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From:   Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>
To:     Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc:     linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [RFC PATCH v1 18/26] docs: reporting-bugs: let users optimize their notes
Date:   Thu,  1 Oct 2020 10:39:39 +0200
Message-Id: <1cac44ddfd3aa33bfa485b47951690fb88d4f9ee.1601541165.git.linux@leemhuis.info>
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The reader now users the mainline kernel and is getting closer to
reporting the issue, so it's a good point to let the person recheck and
optimize the notes how to reproduce the issue. It's also a good moment
to make him search again for existing reports, as he might have learned
something in the previous steps.

Signed-off-by: Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-bugs.rst | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-bugs.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-bugs.rst
index 2a7d13562905..c9a3491bf4db 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-bugs.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-bugs.rst
@@ -760,6 +760,26 @@ use one of those and help their users, head over to the section "Details about
 reporting issues only occurring in older kernel version lines" below.
 
 
+Optimize description to reproduce issue
+---------------------------------------
+
+    *Optimize your notes: try to find and write the most straightforward way
+    to reproduce your issue. Make sure the end result has all the important
+    details, and at the same time is easy to read and understand for others
+    that hear about it for the first time. And if you learned something in this
+    process, consider searching again for existing reports about the issue.*
+
+An unnecessarily complex report makes it quite hard for others to understand
+your report later, thus try to find a reproducer that's straight forward to
+describe and thus easy to understand in written form. Make it long enough and
+include all important details, but at the same time try to keep it as short
+as possible.
+
+In this in the previous steps you likely have learned a thing or two about the
+issue you face. Use this knowledge and search again for existing reports
+instead you can join.
+
+
 .. ############################################################################
 .. Temporary marker added while this document is rewritten. Sections above
 .. are new and dual-licensed under GPLv2+ and CC-BY 4.0, those below are old.
-- 
2.26.2