
          Introduction to the bug control and manipulation mailserver
                                       
   In addition to the mailserver on request@bugs.debian.org which allows
   the retrieval of bug data and documentation by email, there is another
   server on control@bugs.debian.org which also allows bug reports to be
   manipulated in various ways.
   
   The control server works just like the request server, except that it
   has some additional commands; in fact, it's the same program. The two
   addresses are only separated to avoid users making mistakes and
   causing problems while merely trying to request information.
   
   Please see the introduction to the request server available on the
   World Wide Web, in the file bug-maint-mailcontrol.txt, or by sending
   help to either mailserver, for details of the basics of operating the
   mailservers and the common commands available when mailing either
   address.
   
   The reference card for the mailservers is available via the WWW, in
   bug-mailserver-refcard.txt or by email using the refcard command).
   
               Commands available only at the control mailserver
                                       
   close bugnumber
          Close bug report #bugnumber.
          
          A notification is sent to the user who reported the bug, but
          (in contrast to mailing bugnumber-done@bugs) the text of the
          mail which caused the bug to be closed is _not_ included in
          that notification. The maintainer who closes a report should
          ensure, probably by sending a separate message, that the user
          who reported the bug knows why it is being closed.
          
   reassign bugnumber package
          Records that bug #bugnumber is a bug in package. This can be
          used to set the package if the user forgot the pseudo-header,
          or to change an earlier assignment. No notifications are sent
          to anyone (other than the usual information in the processing
          transcript).
          
   reopen bugnumber [originator-address|=]
          Reopens #bugnumber if it is closed.
          
          By default you are recorded as the originator of the report, so
          that you will get the ack when it is closed again. This is to
          avoid flooding potentially-naive users with many notifications
          about the same report.
          
          If you supply an originator-address the originator will be set
          to the address you supply; you can use = to keep the originator
          the same as it was before. It is usually a good idea to tell
          the person who is about to be recorded as the originator that
          you're reopening the report, so that they will know to expect
          the ack which they'll get when it is closed again.
          
          If the bug is not closed then reopen won't do anything, not
          even change the originator. There is no way to change the
          originator of an open bug report (this is deliberate, so that
          you can't have a bug be closed and then deleted 28 days later
          without someone being told about it).
          
   forwarded bugnumber address
          Notes that bugnumber has been forwarded to the upstream
          maintainer at address. This does not actually forward the
          report. This can be used to change an existing incorrect
          forwarded-to address, or to record a new one for a bug that
          wasn't previously noted as having been forwarded.
          
   notforwarded bugnumber
          Forgets any idea that bugnumber has been forwarded to any
          upstream maintainer. If the bug was not recorded as having been
          forwarded then this will do nothing.
          
   retitle bugnumber new-title
          Changes the title of a bug report to that specified (the
          default is the Subject mail header from the original report.
          
          Unlike most of the other bug-manipulation commands when used on
          one of a set of merged reports this will change the title of
          only the individual bug requested, and not all those with which
          it is merged.
          
   merge bugnumber bugnumber ...
          Merges two or more bug reports. When reports are merged
          opening, closing, marking or unmarking as forwarded and
          reassigning any of the bugs to a new package will have an
          identical effect on all of the merged reports.
          
          Before bugs can be merged they must be in exactly the same
          state: either all open or all closed, with the same
          forwarded-to upstream author address or all not marked as
          forwarded, and all assigned to the same package or package(s)
          (an exact string comparison is done on the package to which the
          bug is assigned). If they don't start out in the same state you
          should use reassign, reopen and so forth to make sure that they
          are before using merge.
          
          If any of the bugs listed in a merge command is already merged
          with another bug then all the reports merged with any of the
          ones listed will all be merged together. Merger is like
          equality: it is reflexive, transitive and symmetric.
          
          Merging reports causes a note to appear on each report's logs;
          on the WWW pages this is includes links to the other bugs.
          
          Merged reports are all expired simultaneously, and only when
          all of the reports each separately meet the criteria for
          expiry.
          
   unmerge bugnumber
          Disconnects a bug report from any other reports with which it
          may have been merged. If the report listed is merged with
          several others then they are all left merged with each other;
          only their associations with the bug explicitly named are
          removed.
          
          If many bug reports are merged and you wish to split them into
          two separate groups of merged reports you must unmerge each
          report in one of the new groups separately and then merge them
          into the required new group.
          
          You can only unmerge one report with each unmerge command; if
          you want to disconnect more than one bug simply include several
          unmerge commands in your message.
          
     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
    Ian Jackson / owner@bugs.debian.org. 20th July 1996.
