Hi folks, Of late, I have received a large number of well-intentioned but incomplete bug reports. While I am always pleased when people let me know about the in my programs that need improvement, it seems prudent for me to spend a little bit of time educating all of you in the art of reporting bugs. The most important thing for you to remember is this: +------------------------------------------------------+ | If I cannot replicate the problem you are seeing, I | | will not be not be able to fix it. | +------------------------------------------------------+ I do not knowingly release software with show-stopping bugs (i.e. bugs that cause crashes or generate trap files). Thus, if you do see such an event, it is likely that I am not aware of it. You need not only to tell me *that* it happened, but to show me *how* to make it happen. Often showing me involves sending the data or project file that triggers the problem. Other times it involves sending me an explicit "recipe" of steps to take which demonstrate the problem. Sometimes both. When I receive a bug report with insufficient information, I cannot do anything until we have exchanged email a few more times. By sending me what I need to replicate the problem, you may reduce the amount of communication required and speed up the response. I have a somewhat long list of suggestions for reporting bugs at this web page: http://leonardo.phys.washington.edu/~ravel/software/exafs/bugs.html If you have not read that page recently, please take a few minutes to do so again. Regards, B -- Bruce Ravel ----------------------------------- ravel@phys.washington.edu Code 6134, Building 3, Room 405 Naval Research Laboratory phone: (1) 202 767 2268 Washington DC 20375, USA fax: (1) 202 767 4642 NRL Synchrotron Radiation Consortium (NRL-SRC) Beamlines X11a, X11b, X23b National Synchrotron Light Source Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973 My homepage: http://feff.phys.washington.edu/~ravel EXAFS software: http://feff.phys.washington.edu/~ravel/software/exafs/