Searching the issue queues

This page explains how to search for an existing issue to reduce duplicate items.

Where do you find issues? The first place to look is against the module or theme you are using. Suppose you add a module to an existing site and strange things start happening. You select Download, Modules, then the module. In the left sidebar, there are links to the issue queue. Click on one of the links under "All issues" or "Bugs" to reach the issue queue screen.

Choose an "All issues" link to get an idea of activity for the module. When there are a lot of issues, use search to find out if someone has already reported a similar issue to the problem you are having. If you cannot find a similar issue, then you can report your issue. Sometimes the module maintainer will spot duplication you do not notice and your issue will be marked as a duplicate with a link back to the original issue. (The section below explains how to search for issues. You can also View a videocast which shows you how to search through the issues queue. More info about the video cast.)

When you spot issues that are similar but not the same, choose between opening a new issue or adding an extra case to an existing issue. When you open a new issue, put in links to the existing issues and explain why your case is different. When you add a new case to an existing issue, mention the difference. You add a new case to an existing issue when the problem is in the same area of the same module and you get the same or similar symptoms but from different input or slightly different steps before the error.

Note that your issue may be bumped up to the current development version then back ported to your release. When you report an issue for Drupal 5 or 6, the developer may change the release to HEAD, fix the issue for 7 then introduce a fix for 6 then perhaps fix the code for 5. If the developer no longer uses the old version of Drupal, you may be asked to perform the tests.

Search Issues

You can get to the issues search screen by selecting the Issues link that appears in the right hand user block when you are logged in. Start from there when you have a new problem with an otherwise stable site and you cannot pin the problem down to a new component.

Search for (keyword)

You can enter a keyword to search for that keyword.

Project

The search issues screen lets you select a project. The projects are split into categories including documentation, modules, and themes. Start with a search of the most recently added component then go to a general search of <all>.

Status

As issues are addressed by developers, they go through changes in status. If you are trying to find an issue that has not been fully addressed, choose "Open issues". If you are using an old version of a module, however, it's possible that your issue has already been closed, and you can choose "Any" to make sure you also see issues that have been closed, marked as "won't fix", etc.

Category

A category-based search will help you differentiate between bugs and new feature requests.

Advanced Search

The advanced search helps developers find who is assigned to fix an issue or participate in testing.

Search Drupal

Also search the whole of the Drupal site for the symptoms of your problem. You may find forum discussions that link to existing issues. Vague errors, such as blank screens, can have many causes. The forum topics tend to step through the diagnostic steps to take before reporting an issue.

When you are in the Drupal Search page, you are in a tab labeled Content and another tab is labeled Issues, giving you another way into the Issues search.

The following example is the result of a search for blank screen. The first entry helps you by mentioning a module. You can skip the entry if you do not use the module. The last entry is not so helpful in the title because it mentions only a submit problem but the start of the description gives you useful detail It goes to a blank screen for any kind of submit (post, edit, etc.).

Try Keyword Combinations

blank screen might be blank page in some issue reports and forum discussions.

Google Drupal

When you are desperate, try Googling Drupal. A search for drupal blank screen gives you a different result from the Drupal search and is of use when you use external code. A problem with jquery within Drupal might be a general problem with jquery that is described at a non Drupal site.