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+Introduction to the bug control and manipulation mailserver
+
+ In addition to the mailserver on request@bugs.debian.org which allows
+ the retrieval of bug data and documentation by email, there is another
+ server on control@bugs.debian.org which also allows bug reports to be
+ manipulated in various ways.
+
+ The control server works just like the request server, except that it
+ has some additional commands; in fact, it's the same program. The two
+ addresses are only separated to avoid users making mistakes and
+ causing problems while merely trying to request information.
+
+ Since the commands specific to the control server actually change the
+ status of a bug, a notification about processing the commands is sent
+ to the maintainer of the package(s) the changed bugs are assigned to.
+ Additionally the mail to the server and the resulting changes are
+ logged in the bug report and thereby available in the WWW pages.
+
+ Please see the introduction to the request server available on the
+ World Wide Web, in the file bug-log-mailserver.txt, or by sending help
+ to either mailserver, for details of the basics of operating the
+ mailservers and the common commands available when mailing either
+ address.
+
+ The reference card for the mailservers is available via the WWW, in
+ bug-mailserver-refcard.txt or by email using the refcard command.
+
+Commands available at the control mailserver
+
+ reassign bugnumber package [ version ]
+ Records that bug #bugnumber is a bug in package. This can be
+ used to set the package if the user forgot the pseudo-header,
+ or to change an earlier assignment. No notifications are sent
+ to anyone (other than the usual information in the processing
+ transcript).
+
+ If you supply a version, the bug tracking system will note that
+ the bug affects that version of the newly-assigned package.
+
+ reopen bugnumber [ originator-address | = | ! ]
+ Reopens #bugnumber if it is closed.
+
+ By default, or if you specify =, the original submitter is
+ still as the originator of the report, so that they will get
+ the ack when it is closed again.
+
+ If you supply an originator-address the originator will be set
+ to the address you supply. If you wish to become the new
+ originator of the reopened report you can use the ! shorthand
+ or specify your own email address.
+
+ It is usually a good idea to tell the person who is about to be
+ recorded as the originator that you're reopening the report, so
+ that they will know to expect the ack which they'll get when it
+ is closed again.
+
+ If the bug is not closed then reopen won't do anything, not
+ even change the originator. To change the originator of an open
+ bug report, use the submitter command; note that this will
+ inform the original submitter of the change.
+
+ If the bug was recorded as being closed in a particular version
+ of a package but recurred in a later version, it is better to
+ use the found command instead.
+
+ found bugnumber [ version ]
+ Record that #bugnumber has been encountered in the given
+ version of the package to which it is assigned.
+
+ The bug tracking system uses this information, in conjunction
+ with fixed versions recorded when closing bugs, to display
+ lists of bugs open in various versions of each package. It
+ considers a bug to be open when it has no fixed version, or
+ when it has been found more recently than it has been fixed.
+
+ If no version is given, then the list of fixed versions for the
+ bug is cleared. This is identical to the behaviour of reopen.
+
+ This command was introduced in preference to reopen because it
+ was difficult to add a version to that command's syntax without
+ suffering ambiguity.
+
+ notfound bugnumber version
+ Remove the record that #bugnumber was encountered in the given
+ version of the package to which it is assigned.
+
+ This differs from closing the bug at that version in that the
+ bug is not listed as fixed in that version either; no
+ information about that version will be known. It is intended
+ for fixing mistakes in the record of when a bug was found.
+
+ submitter bugnumber originator-address | !
+ Changes the originator of #bugnumber to originator-address.
+
+ If you wish to become the new originator of the report you can
+ use the ! shorthand or specify your own email address.
+
+ While the reopen command changes the originator of other bugs
+ merged with the one being reopened, submitter does not affect
+ merged bugs.
+
+ forwarded bugnumber address
+ Notes that bugnumber has been forwarded to the upstream
+ maintainer at address. This does not actually forward the
+ report. This can be used to change an existing incorrect
+ forwarded-to address, or to record a new one for a bug that
+ wasn't previously noted as having been forwarded.
