documentation/bugs.sgml

  <chapter id="bugs">
    <title>Troubleshooting / Reporting bugs</title>

    <sect1 id="troubleshooting">
      <title>What to do if some program still doesn't work ?</title>

      <para>
      There are times when you've been trying everything, you even killed a cat
      at full moon and ate it with rotten garlic and foul fish
      while doing the Devil's Dance, yet nothing helped to make some damn
      program work on some Wine version.
      Don't despair, we're here to help you...
      (in other words: how much do you want to pay ?)
      </para>
      
      <sect2>
        <title>Run "winecheck" to check your configuration</title>

	<para>
	Run a Perl script called <command>winecheck</command>, to be
	found in Wine's tools/ directory.

	The latest version can always be found at
	<ulink
	url="http://home.arcor.de/andi.mohr/download/winecheck">http://home.arcor.de/andi.mohr/download/winecheck</ulink>.

	Make sure to run <command>chmod +x winecheck</command> first before
	trying to execute it...
	(or alternatively run it via <command>perl ./winecheck</command>)

	The winecheck output will be a percentage score indicating Wine
	configuration correctness.
	Note that winecheck is only alpha, so it's not very complete or
	100% accurate.
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Use different windows version settings</title>

	<para>
	In several cases using <link linkend="windows-versions">different windows version settings</link> can help.
        </para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Use different startup paths</title>

	<para>
	  This sometimes helps, too:

	  Try to use both
	  <command>wine prg.exe</command>
	  and
	  <command>wine x:\\full\\path\\to\\prg.exe</command>
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Fiddle with DLL configuration</title>

	<para>
	  Run with --debugmsg +loaddll to figure out which DLLs are
	  being used, and whether they're being loaded as native or
	  builtin.
	  Then make sure you have proper native DLL files in your
	  configured C:\windows\system directory and fiddle with DLL
	  load order settings at command line or in config file.
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Check your system environment !</title>

	<para>
	  Just an idea: could it be that your Wine build/execution
	  environment is broken ?

	  Make sure that there are no problems whatsoever with the
	  packages
	  that Wine depends on (gcc, glibc, X libraries, OpenGL (!), ...)

	  E.g. some people have strange failures to find stuff when
	  using "wrong" header files for the "right" libraries !!!
	  (which results in days of debugging to desperately try to find
	  out why that lowlevel function fails in a way that is completely
	  beyond imagination... ARGH !)
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Use different GUI (Window Manager) modes</title>
	
	<para>
	  Instruct Wine via config file to use either desktop mode,
	  managed mode or plain ugly "normal" mode.
	  That can make one hell of a difference, too.
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Check your app !</title>
	
	<para>
	  Maybe your app is using some kind of copy protection ?

	  Many copy protections currently don't work on Wine.
	  Some might work in the future, though.
	  (the CD-ROM layer isn't really full-featured yet).
	</para>

	<para>
	  Go to <ulink
	  url="http://www.gamecopyworld.com">GameCopyWorld</ulink>
	  and try to find a decent crack for your game that gets rid of
	  that ugly copy protection.
	  I hope you do have a legal copy of the program, though... :-)
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Check your Wine environment !</title>
        
	<para>
	  Running with or without a Windows partition can have a
	  dramatic impact.

	  Configure Wine to do the opposite of what you used to have.

	  Also, install DCOM98 or DCOM95. This can be very beneficial.
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Reconfigure Wine</title>
	
	<para>
	  Sometimes wine installation process changes and new versions of
	  Wine acccount on these changes.
	  This is especially true if your setup was created long time ago.

	  Rename your existing <filename>~/.wine</filename> directory
	  for backup purposes.
	  Use the setup process that's recommended for your Wine distribution
	  to create new configuration.
	  Use information in old <filename>~/.wine</filename>
	  directory as a reference.
	  For source wine distribution to configure Wine run
	  tools/wineinstall script as a user you want to do the configuration
	  for.
	  This is a pretty safe operation. Later you can remove the new
	  <filename>~/.wine</filename> directory and rename your old one back.
	</para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
      <title>Check out further information</title>
      
      <para>
        Check out the <ulink
	url="http://www.winehq.org/fom-meta/cache/19.html">Wine Troubleshooting Guide</ulink> on WineHQ.

	Go to <ulink url="http://groups.google.com">Google Groups</ulink>
	and check whether some guys are smarter than you ;-)
	(well, whether they found a solution to the problem, that is)

	Go to <ulink url="http://appdb.codeweavers.com">WineHQ's
	Application Database</ulink> and check whether
	someone posted the vital config hint for your app.

	If that doesn't help, then consider going to
	irc.openprojects.net channel #WineHQ, posting to
	news:comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine or mailing to the wine-users
	(or maybe sometimes even wine-devel) mailing lists.
      </para>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>Debug it!</title>

	<para>
	  Have you used the Search feature of the <ulink
	  url="http://www.winehq.org/fom-meta/cache/19.html">Wine Troubleshooting Guide</ulink> ?? (i.e. are you sure there's no answer ?)
	  If you have, then try
	  <ulink url="http://www.winehq.org/fom-meta/cache/230.html">
	  The Perfect Enduser Wine Debugging Guide</ulink>, and of
	  course don't forget to read the Wine Developers Guide.
	</para>
      </sect2>
	
    </sect1>

    <sect1 id="bug-reporting">
      <title>How To Report A Bug</title>

      <para>
        Written by (???)
      </para>
      <para>
        (Originally extracted from <filename>wine/documentation/bugreports</filename>)
      </para>

