Support data gathering tool

2009-05-31 Thread Przemysław Kulczycki 
Ubuntu needs a data gathering tool for user support and bug reporting.
Currently when filing bug reports users have to manually run lots of 
commands (dmesg, lspci, lsusb, lsmod, alsa-something...) for 
troubleshooting their issues.

Ubuntu should have a tool to gather all necessary system logs for 
reporting bugs and asking for support on answers.launchpad.net.

I work for Sun and I find their Explorer tool very handy.
It collects many system logs and outputs of system commands to show the 
system configuration and issues to the support team. It also has some 
options to skip some logs when the customer feels if it will violate his 
privacy.
Red Hat has something similar, though not as developed as Explorer. 
Their sos (son of sysreport) tool is GPLed and could be tweaked to run 
on Debian/Ubuntu.

Suse used to have Siga, now they have supportconfig, but I'm not 
familiar with it.

There is also an independent distro-agnostic tool called Linux Explorer 
but it may be a bit outdated now.

Having an explorer-like tool in Ubuntu would benefit both desktop and 
server users.
Bugreporting would be much easier. You would only have to run one 
command, maybe with some options, to provide all the data needed for the 
bug troubleshooters.
Example options could be:
toolname -audio
toolname -usb
toolname -kernel
toolname -all
toolname -xorg
toolname -network

Appropriate options would be used for relevant problem types (ie. -audio 
for sound problems).

Links:
Red Hat: sosreport, earlier: sysreport
https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/sos/
Suse: supportconfig, earlier: Siga
http://en.opensuse.org/Supportutils
Sun/Solaris: Explorer
http://sunsolve.sun.com/explorer
Independently developed Explorer-clone for Linux:
http://www.unix-consultants.co.uk/examples/scripts/linux/linux-explorer/

Check out the Explorer page and its documentation to see how it's useful.
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-82329-1
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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-05-31 Thread Joseph Miller 
2009/5/31 Przemysław Kulczycki 

> Ubuntu needs a data gathering tool for user support and bug reporting.
> Currently when filing bug reports users have to manually run lots of
> commands (dmesg, lspci, lsusb, lsmod, alsa-something...) for
> troubleshooting their issues.
>
> Ubuntu should have a tool to gather all necessary system logs for
> reporting bugs and asking for support on answers.launchpad.net.
>
> I work for Sun and I find their Explorer tool very handy.
> It collects many system logs and outputs of system commands to show the
> system configuration and issues to the support team. It also has some
> options to skip some logs when the customer feels if it will violate his
> privacy.
> Red Hat has something similar, though not as developed as Explorer.
> Their sos (son of sysreport) tool is GPLed and could be tweaked to run
> on Debian/Ubuntu.
>
> Suse used to have Siga, now they have supportconfig, but I'm not
> familiar with it.
>
> There is also an independent distro-agnostic tool called Linux Explorer
> but it may be a bit outdated now.
>
> Having an explorer-like tool in Ubuntu would benefit both desktop and
> server users.
> Bugreporting would be much easier. You would only have to run one
> command, maybe with some options, to provide all the data needed for the
> bug troubleshooters.
> Example options could be:
> toolname -audio
> toolname -usb
> toolname -kernel
> toolname -all
> toolname -xorg
> toolname -network
>
> Appropriate options would be used for relevant problem types (ie. -audio
> for sound problems).
>
> Links:
> Red Hat: sosreport, earlier: sysreport
> https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/sos/
> Suse: supportconfig, earlier: Siga
> http://en.opensuse.org/Supportutils
> Sun/Solaris : Explorer
> http://sunsolve.sun.com/explorer
> Independently developed Explorer-clone for Linux:
> http://www.unix-consultants.co.uk/examples/scripts/linux/linux-explorer/
>
> Check out the Explorer page and its documentation to see how it's useful.
> http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-82329-1
> --
> ## Przemysław Kulczycki <<>> Azrael Nightwalker ##
> # jabber: azrael[na]jabster.pl | tlen: azrael29a #
> ### www: 
> http://reksio.ftj.agh.edu.pl/~azrael/###
>
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>

