querybts - view outstanding bug reports on a debbugs server

querybts [options] <package | number [number2]...>

querybts is designed to provide a convenient and easy-to-use interface to the Debbugs bug tracking system, as used by Debian and several other projects. You can specify a package name or one or more report numbers.

The program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`--'). A summary of options are included below.

-h, --help

Show summary of options.

-v, --version

Show the version of querybts and exit.

-A, --archive

Browse archived bugs instead of current reports. Debbugs servers clear out closed reports after 28 days and place them in a separate archive; this option allows those older, resolved reports to be viewed (at least for servers that maintain an archive).

-B SYSTEM, --bts=SYSTEM

Instead of the Debian bug server, use the server specified by SYSTEM. You can specify help to get a list of supported servers.

-m, --mbox

Retrieve the given bug number as a mailbox file, instead of viewing it. It will be dumped to standard output.

--proxy=PROXY, --http_proxy=PROXY

Specify the WWW proxy server to use to handle the query of the bug tracking system. You should only need this parameter if you are behind a firewall.

-s, --source

Query on source packages, rather than binary packages.

-w, --web

Launch a web browser to view bug reports, instead of using the internal interface. This will also allow you to see all of the discussion about a particular bug, instead of the initial report. (Only the first bug number on the command line will be opened.)

querybts supports a simple run control file syntax. Commands are read from /etc/reportbug.conf and $HOME/.reportbugrc with commands in the latter overriding those in the former. Commands are not case sensitive, and currently take 0 or 1 arguments; arguments containing whitespace must be enclosed in quotes. Any line starting with # is taken to be a comment and will be ignored.

Generally, options corresponding to the GNU long options for querybts are supported, without leading -- sequences. See the default /etc/reportbug.conf for all acceptable options. Options only supported by reportbug will be silently ignored.

BROWSER

Colon-separated list of web browsers to try; they will be tried in order, until one succeeds. You can use %s to substitute the URL to be used, and %% to insert a literal percent sign. If no %s is specified, the URL will be supplied as a normal argument.

http_proxy

Provides the address of a proxy server to handle the BTS query. This should be a valid http URL for a proxy server, including any required port number (simply specifying a hostname, or omitting a port other than 80, WILL NOT WORK).

Python's getopt module is pickier than GNU getopt() about the order of command line arguments; all switches must be specified before the package name.

You must have the python-newt package installed to run this program.

reportbug(1)

Chris Lawrence <lawrencc@debian.org>.