-\versionid $Id: feedback.but,v 1.20 2004/11/15 15:57:28 jacob Exp $
+\define{versionidfeedback} \versionid $Id$
-\A{feedback} Feedback and bug reporting
+\A{feedback} \ii{Feedback} and \i{bug reporting}
This is a guide to providing feedback to the PuTTY development team.
It is provided as both a web page on the PuTTY site, and an appendix
(\k{feedback-support}) are probably better sent to newsgroups, or
passed to a local expert if possible.
-The PuTTY contact email address is a private mailing list containing
+The PuTTY contact email address is a private \i{mailing list} containing
four or five core developers. Don't be put off by it being a mailing
list: if you need to send confidential data as part of a bug report,
you can trust the people on the list to respect that confidence.
\b \W{news:comp.terminals}\c{comp.terminals}, for issues relating to
terminal emulation (for instance, keyboard problems).
+Please use the newsgroup most appropriate to your query, and remember
+that these are general newsgroups, not specifically about PuTTY.
+
If you don't have direct access to Usenet, you can access these
newsgroups through Google Groups
(\W{http://groups.google.com/}\cw{groups.google.com}).
\b Check the
\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/changes.html}{Change
Log} on the PuTTY website, and see if we have already fixed the bug
-in the development snapshots.
+in the \i{development snapshots}.
\b Check the
\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/faq.html}{FAQ}
report a bug to us, it is useful if you include some general
information:
-\b Tell us what version of PuTTY you are running. To find this out,
-use the "About PuTTY" option from the System menu. Please \e{do not}
-just tell us \q{I'm running the latest version}; e-mail can be
+\b Tell us what \i{version of PuTTY} you are running. To find this out,
+use the \q{About PuTTY} option from the System menu. Please \e{do
+not} just tell us \q{I'm running the latest version}; e-mail can be
delayed and it may not be obvious which version was the latest at
the time you sent the message.
have done, and exactly what it did do.
\b If you think you can, you're welcome to try to fix the problem
-yourself. A patch to the code which fixes a bug is an excellent
+yourself. A \i{patch} to the code which fixes a bug is an excellent
addition to a bug report. However, a patch is never a \e{substitute}
for a good bug report; if your patch is wrong or inappropriate, and
you haven't supplied us with full information about the actual bug,
thought of, or we may be about to make big changes to the code which
your patch would clash with, or something. If you check with the
maintainers first, there is a better chance of your code actually
-being usable.
+being usable. Also, read the design principles listed in \k{udp}: if
+you do not conform to them, we will probably not be able to accept
+your patch.
\H{feedback-feature-priority} Requesting features that have already
been requested
way to get a feature implemented quickly, if it's a big one that we
don't have time to do ourselves.
-\H{feedback-support} Support requests
+\H{feedback-support} \ii{Support requests}
If you're trying to make PuTTY do something for you and it isn't
working, but you're not sure whether it's a bug or not, then
\H{feedback-webadmin} Web server administration
-If the PuTTY web site is down (Connection Timed Out), please don't
+If the PuTTY \i{web site} is down (Connection Timed Out), please don't
bother mailing us to tell us about it. Most of us read our e-mail on
the same machines that host the web site, so if those machines are
down then we will notice \e{before} we read our e-mail. So there's
(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.)
+your own organisation, then we recommend, but do not insist, that
+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
need to bother. You already have permission.
+If you just want to link to our web site, just go ahead. (It's not
+clear that we \e{could} stop you doing this, even if we wanted to!)
+
\H{feedback-mirrors} Mirroring the PuTTY web site
-Mirrors of the PuTTY web site are welcome, especially in regions not
-well covered by existing mirrors. Please don't bother asking us for
-permission before setting up a mirror. You already have permission. We
-are always happy to have more mirrors.
+\# the next two paragraphs also on the Mirrors page itself, with
+\# minor context changes
+
+If you want to set up a mirror of the PuTTY website, go ahead and
+set one up. Please don't bother asking us for permission before
+setting up a mirror. You already have permission.
+
+If the mirror is in a country where we don't already have plenty of
+mirrors, we may be willing to add it to the list on our
+\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/mirrors.html}{mirrors
+page}. Read the guidelines on that page, make sure your mirror
+works, and email us the information listed at the bottom of the
+page.
+
+Note that we do not \e{promise} to list your mirror: we get a lot of
+mirror notifications and yours may not happen to find its way to the
+top of the list.
-If you mail us \e{after} you have set up the mirror and checked that
-it works, and remember to let us know which country your mirror is in,
-then we'll add it to the
-\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/mirrors.html}{Mirrors
-page} on the PuTTY website.
+Also note that we link to all our mirror sites using the
+\c{rel="nofollow"} attribute. Running a PuTTY mirror is not intended
+to be a cheap way to gain search rankings.
If you have technical questions about the process of mirroring, then
you might want to mail us before setting up the mirror (see also the
projects / u / mdw / putty / blobdiff