Anchor(support) This document describes the email interface to the bug tracker in Launchpad. If you have questions or comments about this document, please address them to #launchpad on freenode, or ask on the [https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/launchpad-users launchpad-users mailing list].

TableOfContents()

Summary

Malone provides an email interface for commenting on and modifying bugs. It also provides an X-Launchpad-Bug: header you can use to filter the messages it sends you.

Example syntax for Malone commands

Email for reporting and editing bugs must be GPG-signed. Commenting on a bug can be done by simply replying to a bugmail. The commands, affects, status, etc., must each be indented at least one space character.

Reporting a bug in Ubuntu firefox:

From: me@example.com
To: new@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: The foobar is busted

The foobar is busted.

 affects ubuntu/firefox
 status confirmed
 subscribe launchpad
 private yes
 assignee salgado

Reporting a bug on Malone itself:

From: me@example.com
To: new@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: The foobar is busted

The foobar is busted.

 affects malone

Marking bug #42 fixed:

From: me@example.com
To: 42@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: The foobar is busted

The foobar is busted.

 status fixreleased

Example syntax for X-Launchpad-Bug:

• X-Launchpad-Bug: distribution=ubuntu; sourcepackage=linux; component=main; status=New; importance=High; assignee=ben.collins@ubuntu.com

• X-Launchpad-Bug: product=bzr; status=New; importance=Untriaged; assignee=robert.collins@ubuntu.com

Example syntax for X-Launchpad-Message-Rationale:

When sending out most email Launchpad will include an X-Launchpad-Message-Rationale header which you can filter with.

More information about the header can be found in LaunchpadMessageRationale

How to Get Started

To add comments, you need only [https://launchpad.net/+login a Launchpad account].

Editing bugs requires GPG-signing the email you send. So you need:

1. A [http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/5/1/17058/47630 GPG key].

2. To associate your GPG key with your Launchpad account. Start at your personal page, e.g.:

https://launchpad.net/~$yournick

Click on "Edit OpenPGP Keys" and follow the instructions.

Reporting a Bug

Send a GPG signed email to new@bugs.launchpad.net. Use the affects command to specify where the bug exists, for example:

From: Foo Bar <foo.bar@canonical.com>
Subject: System error when searching for products
To: new@bugs.launchpad.net

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Every time I try to search for a product, I get a system error page.

 affects launchpad
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
...
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Filing a distro bug:

From: Foo Bar <foo.bar@canonical.com>
Subject: Newest version of Firefox doesn't support web dev toolbar
To: new@bugs.launchpad.net

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

The newest version of Firefox breaks with the web dev toolbar.

 affects ubuntu/firefox
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
...
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

To file a bug on more than one package, add another affects stanza. For example:

From: Foo Bar <foo.bar@canonical.com>
Subject: Sound does not work properly in Flash in firefox
To: new@bugs.launchpad.net

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Sound does not work in Flash in firefox. This is because I am about to (in my
next upload) turn off the hack that makes it work.

 affects ubuntu/flash-player
 affects ubuntu/flashplugin-nonfree
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
...
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Anchor(affects)

affects [distribution|package|product]

When filing a bug, affects $target says the bug is in $target.

When editing a bug, affects is optional, unless the bug is reported in more than one upstream or package, in which case Malone will select the first bug upstream or package it finds, based on the following criteria:

1. The upstream on which the user is a bug contact.
2. The distribution of which the user is a member.
3. The package on which the user is a bug contact.

If the correct bug upstream/package still cannot be determined, the sender will receive an error email.

affects needs to be indented with at least one space character to distinguish it from the description. This requirement may change in the future. The affects target can take the following forms:

 affects ubuntu/$packagename

 affects $distroname

 affects $productname

Commenting on a Bug

Send an email to $bugid@bugs.launchpad.net. Replying to a bugmail will add a comment to that bug. For example:

From: Foo Bar <foo.bar@canonical.com>
Subject: Re: [Bug 42] Some bug
To: 42@bugs.launchpad.net

> I'm not sure if it's really a bug.

Yes, it is a bug.

Editing a Bug

Just like commenting, send an email to $bugid@bugs.launchpad.net to edit a bug.

Anchor(intersperse)

Formatting Commands

Email commands are written one per line.

 status confirmed
 assignee foobar

Commands can be mixed with non-command text, e.g., the description when filing a bug, or comment text when replying to a bugmail. For example:

This is an example bit of bug description.

 affects ubuntu/firefox

And this is some more description.

 assignee bradb

Some users have reported this as confusing. It's a [#knownissues known issue].