      <para>
        There are two ways for you to make a bug report. One uses a
        simple perl script, and is recommended if you don't want to
        spend a lot of time producing the report. It is designed for
        use by just about anyone, from the newest of newbies to
        advanced developers. You can also make a bug report the hard
        way -- advanced developers will probably prefer this.
      </para>
      <para>
        When using either approach please report the problem you found
        along with any relevant information to
	<ulink url="http://bugs.winehq.com/">Wine Bugzilla</ulink>.
      </para>

      <sect2>
        <title>The Easy Way</title>
        <orderedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Your computer <emphasis>must</emphasis> have perl on it
	      for this method to work. To find out if you have perl,
	      run <command>which perl</command>. If it returns something like
              <filename>/usr/bin/perl</filename>, you're in business.
              Otherwise, skip on down to "The Hard Way". If you aren't
              sure, just keep on going. When you try to run the
              script, it will become <emphasis>very</emphasis> apparent
	      if you don't have perl.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Change directory to <filename>&lt;dirs to
                wine>/tools</filename>
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
              <para>
                Type in <command>./bug_report.pl</command> and follow
                the directions.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Post the bug to
	      <ulink url="http://bugs.winehq.com/">Wine Bugzilla</ulink>.
	      Please, search Bugzilla database to check whether your problem is
	      already found before posting a bug report.
	      Include your own detailed description of the problem with
	      relevant information. Attach the "Nice Formatted Report"
	      to the submitted bug. Do not cut and paste the report
	      in the bug description - it is pretty big.
              Keep the full debug output in case it will be needed by
	      Wine developers.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </orderedlist>
      </sect2>

      <sect2>
        <title>The Hard Way</title>
        <para>
          Some simple advice on making your bug report more useful
          (and thus more likely to get answered and fixed):
        </para>
        <orderedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>Post as much information as possible.</para>
            <para>
              This means we need more information than a simple "MS
              Word crashes whenever I run it.  Do you know why?"
              Include at least the following information:
            </para>
            <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
              <listitem>
                <para>Version of Wine you're using (run <command>wine
                    -v</command>)</para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>
                  Operating system you're using, what distribution (if
                  any), and what version
                </para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>Compiler and version (run <command>gcc -v</command>)</para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>Windows version, if used with Wine.
		Mention if you don't use Windows</para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>
                  Program you're trying to run, its version number,
                  and a URL for  where the program can be obtained (if
                  available)
                </para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>Command line you used to start wine</para>
              </listitem>
              <listitem>
                <para>
                  Any other information you think may be relevant or
                  helpful, such as X server version in case of X
                  problems, libc version etc.
                </para>
              </listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Re-run the program with the <parameter>--debugmsg
                +relay</parameter> option (i.e., <command>wine
                --debugmsg +relay sol.exe</command>).
            </para>
            <para>
              If Wine crashes while running your program, it is
              important that we have this information to have a chance
              at figuring out what is causing the crash.  This can put
              out quite a lot (several MB) of information, though, so
              it's best to output it to a file.  When the <prompt>Wine-dbg></prompt>
              prompt appears, type <userinput>quit</userinput>.
            </para>
            <para>
              You might want to try
              <parameter>+relay,+snoop</parameter> instead of
              <parameter>+relay</parameter>, but please note that
              <parameter>+snoop</parameter> is pretty unstable and
              often will crash earlier than a simple
              <parameter>+relay</parameter>! If this is the case, then
              please use <emphasis>only</emphasis> <parameter>+relay</parameter>!! A bug
              report with a crash in <parameter>+snoop</parameter>
              code is useless in most cases!
	      You can also turn on other parameters, depending on the nature
	      of the problem you are researching. See wine man page for full list
	      of the parameters.
            </para>
            <para>
              To get the trace output, use the following commands:
            </para>

            <variablelist>
              <varlistentry>
                <term>all shells:</term>
                <listitem>
                  <screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt>echo quit | wine -debugmsg +relay [other_options] program_name >& filename.out;
<prompt>$ </prompt>tail -n 100 filename.out > report_file
                  </screen>
                  <para>
                    (This will print wine's debug messages only to the file and then
                    auto-quit. It's probably a good idea to use this command, since wine
                    prints out so many debug msgs that they flood the terminal, eating CPU.)
                  </para>
                </listitem>
              </varlistentry>
              <varlistentry>
                <term>tcsh and other csh-like shells:</term>
                <listitem>
                  <screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt>wine -debugmsg +relay [other_options] program_name |& tee filename.out;
<prompt>$ </prompt>tail -100 filename.out > report_file
                  </screen>
                </listitem>
              </varlistentry>
              <varlistentry>
                <term>bash and other sh-like shells:</term>
                <listitem>
                  <screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt>wine -debugmsg +relay [other_options] program_name 2>&1 | tee filename.out;
<prompt>$ </prompt>tail -100 filename.out > report_file
                  </screen>
                </listitem>
              </varlistentry>
            </variablelist>
            <para>
              <filename>report_file</filename> will now contain the
              last hundred lines of the debugging output, including
              the register dump and backtrace, which are the most
              important pieces of information.  Please do not delete
              this part, even if you don't understand what it means.
            </para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              Post the bug to <ulink url="http://bugs.winehq.com/">Wine Bugzilla</ulink>.
              Please, search the Bugzilla database to check whether your problem
              is already reported. If it is already reported attach the bug report
              and add any other relevant information to the original bug report.
            </para>
            <para>
              In your post, include all of the information from part
              1), and attach to the bug the output file in part 2).
              If you do this, your chances of receiving some sort of
              helpful response should be very good.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </orderedlist>
      </sect2>
    </sect1>
 </chapter>

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