Really getting some help guidelines to add, OpenBSD style

[Chris Bennett <..hidden..>]

I haven't used any version of Linux for quite a while, now.
Coming from the OpenBSD world, the mailing lists are harsh, Wild West
shoot first and ask questions later. Which, after getting used to the
different style is just fine if you don't get your feelings hurt easily.
However, despite that, questions do get answered.

In a recent request for help here:

On Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 08:27:35PM +0100, Erik Huelsmann wrote:

> I'm afraid the other information you've provided so far doesn't indicate
> why setup.pl would crash or simply return "nothing" (usually, crashing is
> *the* reason to return nothing).
> 
> Is there anything you can tell us about your system that can be of
> influence? Was the system a clean install when you started working on it?
> How come your recommends are turned off? Answers to that kind of thing.

In this case, different versions of Ubuntu were mixed together.
I've made the same mistake when upgrading OpenBSD myself. I forgot to update
the PKG_PATH i.e. the path to the new packages to update the old ones. Ugh!

What I am seeing that is lacking in some requests for help is indeed very
threadbare information about the system.

Please provide MUCH more information when getting failures of the software.
Which version installed. Fresh OS install or upgraded version?
Which repositories are being used for all of the other software, exactly.
Anything custom built?

Which version of LedgerSMB is being installed? And where, exactly, is it
being installed from?
Is this a fresh install or an upgrade? If an upgrade, which older version?

Please also provide any relevant sections of the logs. If you find nothing
in the logs, please also mention which one did NOT contain any errors so
that we can also use that lack of error also.

I would also like to see a list of all of the software installed on your box.
We could possibly find that some other software is interacting badly with
LedgerSMB. There might be a way to fix the problem. But possibly NOT!

Finally, occasionally, either due to age or crappy components, hardware
either subtly fails or as all of our software moves forward, becomes
incompatible. I had to retire an old box recently because it just couldn't
handle the newer versions of X.

So, if you can, check your memory for failure, look at the voltages from
the power supply, etc.
I wouldn't make hardware very likely to be the problem, but it's occasionally
happened to me.


AND OF COURSE!!!! IF YOU ARE NEW TO LedgerSMB and have any problems,
PLEASE post your problems. We really need to know or we can't fix it!

Anything the fails or is just annoying won't get fixed otherwise!

Thanks,
Chris Bennett



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