:35:23 simon Exp $
+\versionid $Id: feedback.but,v 1.17 2004/03/31 12:50:17 simon Exp $
\A{feedback} Feedback and bug reporting
Also, the archives aren't publicly available, so you shouldn't be
letting yourself in for any spam by sending us mail.
+Please use a meaningful subject line on your message. We get a lot of
+mail, and it's hard to find the message we're looking for if they all
+have subject lines like \q{PuTTY bug}.
+
\S{feedback-largefiles} Sending large attachments
Since the PuTTY contact address is a mailing list, e-mails larger
almost never actually need the information in the screen shot.
Sending a screen shot of an error box is almost certainly
unnecessary when you could just tell us in plain text what the error
-was. Sending a full-screen shot is \e{occasionally} useful, but it's
+was. (On some versions of Windows, pressing Ctrl-C when the error
+box is displayed will copy the text of the message to the clipboard.)
+Sending a full-screen shot is \e{occasionally} useful, but it's
probably still wise to check whether we need it before sending it.
If you \e{must} mail a screen shot, don't send it as a \cw{.BMP}
than other image formats such as PNG, TIFF and GIF. Convert the file
to a properly compressed image format before sending it.
-Please don't mail us executables, at all. For security reasons, it
-would be really unwise of us to run executables we receive from
-unknown people by e-mail, so there's no point sending them to us. At
-some point, indeed, we hope to block all incoming e-mail containing
-executables, as a defence against the vast numbers of e-mail viruses
-we receive every day.
+Please don't mail us executables, at all. Our mail server blocks all
+incoming e-mail containing executables, as a defence against the
+vast numbers of e-mail viruses we receive every day. If you mail us
+an executable, it will just bounce.
If you have made a tiny modification to the PuTTY code, please send
us a \e{patch} to the source code if possible, rather than sending
be:
\b Check the
-\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist.html}{Wishlist
+\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/}{Wishlist
page} on the PuTTY website, and see if we already know about the
problem. If we do, it is almost certainly not necessary to mail us
about it, unless you think you have extra information that might be
delayed and it may not be obvious which version was the latest at
the time you sent the message.
-\b Tell us what version of what OS you are running PuTTY on.
+\b PuTTY is a multi-platform application; tell us what version of what
+OS you are running PuTTY on. (If you're running on Unix, or Windows
+for Alpha, tell us, or we'll assume you're running on Windows for
+Intel as this is overwhelmingly the case.)
\b Tell us what protocol you are connecting with: SSH, Telnet,
Rlogin or Raw mode.
you should do are:
\b Check the
-\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist.html}{Wishlist
+\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/}{Wishlist
page} on the PuTTY website, and see if your feature is already on
the list. If it is, it probably won't achieve very much to repeat
the request. (But see \k{feedback-feature-priority} if you want to
persuade us to give your particular feature higher priority.)
-\b Check the
+\b Check the Wishlist and
\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/changes.html}{Change
Log} on the PuTTY website, and see if we have already added your
feature in the development snapshots. If it isn't clear, download
Wishlist). This probably won't have very \e{much} effect; if a huge
number of people vote for something then it may make a difference,
but one or two extra votes for a particular feature are unlikely to
-change our priority list immediately. Also, don't expect a reply.
+change our priority list immediately. Offering a new and compelling
+justification might help. Also, don't expect a reply.
\b Offer us money if we do the work sooner rather than later. This
sometimes works, but not always. The PuTTY team all have full-time
report it as a PuTTY bug unless you are really sure it \e{is} a bug
in PuTTY.
+\b If someone else installed PuTTY for you, or you're using PuTTY on
+someone else's computer, try asking them for help first. They're more
+likely to understand how they installed it and what they expected you
+to use it for than we are.
+
\b If you have successfully made a connection to your server and now
need to know what to type at the server's command prompt, or other
details of how to use the server-end software, talk to your server's
If you want to report a problem with our web site, check that you're
looking at our \e{real} web site and not a mirror. The real web site
-is at \W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/}; if
-that's not where you're reading this, then don't report the problem
-to us until you've checked that it's really a problem with the main
-site. If it's only a problem with the mirror, you should try to
-contact the administrator of that mirror site first, and only
+is at
+\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/}\c{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/};
+if that's not where you're reading this, then don't report the
+problem to us until you've checked that it's really a problem with
+the main site. If it's only a problem with the mirror, you should
+try to contact the administrator of that mirror site first, and only
contact us if that doesn't solve the problem (in case we need to
remove the mirror from our list).
then \e{permission is already granted}. You don't have to mail us
and ask. Just go ahead and do it. We don't mind.
+(If you want to distribute PuTTY alongside your own application for
+use with that application, or if you want to distribute PuTTY within
+your own organisation, then we recommend you offer your own
+first-line technical support, to answer questions about the
+interaction of PuTTY with your environment. If your users mail us
+directly, we won't be able to tell them anything useful about your
+specific setup.)
+
If you want to use parts of the PuTTY source code in another
program, then it might be worth mailing us to talk about technical
details, but if all you want is to ask permission then you don't
projects / u / mdw / putty / blobdiff