+
+ notforwarded bugnumber
+ Forgets any idea that bugnumber has been forwarded to any
+ upstream maintainer. If the bug was not recorded as having been
+ forwarded then this will do nothing.
+
+ retitle bugnumber new-title
+ Changes the title of a bug report to that specified (the
+ default is the Subject mail header from the original report).
+
+ Unlike most of the other bug-manipulation commands when used on
+ one of a set of merged reports this will change the title of
+ only the individual bug requested, and not all those with which
+ it is merged.
+
+ severity bugnumber severity
+ Set the severity level for bug report #bugnumber to severity.
+ No notification is sent to the user who reported the bug.
+
+ Severities are critical, grave, serious, important, normal,
+ minor, and wishlist.
+
+ For their meanings please consult the general developers'
+ documentation for the bug system.
+
+ clone bugnumber NewID [ new IDs ... ]
+ The clone control command allows you to duplicate a bug report.
+ It is useful in the case where a single report actually
+ indicates that multiple distinct bugs have occurred. "New IDs"
+ are negative numbers, separated by spaces, which may be used in
+ subsequent control commands to refer to the newly duplicated
+ bugs. A new report is generated for each new ID.
+
+ Example usage:
+
+ clone 12345 -1 -2
+ reassign -1 foo
+ retitle -1 foo: foo sucks
+ reassign -2 bar
+ retitle -2 bar: bar sucks when used with foo
+ severity -2 wishlist
+ clone 123456 -3
+ reassign -3 foo
+ retitle -3 foo: foo sucks
+ merge -1 -3
+
+ merge bugnumber bugnumber ...
+ Merges two or more bug reports. When reports are merged
+ opening, closing, marking or unmarking as forwarded and
+ reassigning any of the bugs to a new package will have an
+ identical effect on all of the merged reports.
+
+ Before bugs can be merged they must be in exactly the same
+ state: either all open or all closed, with the same
+ forwarded-to upstream author address or all not marked as
+ forwarded, all assigned to the same package or package(s) (an
+ exact string comparison is done on the package to which the bug
+ is assigned), and all of the same severity. If they don't start
+ out in the same state you should use reassign, reopen and so
+ forth to make sure that they are before using merge. Titles are
+ not required to match, and will not be affected by the merge.
+ Tags are not required to match, either, they will be joined.
+
+ If any of the bugs listed in a merge command is already merged
+ with another bug then all the reports merged with any of the
+ ones listed will all be merged together. Merger is like
+ equality: it is reflexive, transitive and symmetric.
+
+ Merging reports causes a note to appear on each report's logs;
+ on the WWW pages this is includes links to the other bugs.
+
+ Merged reports are all expired simultaneously, and only when
+ all of the reports each separately meet the criteria for
+ expiry.
+
+ forcemerge bugnumber bugnumber ...
+ Forcibly merges two or more bug reports. The first bug listed
+ is the master bug, and its settings (the settings which must be
+ equal in a normal merge) are assigned to the bugs listed next.
+ To avoid typos erroneously merging bugs, bugs must be in the
+ same package. See the text above for a description of what
+ merging means.
+
+ Note that this makes it possible to close bugs by merging; you
+ are responsible for notifying submitters with an appropriate
+ close message if you do this.
+
+ unmerge bugnumber
+ Disconnects a bug report from any other reports with which it
+ may have been merged. If the report listed is merged with
+ several others then they are all left merged with each other;
+ only their associations with the bug explicitly named are
+ removed.
+
+ If many bug reports are merged and you wish to split them into
+ two separate groups of merged reports you must unmerge each
+ report in one of the new groups separately and then merge them
+ into the required new group.
+
+ You can only unmerge one report with each unmerge command; if
+ you want to disconnect more than one bug simply include several
+ unmerge commands in your message.
