Use the Launchapd email interface¶
Important
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Launchpad’s bug tracker sends you email about the bugs you’re interested in. If you see something that requires your attention - for example, you want to comment on a bug - rather than leaving your email client to fire up a web browser, all you need to do is reply to the email.
It’s not just limited to replying to bug notifications, though. The bug tracker’s email interface allows you to do just about everything you can in the web interface. Within time, you may find that email is the main way you interact with the bug tracker.
Before you start¶
Launchpad verifies incoming email by looking for a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) signature by the sender, or a DKIM signature by a trusted sender domain, such as GMail. Read our guide on adding your GPG key to your Launchpad account.
Messages that just add comments to a bug or merge proposal are not required to be signed. Messages that contain commands to change the state of an object do need to be signed.
Get started with the email interface¶
Let’s take a look at an imaginary scenario, in which someone reports a bug requesting a screen cast to help demonstrate the bug tracker’s email interface.
Report a bug¶
Reporting a new bug by email is simple. Send an email to
new@bugs.launchpad.net and describe the problem you’re having. Tell
Launchpad which project, distribution or distribution package the bug
affects by using the `affects command.
Important
Affects must be the first command you give in the email when reporting a new bug.
Here’s an example bug report email:
From: you@example.com
To: new@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: Bug tracker email interface needs a screen cast
Body:
I looked on the Launchpad help wiki for information on using the bug tracker's email interface.
I found the user guide helpful but wanted a screen cast to demonstrate it at my local LUG.
affects launchpad-documentation
If the bug affects a distribution package, state the distribution name
followed by a slash and the package name. For example: affects ubuntu/firefox.
Similarly, if the bug affects more than one project or package, use a new line for each project/package:
affects exaile
affects ubuntu/exaile
Assign and target the bug¶
Matthew sees that his boss, Joey, thinks this a good idea, so he assigns it to himself and targets it to a future milestone:
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: I'll tackle this in September
Body:
> What a neat idea! Matt R: can you schedule some time to create a screen cast?
Yeah, this is a great idea. I'll have time for this in September.
affects launchpad-documentation
assignee matthew.revell
milestone 1.2.9
Note that Matthew used the affects command. Earlier, Joey marked
the bug as also affecting another project. Here, affects lets
Matthew ensure the assignee and milestone are applied to the bug as it
affects the Launchpad Documentation project. To use affects in this
way you must place it before the other commands.
Matthew could just as easily have left out the affects command
and Launchpad would have selected the most likely project that bug is
reported against. See the affects command reference for details.
Attach a files to a bug¶
Once Matthew’s started work on the bug, he can attach an image from the screen cast to the bug report to show how he’s getting on.
In most cases, file attachments are useful for screen shots that demonstrate the bug or for log files.
You can attach a file to a bug report by attaching the file to the email you send to Launchpad.
The attachment must have its content-disposition set to “attachment” and not “inline”. Images pasted into emails in Mozilla Thunderbird have a content-disposition of “inline”, so attach them rather than paste them into the email body.
To help prevent unwanted files being attached to bug reports, Launchpad filters files that are unlikely to be intended for the bug report, including:
signatures
VCards
MacOS resource forks.
Edit a bug that affects multiple contexts¶
Every package or project affected by a bug has its own fix status, assignee, milestone and so on. Use the affects command to edit each of these as it affects a particular context.
For example:
From: you@example.com
To: 29760@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: <none>
affects ubuntu/flash-player
status fixreleased
When a bug affects only one package or product, the affects command
is unnecessary.
What to expect when you submit an email¶
Launchpad processes incoming bug mail every three minutes, so a slight delay between sending a mail and receiving a response is normal.
On success¶
If Launchpad processed your email successfully, it will reply by email to confirm the changes. This email is identical to the bug notification that would get if you had made the same changes using the web interface.
For example, if you sent an email like:
From: you@example.com
To: 28919@bugs.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Bug 28919] error signing code of conduct: "str: No public key"
status incomplete
You’ll receive a response like:
From: you@example.com
To: you@example.com
Subject: [Bug 28919] error signing code of conduct: "str: No public key"
Public bug report changed:
https://launchpad.net/launchpad/bugs/28919
Changed in: Launchpad (upstream)
Status: Unconfirmed => Incomplete
On partial failure¶
An email message to new@bugs.launchpad.net can (1) create a bug and (2) attempt a command on the bug. It is possible for the create to succeed but the command to fail. The resulting error message will give you the impression that the whole email failed. You can then create a duplicate bug.
If you get a failure email message and you wish to avoid duplicate bugs, you would be prudent to check the web interface for new bugs before resending your bug with your attempted corrections to your commands.
On failure¶
If an error occurs while processing your email, Launchpad will send you a failure message.
For example, if you forget to GPG-sign an email reporting a new bug, you’ll receive an error message similar to:
From: noreply@bugs.launchpad.net
To: you@example.com
Subject: Submit Request Failure
An error occurred while processing a mail you sent to Launchpad's email
interface.
Error message:
In order to submit bugs via email you have to sign the message with a
GPG key that is registered in Launchpad.
--
For more information about using Launchpad by email, see
https://wiki.launchpad.canonical.com/Bugs/EmailInterface
or send an email to help@launchpad.net
If you’ve waited several minutes and still not received either a change notification or an error message, please let us know.
Filter bug mail¶
If you deal with a large number of bug reports by email, you may find that you want to filter them to stop them cluttering your in-box. Launchpad appends custom headers to bug emails to help you filter them.
You can find out more about the headers that Launchpad uses in our article on bug subscriptions.
Comment on and change the status of a bug¶
If you’ve received a notification about a bug and you want to leave a comment, simply reply to the email. Otherwise, to comment on a bug, send your email to
bugnumber@bugs.launchpad.net. For example:123@bugs.launchpad.net.Here’s an example bug comment email, with a command to change its status to
Confirmed:Joey has also marked the bug as affecting Launchpad itself, using its project name
launchpad.