I like this suggestion, I think it really makes a lot of sense.  Kind of
makes me wonder why there isn't one already.  Przemysław Kulczycki, I have
looked at the Explorer page.  I don't see any reason for Ubuntu to not do
this as a shell script as well.  I am not familiar with actually using the
tool, however.  Would you be willing to design a little bit more how such a
tool should work?  The tool should probably have an option to save to a file
or to output to screen.  The -xorg option should probably also have a
-display alias or some such.  I don't know all the log files or commands to
run for each of these scenarios.  If someone could tell me which commands or
which log files were necessary for each scenario, I could put something
together and try to submit it.

-Joseph
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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-05-31 Thread Martin Owens 


On Sun, 2009-05-31 at 18:27 -0400, Joseph Miller wrote:
> I like this suggestion, I think it really makes a lot of sense.  Kind
> of makes me wonder why there isn't one already.  Przemysław Kulczycki,
> I have looked at the Explorer page.  I don't see any reason for Ubuntu
> to not do this as a shell script as well.  I am not familiar with
> actually using the tool, however.  Would you be willing to design a
> little bit more how such a tool should work?  The tool should probably
> have an option to save to a file or to output to screen.  The -xorg
> option should probably also have a -display alias or some such.  I
> don't know all the log files or commands to run for each of these
> scenarios.  If someone could tell me which commands or which log files
> were necessary for each scenario, I could put something together and
> try to submit it.
> 
> -Joseph

Doesn't the features of Checkbox and Apport somewhat cover this?

Regards, Martin


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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-05-31 Thread Andrew SB 
2009/5/31 Przemysław Kulczycki :
> Ubuntu needs a data gathering tool for user support and bug reporting.
> Currently when filing bug reports users have to manually run lots of
> commands (dmesg, lspci, lsusb, lsmod, alsa-something...) for
> troubleshooting their issues.
>
> Ubuntu should have a tool to gather all necessary system logs for
> reporting bugs and asking for support on answers.launchpad.net.
>
> I work for Sun and I find their Explorer tool very handy.
> It collects many system logs and outputs of system commands to show the
> system configuration and issues to the support team. It also has some
> options to skip some logs when the customer feels if it will violate his
> privacy.
> Red Hat has something similar, though not as developed as Explorer.
> Their sos (son of sysreport) tool is GPLed and could be tweaked to run
> on Debian/Ubuntu.
>
> Suse used to have Siga, now they have supportconfig, but I'm not
> familiar with it.
>
> There is also an independent distro-agnostic tool called Linux Explorer
> but it may be a bit outdated now.
>
> Having an explorer-like tool in Ubuntu would benefit both desktop and
> server users.
> Bugreporting would be much easier. You would only have to run one
> command, maybe with some options, to provide all the data needed for the
> bug troubleshooters.
> Example options could be:
> toolname -audio
> toolname -usb
> toolname -kernel
> toolname -all
> toolname -xorg
> toolname -network
>
> Appropriate options would be used for relevant problem types (ie. -audio
> for sound problems).
>
> Links:
> Red Hat: sosreport, earlier: sysreport
> https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/sos/
> Suse: supportconfig, earlier: Siga
> http://en.opensuse.org/Supportutils
> Sun/Solaris: Explorer
> http://sunsolve.sun.com/explorer
> Independently developed Explorer-clone for Linux:
> http://www.unix-consultants.co.uk/examples/scripts/linux/linux-explorer/
>
> Check out the Explorer page and its documentation to see how it's useful.
> http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-82329-1
> --
> ## Przemysław Kulczycki <<>> Azrael Nightwalker ##
> # jabber: azrael[na]jabster.pl | tlen: azrael29a #
> ### www: http://reksio.ftj.agh.edu.pl/~azrael/ ###

Ubuntu already uses a tool called Apport along with the command-line
tool ubuntu-bug. [1] How do these tools differ?

Apport already has the ability to be extended through the use of
per-package hooks. [2] Most relevant information that should be
provided with a bug report for a specific package can be retrieved
using them.

