5 * Summary of approved methods for contacting the members of the
6 * MinGW.OSDN user and developer community.
11 * Written by Keith Marshall <keith@users.osdn.me>
12 * Copyright (C) 2020, 2021, MinGW.OSDN Project
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57 set_page("title", "Contacting MinGW.OSDN");
58 set_page("subtitle", "When a Web-Search Fails to Resolve your Issue");
59 </script><!-- masthead -->
60 <p>If you have exhausted all of the web‑site resources,
61 and you have searched all of the
62 <a href="index.html?page=mailing.html"
63 >available mailing‑list archives</a>,
64 and all of the on‑line
65 <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
66 href="https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/ticket/"
67 >bug report and feature request tickets</a>,
68 then you may wish to contact MinGW.OSDN for assistance.
69 Please refer to the relevant sections below,
70 for guidance on <a href="#general-enquiry">making general enquiries</a>,
71 on <a href="#bug-report">filing bug reports</a>,
72 or on <a href="#feature-request">requesting new features</a>.
75 the mingw‑w64 and MSYS2 projects are <strong>not</strong>,
76 in any way, affiliated with MinGW.OSDN;
77 MinGW.OSDN <strong>does not</strong> support the products
78 of these projects.</em>
80 <div class="overlapped" id="general-enquiry">
81 <h3>General Enquiries</h3>
82 <p>If you encounter a problem using MinGW, or MSYS,
83 and you cannot find a satisfactory answer on our web‑site,
85 <a href="index.html?page=mailing.html">mailing‑list archives</a>,
86 or elsewhere on the internet,
87 or if you simply need some advice relating to MinGW, or MSYS,
89 <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
90 href="https://lists.osdn.me/mailman/listinfo/mingw-users"
91 >subscribe to the MinGW‑Users mailing‑list</a>,
94 <p><em>Do please note that, to help avoid spam,
95 this mailing‑list is open to subscribers only.
96 Please <strong>do not</strong>
97 attempt to circumvent the subscription process,
98 by sending mail to either the mingw-users-owner,
99 or the mingw-users-admin addresses.
100 Doing so will be of no benefit to you,
101 since subscription is free‑of‑charge in any case,
102 and you will get no reply from the former address,
103 while the latter is reserved for automated self‑help replies,
104 in response to specific subject keywords.</em>
106 <p>Before posting to this mailing‑list,
107 we <em>strongly</em> recommend that you acquaint yourself with
108 <a href="index.html?page=mailing.html#list-etiquette"
109 >the mailing‑list posting etiquette</a>;
110 compliance with this may improve your chances of receiving a response,
111 whereas non‑compliance may result in your post being ignored.
112 </p></div><!-- general-enquiry -->
113 <div class="overlapped" id="bug-report">
114 <h3>Reporting Bugs</h3>
115 <p>After discussing an issue on the mailing‑list,
116 as described above, you may be asked to file a formal bug report.
118 if you are certain that you have identified a bug in a MinGW.OSDN product,
119 you may choose to file such a bug report of your own volition;
120 however, if you choose this course of action,
121 please be aware that many bug reports,
122 which are filed <em>without</em> prior discussion,
123 are ultimately dismissed as user error).
125 <p><em>Before you even consider filing a bug report,
127 <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
128 href="https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/ticket/"
129 >the list of existing tickets</a>,
130 (<strong>including closed tickets</strong>
131 — ensure that the “Open” and “Closed”
132 status check‑boxes are <strong>both</strong> selected,
133 and click the “Search” button),
134 to ensure that the issue has not already been reported</em>.
136 <p><em>Please <strong>do not</strong> file a bug report,
137 if your issue relates to an unimplemented API feature;
138 it is more appropriate to file
139 a “<a href="#feature-request">Feature Request</a>” instead</em>.
141 <p><em>Please do not waste your time, (and ours),
142 reporting issues with your anti‑virus software;
143 the heuristic nature of such software, all too frequently,
144 results in false‑positive reports,
145 and in the absence of deterministic evidence of infection,
146 we will take no action in response.</em>
148 <p>Regardless of your motivation for filing a bug report,
149 you <em>must</em>, (unless you already have one),
150 <em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
151 href="https://osdn.net/account/register.php"
152 >create a personal OSDN.net account</a></em>,
154 <em><a target="_blank" href="index.html?page=buginfo.html"
155 >acquaint yourself with the bug reporting guidelines</a></em>.
157 <em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
158 href="https://osdn.net/account/login.php?return_to=/ticket/newticket.php?group_id=3917"
159 >log in to your OSDN.net account</a></em>,
161 <em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
162 href="https://osdn.net/ticket/newticket.php?group_id=3917"
163 >the bug report submission form</a></em>.
164 Please review the submission instructions,
165 (which appear at the top of the submission form),
166 then complete the form,
167 leaving the ticket type set to “Issue”.
169 <p><em>Please <strong>do not</strong> ignore the submission instructions.
170 In particular, note that,
171 unless you are a member of the MinGW.OSDN Project development team,
172 you are <strong>not</strong> authorized to assign a specific responder
173 for the ticket; nor are you authorized to assign an elevated priority
174 or severity attribute for your ticket.
175 If you exceed your authority,
176 your ticket <strong>will</strong> be reassigned to <strong>lowest</strong>
177 priority/severity, and may even be rejected altogether</em>.
179 <p>Before you finally submit your report,
180 please use the “Preview” facility to check for,
181 and correct, any markup errors;
182 (these are, alas, all too common,
183 and create a bad impression of the reporter).
184 Pay particular attention to in‑line program code references,
185 or program code examples,
186 (whether in‑line, or multi‑line code blocks);
187 these <em>must</em>  be enclosed in <em>triple‑brace</em> 
188 mark‑up, either as <em>in‑line formatted text</em>, 
189 or as <em>formatted text blocks</em> , as appropriate;
190 (please see <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"
191 href="https://osdn.net/docs/WikiSyntax"
192 >the OSDN.net formatting guide</a>,
193 and be aware that the use of <em>fixed pitch</em>, 
194 as introduced by <em>back‑tick</em>  mark‑up,
195 generally <em>isn’t</em>  a satisfactory alternative).
196 Finally, when you are satisfied, click the “Submit” button
197 to complete the ticket submission process.
198 </p></div><!-- bug-report -->
199 <div class="overlapped" id="feature-request">
200 <h3>Feature Requests</h3>
201 <p>When you wish to request the implementation of a new feature,
202 (e.g. to support a currently unsupported MSVC or POSIX API function),
203 you should file a feature request ticket.
204 The procedure is effectively the same as that for
205 <a href="#bug-report">filing a bug report</a>,
206 <em>except</em> that you set the ticket type to “Feature Request”,
207 instead of leaving it as “Issue”.
209 <p><em>Please be aware that feature request submissions are subject
210 to the same restrictions on your authority,
211 as are applicable to <a href="#bug-report">bug reporting</a></em>.
213 <p>Before you submit a feature request,
214 it is recommended that you discuss the feasibility of implementing
215 the proposed feature, as a <a href="#general-enquiry">general enquiry topic</a>,
216 on the mailing‑list.
217 Additionally, <em>after</em> you have submitted such a request,
218 you should use the mailing‑list to bring it to the
219 attention of the MinGW user community,
220 and invite them to support your request,
221 by <em>voting</em> on your ticket;
222 (please note that MinGW developers will consider votes,
223 when prioritizing feature requests).
224 </p></div><!-- feature-request -->