SML/NJ bug records

Files:
------
README.bugs       (this file)
form		  sample bug report form
bugs.nnnn-mmmm	  collected bug reports
openbugs	  list of bugs currently "open" (needing to be fixed)
[tests.tar.Z	  collection of bug test cases 
                  -- no longer found here, see sml/tests CVS module
                  at Yale repository flint.cs.yale.edu:/home/cvs.]

The SML/NJ bug reports are split into files with at most 200 bug
reports each, so that each file will be of a manageable size.  The
files are named "bugs.0001-0200", "bugs.0201-0400", etc.  They contain
the cumulative record of all bugs ever recorded; most of these bugs
have been fixed.

The bugs that are currently open are listed in the file "openbugs".


Format of bug reports
---------------------
The format of bug reports is

Number:	      the unique sequence number of the bug
Title:	      a short (one line) descriptive title
Keywords:     keywords used to categorize the bug, e.g. "modules", "signals"
Submitter:    name and email address of submitter
Date:	      date submitted
Version:      SML/NJ version number; tool or library version number if relevant
System:	      architecture-os description, e.g. x86-linux, sparc-sunos
Severity:     characterization of severity of the bug ("minor", "major", "critical")
Problem:      description of the problem
Code:	      code that manifests the problem
Transcript:   transcript that illustrates the behavior
Comments:     additional comments
Fix:	      suggested fix, if available
Test:	      test case code (e.g. bug367.sml), normally found in bugs/tests
Owner:	      person currently responsible for fixing the bug
Status:	      status of the bug (open, fixed, etc.)

The Number, Keywords, Test, Owner, and Status fields are filled in by
the bug list maintainers.  The rest may be provided by the submitter
of the bug report.

To facilitate processing, special formats should be observed for the
Date and Status fields. The formats are:

	Date: mm/dd/yy
	Status: fixed in <version-number> ...
		open ...
		not a bug ...
	 	same as <number> ...
		not important ...
		not reproducible ...
		obsolete

The file "form" contains a sample bug report format.


How to submit a bug report
--------------------------
New bug reports should be mailed to

  sml-bugs@research.bell-labs.com.

Before mailing a report, please check out the existing report to see
if your problem is covered.  But when in doubt, please do not hesitate
to submit a report, since even redundant reports can provide useful
information or additional test cases.  Of course, the most helpful
bug reports are those accompanied by a succinct bit of code that 
manifests the bug.  (Actually, that's not quite right -- the most
helpful bug reports are those with the "Fix" field filled in!)

The collection of test cases for bugs is available as part of the
sml/tests module at flint.cs.yale.edu:/home/cvs.

These files are now maintained under cvs in module bugs at
the SML/NJ SourceForge project.  Set CVSROOT to 

  <loginname>@cvs.smlnj.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/smlnj

and checkout bugs to edit.

Dave MacQueen
dbm@research.bell-labs.com