Maybe we should have some sort of wizard for when a user attempts to
use apport and they don't know the package. E.g. If they know the
problem is in the audio stack but not exactly where. There's still a
lot of relevant information that apport could collect.

I think the real issue is: how do we better encourage users to use the
tools that already exist?

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Apport
[2] /usr/share/doc/apport/package-hooks.

- Andrew Starr-Bochicchio
Ubuntu Developer

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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-05-31 Thread Joseph Miller 
2009/5/31 Andrew SB 

> 2009/5/31 Przemysław Kulczycki :
> > Ubuntu needs a data gathering tool for user support and bug reporting.
> > Currently when filing bug reports users have to manually run lots of
> > commands (dmesg, lspci, lsusb, lsmod, alsa-something...) for
> > troubleshooting their issues.
> >
> > Ubuntu should have a tool to gather all necessary system logs for
> > reporting bugs and asking for support on answers.launchpad.net.
> >
> > I work for Sun and I find their Explorer tool very handy.
> > It collects many system logs and outputs of system commands to show the
> > system configuration and issues to the support team. It also has some
> > options to skip some logs when the customer feels if it will violate his
> > privacy.
> > Red Hat has something similar, though not as developed as Explorer.
> > Their sos (son of sysreport) tool is GPLed and could be tweaked to run
> > on Debian/Ubuntu.
> >
> > Suse used to have Siga, now they have supportconfig, but I'm not
> > familiar with it.
> >
> > There is also an independent distro-agnostic tool called Linux Explorer
> > but it may be a bit outdated now.
> >
> > Having an explorer-like tool in Ubuntu would benefit both desktop and
> > server users.
> > Bugreporting would be much easier. You would only have to run one
> > command, maybe with some options, to provide all the data needed for the
> > bug troubleshooters.
> > Example options could be:
> > toolname -audio
> > toolname -usb
> > toolname -kernel
> > toolname -all
> > toolname -xorg
> > toolname -network
> >
> > Appropriate options would be used for relevant problem types (ie. -audio
> > for sound problems).
> >
> > Links:
> > Red Hat: sosreport, earlier: sysreport
> > https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/sos/
> > Suse: supportconfig, earlier: Siga
> > http://en.opensuse.org/Supportutils
> > Sun/Solaris: Explorer
> > http://sunsolve.sun.com/explorer
> > Independently developed Explorer-clone for Linux:
> > http://www.unix-consultants.co.uk/examples/scripts/linux/linux-explorer/
> >
> > Check out the Explorer page and its documentation to see how it's useful.
> > http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-82329-1
> > --
> > ## Przemysław Kulczycki <<>> Azrael Nightwalker ##
> > # jabber: azrael[na]jabster.pl | tlen: azrael29a #
> > ### www: 
> > http://reksio.ftj.agh.edu.pl/~azrael/###
>
> Ubuntu already uses a tool called Apport along with the command-line
> tool ubuntu-bug. [1] How do these tools differ?
>
> Apport already has the ability to be extended through the use of
> per-package hooks. [2] Most relevant information that should be
> provided with a bug report for a specific package can be retrieved
> using them.
>
> Maybe we should have some sort of wizard for when a user attempts to
> use apport and they don't know the package. E.g. If they know the
> problem is in the audio stack but not exactly where. There's still a
> lot of relevant information that apport could collect.
>
> I think the real issue is: how do we better encourage users to use the
> tools that already exist?
>
> [1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Apport
> [2] /usr/share/doc/apport/package-hooks.
>
> - Andrew Starr-Bochicchio
> Ubuntu Developer
>
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This is a good question.  I have been using Linux for 10 years now and
Ubuntu since Dapper.  I did not know which tools to use to gather relevant
debugging information.  I have seen many times in forums around the web the
same thing.  Users will report a problem and someone knowledgeable in the
forum will request log files.  Most of the time everyone asks for lspci
output log files, etc, but no tool designed for error reporting.  That
doesn't answer the question, but rather affirms it.  I don't know what tools
to use to give me error output other than straight log files.

