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Diffstat (limited to 'docs/busybox.net/FAQ.html')
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diff --git a/docs/busybox.net/FAQ.html b/docs/busybox.net/FAQ.html index 3810594..34250a3 100644 --- a/docs/busybox.net/FAQ.html +++ b/docs/busybox.net/FAQ.html @@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ have additions to this FAQ document, we would love to add them, <h2>Troubleshooting</h2> <ol> <li><a href="#bugs">I think I found a bug in BusyBox! What should I do?!</a></li> +<li><a href="#backporting">I'm using an ancient version from the dawn of time and something's broken. Can you backport fixes for free?</a></li> <li><a href="#init">Busybox init isn't working!</a></li> <li><a href="#sed">I can't configure busybox on my system.</a></li> <li><a href="#job_control">Why do I keep getting "sh: can't access tty; job control turned off" errors? Why doesn't Control-C work within my shell?</a></li> @@ -336,15 +337,66 @@ within each applet. More build coverage testing.</p></li> </p> <p> - The developers of BusyBox are busy people, and have only so much they can - keep in their brains at a time. As a result, bug reports and new feature - patches sometimes get lost when posted to the mailing list. To prevent - your bug report from getting lost, if you find a bug in BusyBox that isn't - immediately addressed, please use the <a - href="http://bugs.busybox.net/">BusyBox Bug and Patch Tracking System</a> - to submit a detailed explanation and we'll get to it as soon as we can. + Bug reports and new feature patches sometimes get lost when posted to the + mailing list, because the developers of BusyBox are busy people and have + only so much they can keep in their brains at a time. You can post a + polite reminder after 2-3 days without offending anybody. If that doesn't + result in a solution, please use the + <a href="http://bugs.busybox.net/">BusyBox Bug + and Patch Tracking System</a> to submit a detailed explanation and we'll + get to it as soon as we can. </p> +<p> + Note that bugs entered into the bug system without being mentioned on the + mailing list first may languish there for months before anyone even notices + them. We generally go through the bug system when preparing for new + development releases, to see what fell through the cracks while we were + off writing new features. (It's a fast/unreliable vs slow/reliable thing. + Saves retransits, but the latency sucks.) +</p> + +<hr /> +<p></p> +<h2><a name="backporting">I'm using an ancient version from the dawn of time and something's broken. Can you backport fixes for free?</h2> + +<p>Variants of this one get asked a lot.</p> + +<p>The purpose of the BusyBox mailing list is to develop and improve BusyBox, +and we're happy to respond to our users' needs. But if you're coming to the +list for free tech support we're going to ask you to upgrade to a current +version before we try to diagnose your problem.</p> + +<p>If you're building BusyBox 0.50 with uClibc 0.9.19 and gcc 0.9.26 there's a +fairly large chance that whatever problem you're seeing has already been fixed. +To get that fix, all you have to do is upgrade to a newer version. If you +don't at least _try_ that, you're wasting our time.</p> + +<p>The volunteers are happy to fix any bugs you point out in the current +versions because doing so helps everybody and makes the project better. We +want to make the current version work for you. But diagnosing, debugging, and +backporting fixes to old versions isn't something we do for free, because it +doesn't help anybody but you. The cost of volunteer tech support is using a +reasonably current version of the project.</p> + +<p>If you don't want to upgrade, you have the complete source code and thus +the ability to fix it yourself, or hire a consultant to do it for you. If you +got your version from a vendor who still supports the older version, they can +help you. But there are limits as to what the volunteers will feel obliged to +do for you.</p> + +<p>As a rule of thumb, volunteers will generally answer polite questions about +a given version for about three years after its release before it's so old +we don't remember the answer off the top of our head. And if you want us to +put any _effort_ into tracking it down, we want you to put in a little effort +of your own by confirming it's still a problem with the current version. It's +also hard for us to fix a problem of yours if we can't reproduce it because +we don't have any systems running an environment that old.</p> + +<p>A consultant will happily set up a special environment just to reproduce +your problem, and you can always ask on the list if any of the developers +have consulting rates.</p> + <hr /> <p> <h2><a name="init">Busybox init isn't working!</a></h2> |