Malone always processes the entire email; there is no done command to explicitly stop command processing.

The following commands can be used to edit a bug (remember, each one must be indented with a space character, for now):

summary "$summary"

Change the one-line summary of the bug. Quotes are required.

 summary "A better summary"

assignee [name|email|nobody]

Assign a bug to someone.

 assignee bradb

 assignee brad.bollenbach@ubuntu.com

Unassign the bug.

 assignee nobody

status [new|incomplete|invalid|wontfix|confirmed|triaged|inprogress|fixcommitted|fixreleased]

Change the status of a bug.

 status fixreleased

importance [wishlist|low|medium|high|critical]

Change the importance of a bug.

 importance high

milestone $milestone

Sets or clears the milestone of the bug. The milestone must already exist in Launchpad (see [:FeatureHighlights/MilestoneUsage: MilestoneUsage]).

 milestone 1.1.10

You can clear the milestone by sending a hyphen:

 milestone -

private [yes|no]

Changes the visibility of the bug.

 private yes

subscribe [name|email]

Subscribes yourself or someone else to the bug. If you don't specify a name or email, the sender of the email will be subscribed.

Subscribe yourself to the bug:

 subscribe

Subscribe Foo Bar to the bug:

 subscribe foo.bar@canonical.com

Subscribe Bjorn to the bug.

 subscribe bjornt

unsubscribe [name|email]

The opposite of the subscribe command.

duplicate $bugid

Mark the bug as a duplicate of another bug.

  duplicate 42

To unmark the bug as a duplicate, specify 'no' as the bug id.

  duplicate no

bug $bugid

The bug command is intended for users who want to generate batch change emails. The batch change address is edit@bugs.launchpad.net.

From: me@example.com
To: edit@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: <whatever>

 bug 42
 status confirmed

 bug 49
 status confirmed

tag $tag

The tag command can be used to assign a tag to a bug. Multiple tags can be specified with a single command.

 tag foo

 tag foo bar

Tags can also be removed by prefixing the tag name with -.

 tag -foo

Editing a Bug Affecting More Than One Package

Every package or product affected by a bug has its own fix status, assignee, milestone, etc. Use the [#affects affects command] to edit a specific fix status, assignee, etc., when a bug affects more than one package.

For example, [https://launchpad.net/bugs/29760 bug 29760] affects flash-player and flashplugin-nonfree. To mark the bug fixed in flash-player you would send this email:

From: you@example.com
To: 29760@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: <whatever>

 affects ubuntu/flash-player
 status fixreleased

When a bug affects only one package or product, the affects command is unnecessary.

What To Expect When You Submit an Email

Malone processes incoming mail every three minutes, so a slight delay between sending a mail and receiving a response is normal.

On Success

If your email was processed successfully, you will receive a standard bugmail change notification, identical to the bugmail that would get sent if you made the same changes via the web UI. For example, if you send an email like:

From: you@example.com
To: 28919@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Bug 28919] error signing code of conduct: "str: No public key"

 status incomplete

You'll receive a response like:

From: you@example.com
To: launchpad-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: [Bug 28919] error signing code of conduct: "str: No public key"

Public bug report changed:
https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/28919

Changed in: Launchpad (upstream)
         Status: Unconfirmed => Incomplete

--
launchpad-bugs mailing list
launchpad-bugs@lists.canonical.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/launchpad-bugs

On Failure

If an error occurs while processing your email, you should receive a failure message from Malone. For example, if you forget to GPG-sign a filebug email, you'll receive an error message like:

From: noreply@bugs.launchpad.net
To: you@example.com
Subject: Submit Request Failure

An error occurred while processing a mail you sent to Malone's email
interface.


Error message:

In order to submit bugs via email you have to sign the message with a
GPG key that is registered in Launchpad.


-- 
For more information about using Malone's email interface, please see
https://wiki.launchpad.canonical.com/MaloneEmailInterfaceUserDoc.

If you've waited several minutes and still not received either a bugmail change notification or an error message, please refer to the [#support support channels] mentioned at the beginning of this document.

Anchor(knownissues)

Known Issues

Requiring GPG-signed mail is probably too restrictive.

Requiring indentation for the commands makes it easy to get it wrong.

Being able to [#intersperse intersperse command and non-command text] is [https://launchpad.net/products/malone/+bug/29572 unnecessary and confusing].