+
+ tags bugnumber [ + | - | = ] tag [ tag ... ]
+ Sets tags for the bug report #bugnumber. No notification is
+ sent to the user who reported the bug. Setting the action to +
+ means to add each given tag, - means to remove each given tag,
+ and = means to ignore the current tags and set them afresh to
+ the list provided. The default action is adding.
+
+ Example usage:
+
+ # same as 'tags 123456 + patch'
+ tags 123456 patch
+
+ # same as 'tags 123456 + help security'
+ tags 123456 help security
+
+ # add 'fixed' and 'pending' tags
+ tags 123456 + fixed pending
+
+ # remove 'unreproducible' tag
+ tags 123456 - unreproducible
+
+ # set tags to exactly 'moreinfo' and 'unreproducible'
+ tags 123456 = moreinfo unreproducible
+
+ Available tags currently include patch, wontfix, moreinfo,
+ unreproducible, help, pending, fixed, fixed-in-experimental,
+ fixed-upstream, security, upstream, confirmed, d-i, ipv6, lfs,
+ l10n, potato, woody, sarge, sarge-ignore, etch, etch-ignore,
+ sid, and experimental.
+
+ For their meanings please consult the general developers'
+ documentation for the bug system.
+
+ block bugnumber by bug ...
+ Note that the fix for the first bug is blocked the the other
+ listed bugs.
+
+ unblock bugnumber by bug ...
+ Note that the fix for the first bug is no longer blocked the
+ the other listed bugs.
+
+ close bugnumber [ fixed-version ] (deprecated)
+ Close bug report #bugnumber.
+
+ A notification is sent to the user who reported the bug, but
+ (in contrast to mailing bugnumber-done@bugs.debian.org) the
+ text of the mail which caused the bug to be closed is not
+ included in that notification. The maintainer who closes a
+ report needs to ensure, probably by sending a separate message,
+ that the user who reported the bug knows why it is being
+ closed. The use of this command is therefore deprecated. See
+ the developer's information about how to close a bug properly.
+
+ If you supply a fixed-version, the bug tracking system will
+ note that the bug was fixed in that version of the package.
+
+ package [ packagename ... ]
+ Limits the following commands so that they will only apply to
+ bugs filed against the listed packages. You can list one or
+ more packages. If you don't list any packages, the following
+ commands will apply to all bugs. You're encouraged to use this
+ as a safety feature in case you accidentally use the wrong bug
+ numbers.
+
+ Example usage:
+
+ package foo
+ reassign 123456 bar 1.0-1
+
+ package bar
+ retitle 123456 bar: bar sucks
+ severity 123456 normal
+
+ package
+ severity 234567 wishlist
+
+ owner bugnumber address | !
+ Sets address to be the "owner" of #bugnumber. The owner of a
+ bug claims responsibility for fixing it and will receive all
+ mail regarding it. This is useful to share out work in cases
+ where a package has a team of maintainers.
+
+ If you wish to become the owner of the bug yourself, you can
+ use the ! shorthand or specify your own email address.
+
+ noowner bugnumber
+ Forgets any idea that the bug has an owner other than the usual
+ maintainer. If the bug had no owner recorded then this will do
+ nothing.
+
+ #...
+ One-line comment. The # must be at the start of the line. The
+ text of comments will be included in the acknowledgement sent
+ to the sender and to affected maintainers, so you can use this
+ to document the reasons for your commands.
+
+ quit
+ stop
+ thank...
+ --...
+ Tells the control server to stop processing the message; the
+ remainder of the message can include explanations, signatures
+ or anything else, none of it will be detected by the control
+ server.
+ _________________________________________________________________
+
+ Debian BTS administrators <owner@bugs.debian.org>
+
+ Debian bug tracking system
+ Copyright © 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997, 2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd,
+ 1994-1997 Ian Jackson.
+ _________________________________________________________________
+