Documentation/4.5/Report a problem

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For the latest Slicer documentation, visit the read-the-docs.


User Feedback

  • I have a question about how to use Slicer for a particular task or I'm not sure things are working right
    • Try your best to sort out the issue by reading documentation, mailing list archives, and checking error logs
      • Look at our portfolio of training materials and make a google search to see, if the question has been discussed in the mailinglists.
      • I am still unclear about what to do. In this case, sign up for the slicer user mailing list and ask your question there
      • Check the Error Log to see if there's something misconfigured, such as a directory that is not readable or writable.
  • Something is definitely not working as it should or I would like to request a feature.
    • File a bug report in the issues tracker (you need to register first) or on the Slicer users mailing list. It is important to provide enough specific information so that a software developer can duplicate the problem - see details below.
    • Don't be anonymous: real people trying hard to solve real problems are more likely to get valuable help. A vague question from a random email is likely to be ignored..
  • I would like to let the Slicer community know, how Slicer helped me in my research.
    • Please send us the citation for your paper.
    • Background: funding for Slicer is provided through competitive mechanisms to a large extent by the US government and to a lesser extend through funding from other governments. The justification of for those resources is that Slicer enables scientific work. Knowing about scientific publications enabled by Slicer is a critical step in this process. Given the international nature of the Slicer community, the nationality of the scientists is not important. Every good paper counts.
  • I would like to give feedback on my experience with Slicer.
    • Share your story using the Feedback link accessible from the Slicer Welcome module

Error report contents

  • Describe:
    • What steps were performed before the problem occurred
    • What behavior you expected
    • What happened instead
  • Copy-paste the error log: you can access it from Slicer in the menu: Help / Report a bug. By default log of the current session is displayed but you can retrieve the logs of the last few sessions
  • Optional: capture a screenshot that illustrates the issue

That could be summarized by the SSCCE (Short, Self Contained, Correct (Compilable), Example) approach documented on http://sscce.org

Workflow for Handling Bugs and Feature Requests in Slicer

The following instructions describes the recommended workflow to report a problem related to Slicer application.

  • 2. Sign-up on the developers mailing list
  • 5. Send an email on the slicer-developers list pointing to the reported bug. Title of the email should start with [BUG 1234] Title of the bug



The following diagram illustrates Slicer issue workflow:

Mantis-workflow.png

Source: Adapted from http://www.warelab.org/blog/?p=24