			Reporting Bugs

Code Correctness

	What's a bug?  Well, if a game program core-dumps under normal
	conditions, that's definitely a bug.  If a player can manufacture
	game items (circumventing the intended game semantics) then
	that's a bug too.

	If you don't agree about an existing semantic, or you don't like
	the format of a particular command output, that's NOT a bug!

	If you do have a bug to report, I will only pay attention if
	I have a chance of fixing it.  Bug reports which vaguely
	describe behavior, e.g., "Sometimes when I run the ship
	command, it gives me funny output" will be ignored!  Bug
	reports should include game output, stack traces if possible
	(assuming a core dump is produced), and the major, minor, and
	patch level of the version you're running.

	Once you find a bug, try and reproduce it.  If you can't,
	then say so.  If you can, say that too.  If you can't reproduce
	it, chances are pretty good that I can't either.

	If you have dbx, gdb, or saber, try running the offending game
	section under your debugger -- preferably saber -- and try
	and locate the area of code responsible.

	If you can fix the bug and verify the fix, then you can bet
	that I'll be much more interested in your bug report.  Response
	time is likely to be greater too!

Semantics

	If you want to get into a discussion of game semantics, the
	best place to do that is rec.games.empire, or your favorite
	empire-hackers mailing list.  Don't send me a bug report
	about it!

	Naturally, I hope you don't find any bugs.  If you do,
	go through the above steps, and mail the resulting output
	to me -- children@empire.net
