John Havlik's presentation from WordCamp MSP 2010

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HOW-TO: REPORTING ISSUES
WP201: Do-it-yourself Track
Follow John Havlik @mtekkmonkey

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• WordPress user since 2005
• Plugin developer since 2006
• Maintain Breadcrumb NavXT
• Administrator for Weblogs.us
• Blog: mtekk.us
About Me

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• Basic troubleshooting
• Is it a bug?
• Reporting your find
• Using Trac
• Using the Forums
Overview

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TROUBLESHOOTING
Basic

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• Troubleshooting is a systematic search for the
root cause of an issue
• Often necessary for solving issues in complex
systems (WordPress)
Basic Troubleshooting

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• Five basic steps:
1. Define the problem
2. Reproduce the problem
3. Identify possible solutions
4. Test possible solutions
5. Evaluate results
• Iterate these steps until the problem is solved
The Steps

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1. Misbehaving plugins
2. Misbehaving themes
3. Improperly configured WordPress install
4. Improperly configured server
• Cause majority of WordPress related issues
The Usual Suspects

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• “White Screen of Death”
• Fatal memory error
• Internal server error (Error 500)
• Headers already sent error
Common Problems

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• Disable all plugins
• If this fixed it, re-enable one-by-one to find the culprit
• Change theme to Twenty Ten (WP 3.0+)
• If this fixed it, look at your theme’s functions.php file
• Re-upload the WordPress core files
Common Remedies

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• Think critically, not magically
• Always start with the simplest and most likely cause
• Try undoing your most recent actions
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck
Troubleshooting Tips

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• Error messages can be helpful
• Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting
T_OLD_FUNCTION or T_FUNCTION or T_VAR or ‘}’ in /wp-
content/plugins/breadcrumb-navxt/breadcrumb_navxt_admin.php
on line 53
• Error messages can be misleading
• Warning: strpos() expects parameter 1 to be string, array
given in /wp-admin/includes/media.php on line 310
• Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already
sent by (output started at /wp-config.php:34) in
/path/blog/wp-login.php on line 42
More Tips

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BUG?
Is it a

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• Check the documentation
• codex.wordpress.org
• Plugin/theme author’s plugin/theme page
• Check the forums
• wordpress.org/support
Is it a BUG?

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• Intermittent behavior is very difficult to fix
• Create a list of steps to trigger the bug
• Try them on a “clean slate”
Is it Reproducible?

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YOUR FIND
Reporting

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• For WordPress issues:
• WordPress Trac (general)
• security@wordpress.org (security)
• For plugin/theme issues:
• WordPress.org forums
• Developer’s page for the plugin/theme
Reporting Your Find

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• Provide instructions to reproduce the bug
• Provide as much detail as you can
• Always include the version of WordPress
• For plugin/theme issues:
• Include the plugin/theme version
Things to Remember

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USING TRAC
Reporting Your Find:

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• http://core.trac.wordpress.org
• Login using your wordpress.org credentials
Using Trac

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1. Search for your bug
• If an existing ticket exists:
• Don’t open a new ticket
• Add a note providing more information
2. Open a ticket
Reporting Bugs Using Trac

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Opening a Trac Ticket
•Summary – Keep it concise
•Description – Full detail
•Severity – If in doubt, leave this alone
•Version & Component – The WordPress
version, and component the bug was found
in.

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USING THE FORUMS
Reporting Your Find:

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• For Plugins and Themes
• Go to the extension’s wordpress.org/extend page
• E.g. wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-lynx
• Click on the “others are saying” link
• Click on the “Add New” link on the next page
Using the Forums

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Starting a New Topic
•Fill out Topic title describing the issue
•Set Version to the WordPress version you
experience the issue in
•Message should contain:
•Steps to reproduce
•Version of the plugin/theme
•Add additional tags if appropriate
•Don’t remove what was automatically
inserted
•Don’t change the section
•Check the subscribe box

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• Check in on your tickets/forum topics
• Many times more information is needed
• Fixes may be made need testing
Final Thoughts

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QUESTIONS?
Any