The endless quest to force people into writing good bug reports part 2342:

Moved patch section up front, that's what we want most after all.
Reworded parts of the howto section and added a link to ESR's excellent
RTFM FAQ.


git-svn-id: svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk@6867 b3059339-0415-0410-9bf9-f77b7e298cf2

1 files changed, 33 insertions, 25 deletions

diff --git a/DOCS/bugreports.html b/DOCS/bugreports.html
index 384c0993d1..d8dc36e0ce 100644
--- a/DOCS/bugreports.html
+++ b/DOCS/bugreports.html
@@ -11,22 +11,45 @@
 
 <P><B><A NAME=C>Appendix C - How to report bugs</A></B></P>
 
-<P><B>How to report bugs?</B></P>
-
-<P>First of all please try the latest CVS version of <B>MPlayer</B> as your bug
-might already be fixed there. CVS instructions can be found at the bottom of
-<A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html">this page</A>.</P>
-
-<P>If this did not help please refer to <A HREF="documentation.html#D">Appendix D</A>
-and the rest of the documentation. If your problem is not known or not solvable by
-our instructions, then please report the bug.</P>
+<P><B>How to fix bugs</B></P>
 
 <P>If you feel have the necessary skills you are invited to have a go at fixing
 the bug yourself.  Or maybe you already did that?  Please read
 <A HREF="tech/patches.txt">this short document</A> to find out how to get your
 code included in <B>MPlayer</B>. The people on the
 <A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/mailman/listinfo/mplayer-dev-eng">mplayer-dev-eng</A>
-mailing list can assist you if you have questions.</P>
+mailing list will assist you if you have questions.</P>
+
+<P><B>How to report bugs</B></P>
+
+<P>First of all please try the latest CVS version of <B>MPlayer</B> as your bug
+might already be fixed there. CVS instructions can be found at the bottom of
+<A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html">this page</A> or in the
+README. If this did not help please refer to
+<A HREF="documentation.html#D">the list of known bugs</A> and the rest of the
+documentation. If your problem is not known or not solvable by our instructions,
+then please report the bug.</P>
+
+<P>Please do not send bug reports privately to individual developers.  This is
+community work and thus there might be several people interested in it.
+Sometimes other users already experienced your troubles and know how to
+circumvent a problem even if it is a bug in <B>MPlayer</B> code.</P>
+
+<P>Please describe your problem in as much detail as possible. Do a little
+detective work to narrow down the circumstances under which the problem occurs.
+Does the bug only show up in certain situations? Is it specific to certain files
+or file types? Does it occur with only one codec or is it codec independent?
+Can you reproduce it with all output drivers? The more information you provide
+the better are our chances at fixing your problem. Please do not forget to
+also include the valuable information requested below, we will be unable to
+properly diagnose your problem otherwise.</P>
+
+<P>An excellent and well written guide to asking questions in public forums is
+<A HREF="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html">How To Ask
+Questions The Smart Way</A> by Eric S. Raymond. If you follow these guidelines
+you should be safe. But please understand that we all follow the mailing lists
+voluntarily in our free time. We are very busy and cannot guarantee that you
+will get a solution for your problem or even an answer. </P>
 
 <P><B>Where to report bugs?</B></P>
 
@@ -41,21 +64,6 @@ and send your bug report to:<BR>
 ignored or banned. Also note that we will not individually CC (carbon-copy)
 people so it is a good idea to subscribe to actually receive your answer.</P>
 
-<P>Please do not send bug reports privately to individual developers.  This is
-community work and thus there might be several people interested in it.
-Also sometimes other users already experienced your troubles and have a
-solution in hand how to circumvent a problem even if it is a bug in <B>MPlayer</B>
-code.</P>
-
-<P>Please describe your problem in as much detail as possible. Do a little
-detective work to narrow down the circumstances under which the problem occurs.
-Does the bug only show up in certain situations? Is it specific to certain files
-or file types? Does it occur with only one codec or is it codec independent?
-Can you reproduce it with all output drivers? The more information you provide
-the better are our chances at fixing your problem. Please do not forget to
-also include the valuable information requested below, we will probably be
-unable to properly diagnose your bug otherwise.</P>
-
 <P><B>What to report?</B></P>
 
 <P><B>System Information</B></P>