-Joseph
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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-05-31 Thread Mackenzie Morgan 
On Sunday 31 May 2009 5:11:23 pm Przemysław Kulczycki wrote:
> Ubuntu needs a data gathering tool for user support and bug reporting.
> Currently when filing bug reports users have to manually run lots of 
> commands (dmesg, lspci, lsusb, lsmod, alsa-something...) for 
> troubleshooting their issues.

This is why for the last few months we've been encouraging users that the 
"right way" to file a bug is using the "ubuntu-bug " command.  It 
attaches most of the information needed to troubleshoot bugs in whatever 
package you tell it.  There's also "apport-collect " which will 
gather information needed to debug whatever package that bug is reported 
against.

Coming soon for Karmic: we've been talking about extensions for symptom-based 
bug-reporting, so instead of "ubuntu-bug alsa-base" you could do "ubuntu-bug 
sound" and maybe even have it eventually be able to go through some 
troubleshooting steps with the user to make sure the bug is reported against 
the right package (so in this case, it'd figure out if the problem was your 
audio driver, alsa plugins, PulseAudio, Flash, Skype, or whatever).

-- 
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http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com
apt-get moo


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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-06-01 Thread Martin Pitt 
Andrew SB [2009-05-31 20:21 -0400]:
> Maybe we should have some sort of wizard for when a user attempts to
> use apport and they don't know the package. E.g. If they know the
> problem is in the audio stack but not exactly where. There's still a
> lot of relevant information that apport could collect.

Planned for Karmic:

  
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-karmic-symptom-based-bug-reporting

> I think the real issue is: how do we better encourage users to use the
> tools that already exist?

Also planned for Karmic:

  
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/karmic-qa-increase-apport-adoption

Martin
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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-06-03 Thread Przemek Kulczycki 
What about the forums/answers.lp.net - will the users be able to
attach apport's reports to forums or support requests?

On 6/1/09, Martin Pitt  wrote:
> Andrew SB [2009-05-31 20:21 -0400]:
>> Maybe we should have some sort of wizard for when a user attempts to
>> use apport and they don't know the package. E.g. If they know the
>> problem is in the audio stack but not exactly where. There's still a
>> lot of relevant information that apport could collect.
>
> Planned for Karmic:
>
>
> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-karmic-symptom-based-bug-reporting
>
>> I think the real issue is: how do we better encourage users to use the
>> tools that already exist?
>
> Also planned for Karmic:
>
>
> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/karmic-qa-increase-apport-adoption
>
> Martin
> --
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> Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com)  | Debian Developer  (www.debian.org)
>
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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-06-11 Thread (``-_-´´) -- BUGabundo 
Olá Przemek e a todos.

On Wednesday 03 June 2009 12:47:24 Przemek Kulczycki wrote:
> What about the forums/answers.lp.net - will the users be able to
> attach apport's reports to forums or support requests?

Apport can be set to do a dry run, and not submit the logs to Launchpad, but 
stored locally.
The user only needs to get them and upload them to where s/he needs them.
I'm just not sure if this logs are on /tmp or /var/crash

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Re: Support data gathering tool

2009-06-11 Thread (``-_-´´) -- BUGabundo 
On Thursday 11 June 2009 01:19:02 (``-_-´´) -- BUGabundo wrote:
> Apport can be set to do a dry run, and not submit the logs to Launchpad, but 
> stored locally.
> The user only needs to get them and upload them to where s/he needs them.
> I'm just not sure if this logs are on /tmp or /var/crash

$ apport-cli -p kate -f

*** Collecting problem information

The collected information can be sent to the developers to improve the
application. This might take a few minutes.
...

*** Send problem report to the developers?

After the problem report has been sent, please fill out the form in the
automatically opened web browser.

What would you like to do? Your options are:
  S: Send report (5.7 KiB)
  V: View report
  K: Keep report file for sending later or copying to somewhere else
  C: Cancel
Please choose (S/V/K/C): k
Problem report file: /tmp/apport.8iqtBI.txt


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