Thread: A script to make some bug report easier

I wrote a small script to make PostgreSQL bug report easier. It prints the
uname, pg_config and try to backtrace all core dumps in data directory.
Also, it provides a mode which you can interact with gdb. Put this shell
script together in PG bin directory with other executables.

It does not cover possible bugs like slow query, hang, etc, but it could
be a help for core dumps errors (as we have seen several recently). There
are some loose end of the script, for example, it assumes core dumps are
under data directory -- for some OS, it is not the truth. If people think
this is useful, I will make it complete.

Also, on a wild thinking, is there any good to generate explain analyze
result into XML format, which might be a step to ease the automatic
analysis for suspecious query plans.

Regards,
Qingqing

ps. Still can't send attachment -- "binary in non-binary group" :-(

---

#! /bin/sh
#
# Bug reporter for PostgreSQL
# Note: Put this file within the same directory of PostgreSQL executable programs
#

me=`basename $0`

help="\
PostgreSQL bug reporter

Usage: $me [options...]

Options:
  --datadir=DIR             the data files are in DIR (default \`./data/')
  --outputdir=DIR           place output files in DIR (default \`.')
  --interact=Y/N            interact with gdb ('y' or 'n', default 'n')

Report bugs to <pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org>."

: ${outputdir=.}
: ${datadir=./data/}
: ${interact="n"}

# ----------
# Parse command line options
# ----------
while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]
do
    case $1 in
        --help|-\?)
                echo "$help"
                exit 0;;
        --outputdir=*)
                outputdir=`expr "x$1" : "x--outputdir=\(.*\)"`
                shift;;
        --datadir=*)
                datadir=`expr "x$1" : "x--datadir=\(.*\)"`
                shift;;
    --interact=*)
        interact=`expr "x$1" : "x--interact=\(.*\)"`
        shift;;
        -*)
                echo "$me: invalid argument $1" 1>&2
                exit 1;;
    esac
done

# ----------
# Test if directories, files are ok
# ----------
for i in $outputdir $datadir; do
    if ! test -d "$i"; then
        echo "Directory $outputdir does not exist"
        exit 1
    fi
done
for i in ./pg_config ./postgres; do
    if ! test -f "$i"; then
        echo "File $i does not exist"
        exit 1
    fi
done

report="$outputdir/bugreport.rpt"
tempcmd="./temp.cmd"

# ----------
# Some preparation
# ----------
CC=`./pg_config | grep "CC = " | cut -d= -f2`
echo "file ./postgres" > "$tempcmd"
echo "bt" >> "$tempcmd"
if [ "$interact" != "y" ]; then
    echo "q" >> "$tempcmd"
fi

SPACE=" ********* "

{
    # ----------
    # Print system information
    # ----------
    echo "$SPACE System Information $SPACE"
    echo "uname -a: `uname -a`"
    echo "\$CC --version: `$CC --version | head -n 1`"
    echo

    # ----------
    # Print pg_config information
    # ----------
    echo "$SPACE pg_config Information $SPACE"
    ./pg_config
    echo

    # ----------
    # Backtrace core dumps in datadir
    # ----------
    echo "$SPACE Core dumps Information $SPACE"
    nc=0;
    for i in `find "$datadir" -name "core*"`; do
        separator="Backtrace stack of $i"
        echo $separator
        echo `echo "$separator" | sed 's/./_/g'`

        gdb -c $i --command "$tempcmd"
        nc=`expr $nc + 1`
    done
    echo
    if test $nc == 0; then
        echo "No core dump found in $datadir"
    else
        echo "$nc core dump(s) found!"
    fi
    echo

    # ----------
    # More ...
    #  - can we add "-l <logfile>" information
    # ----------
    echo "$SPACE User session $SPACE"
    echo "Give a short description of the bug"
    echo
    echo "__________________________________"
    echo "Details"
    echo
    echo "___________________________________"
    echo
    echo "Bug report is generated at $report."
    echo "Please check it and fill the user session, then email it to <pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org>."
    echo "Thank you!"

} | tee $report

# ----------
# Cleanup
# ----------
rm "$tempcmd"

exit 0

Qingqing Zhou <zhouqq@cs.toronto.edu> writes:
> I wrote a small script to make PostgreSQL bug report easier. It prints the
> uname, pg_config and try to backtrace all core dumps in data directory.

Does that actually work?  On most of the platforms I use, gdb doesn't
get far with only a core file, you have to tell it which executable file
to reference.  Worse, many distros ship executables stripped, which
means gdb'ing is a pretty useless activity anyway.

A bigger problem is that we've largely stopped shipping shell scripts as
part of the distro, because they don't work on Windows.

            regards, tom lane

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005, Tom Lane wrote:
>
> Does that actually work?  On most of the platforms I use, gdb doesn't
> get far with only a core file, you have to tell it which executable file
> to reference.
Yeah, it works. There is a command in the script like:
    file ./postgres

> Worse, many distros ship executables stripped, which means gdb'ing is a
> pretty useless activity anyway.
>
True.

> A bigger problem is that we've largely stopped shipping shell scripts as
> part of the distro, because they don't work on Windows.
>
True. Do you believe any need to design/write a tool like automating bug
report?

Regards,
Qingqing