NAME
    Webhelp - help for the web interface

DESCRIPTION
    Help for users of the web interface, searching, objects and their
    fields, etc.

SEARCH
    mask
        The search mask has no pre-selected entries, click query and an
        indiscriminate list of all the bugs in the database will be
        returned.

        Filterering is achieved by selecting options from the popup menus,
        or entering data in the text fields, as described below.

        Once an item is returned for viewing, links to it's constituent
        parts may be followed.

        The following describe fields not described under the OBJECTS entry
        elsewhere in this document below.

    admin
        List of active administrators who are registered against 1 or more
        bugs.

    and_or
        Boolean switch to decide whether or not to AND or to OR the query
        fields together, in the creation of the SQL search query.

    asc_desc
        Determine whether to return records found in ASCENDING or DESCENDING
        order.

    dates
        Restrict records created on or after the selected date.

        Note that you can also construct a query to retrieve the bugs since
        this Christmas by using something of the form:

                http://bugs.perl.org/perlbug/perlbug.cgi?req=date&date=20001225

        Usage of a valid 8 figure date is recommended, otherwise you're on
        your own :-)

    format
        Determine the display format of the records found. This for example,
        means you can still get an ascii list (for applying a script
        against, perhaps), even while using the web frontend which naturally
        has the default return format in HTML form.

    message_id
        The contents of the actual Message-Id: field belonging to each bug
        or reply.

    restrict
        Restrict the number of found records to the given number. Also
        divides the remainder up into similarly sized chunks for convenient
        browsing thereafter.

    show_sql
        Display the SQL executed. This may help to pinpoint problems where
        searches are not returning expected results.

    wildcards
        All text fields are searched using the SQL LIKE operator. the bugid,
        noteid, patchid, testid, version, and change entries elsewhere in
        this document and /fixed fields are used as seen, that is, if a
        wildcard is not provided, one will not be used.

        Conversly subject, body and source address fields have '%'
        pre-placed around the search query by default.

        What this means is that entering '20001122.', in the bugid field,
        will probably not return much, but '20001122.%'' might. Of course a
        complete bugid could be entered on it's own eg: '20001122.003'
        Whereas entering only strict in the subject field will still use
        '%strict%' during the search.

        The available SQL wildcards: any single character '_' and none or
        more characters '%' are allowed in all fields. Note also that for
        convenience(?), an asterisk('*') will be simply mapped to the sql
        wildcard '%''.

        N.B. It can be a good idea to use the the show_sql entry elsewhere
        in this document switch to display what's being searched for.

    retrieval
        Bugs are initially returned in either list or block format, with an
        optional trimming mechanism which defaults to 25. At the base of the
        page is a list of all the other bugs found during the query,
        sectioned into similarly managable portions. The list format is
        designed for quickly moving around a list of bugs, while the block
        format is aimed at finding all information relating to said bug,
        without having to hop around.

        the DESCRIPTION manpage

OBJECTS
    Certain fields are common to all objects:

    created
        The date this record was created in the database.

    modified
        The date this record was in some way modified.

    history
        The list of all modifications to each item, and who submitted them.

BUG
    The main potato:

    bugid
        The internally generated bugid.

    subject
        The subject line of the original report.

    source_addr
        Usually the From: address of the original report.

    body
        The body of the original message which generated the bug report.

        During a web search, the bodies of all messages in the database will
        be inspected, unless the boolean the and_or entry elsewhere in this
        document switch AND is selected whereby the search criteria is
        narrowed down.

    status
        The status of the bug, with the following options:

            abandoned   -       no longer worked on

            busy        -       currently being looked at by an administrator

            closed      -       considered fixed

            duplicate   -       a report erroneously filed a second time

            ok          -       a 'build reported OK:' report, (not the same as closed)

            onhold      -       undecided as to whether this is a bug or not

            open        -       undealt with, needing attention

    category
        The category of the bug has the following options:

            bounce      -       report had invalid format, common with spam mail

            core        -       central functionality affected

            docs        -       not a code bug, a docs bug (or typo)

            install     -       bug in the installation procedure

            library     -       not a central routine, rather a library or module bug

            notabug     -       at all, could be misread instructions or even spam

            patch       -       this fixed another bug

            unknown     -       first port of call, bug usually assigned to another valid group 

            utilities   -       a utility function misbehaved

    severity
        The severity of the bug has the following options, in descending
        order or severity:

            fatal       -       top priority!

            high        -       non-fatal, but has to be fixed quickly

            medium      -       should be fixed soon

            low         -       would be good to fix when time permits

            wishlist    -       would be nice to have someone look at this sometime

            none        -       a bit like 'wishlist' but more so

    osname
        The name of the operating system this report was generated on:

        Many differing values possible.

                aix, dec, hpux, irix, linux, macos, next, os2, solaris, vms, winnt, etc.

                ...     
        
    project
        The Project, which currently uses the

                perl4           - once 

                perl5           - and [now]

                perl6           - future

                ...

    VERSIONING
        There are several field relating to versions, patches, changes which
        may at first be somewhat inter-related.

    version
        The version against which this report was first noticed/generated.

        Typically has one of the following forms:

                5

                5.0053

                5.00.5.3

                5.6

                5.6.0

                5.7.1

                ...

    fixed
        The version in which this bug was fixed, same format as the version
        entry elsewhere in this document above.

    change
        The changeID of the target source for the fix. this is an external
        reference about which we know very little.

        Typically has one of the following forms:

                5

                5810

                0053

                ...

    history
        History of administrative operations against this bug, changes of
        status/category, etc..

    cc  List of email addresses for this bug. Will contain the source
        address, any adminitrator who has modified the bug record, and any
        people who have been on the Cc: list of any of the messages assigned
        to this bug.

    messagids
        The internal-ids of messages belonging to this bug (replies).

        Not to be confused with the externally supplied the message_id entry
        elsewhere in this document's of each email.

    parent
        The the bugid entry elsewhere in this document of any other bug to
        which this bug may belong.

    child
        The the bugid entry elsewhere in this document of any other bug
        which belongs to this bug.

    the DESCRIPTION manpage

NOTE
    An administrator can assign a note to a bug when he/she modifies it.

    note
        The body of the note.

    noteid
        The internally generated noteid.

    the DESCRIPTION manpage

PATCH
    A bug may be fixed by a patch, this can be assigned along with a the
    changeid entry elsewhere in this document.

    Bear in mind the difference between the internally generated /patchid
    and the externally offered /changeid.

    patch
        The body of the patch.

    patchid
        The internally generated patchid.

    the DESCRIPTION manpage

TEST
    A test may be assigned to a bug, if the test succeeds the bug may be
    regarded as fixed.

    test
        The body of the test.

    testid
        The internally generated testid.

    the DESCRIPTION manpage

AUTHOR
    Richard Foley <richard@rfi.net> 2001

