[Wine] I want to help fix wine, but how do I go about fixing a bug?

[L. Rahyen]

On Sunday April 6 2008 12:09:23 Ron wrote:
> I want to help fix wine, but how do I go about fixing a bug?
>
> I tried looking through the development section, but I wasn't sure how to do
> it. If say I found that when I ran a program under Wine, it showed me a  
> certain error which was:
> > fixme:bitblt:X11DRV_ClientSideDIBCopy potential optimization: pixel
> > format conversion
>
> Then what is a quick summary of how to fix it? Thank you.

	This isn't an error. And in fact in *most* cases fixmes aren't errors and 
should be ignored.
	In this case WINE just telling you that X11DRV_ClientSideDIBCopy in bitblt 
might be faster after some optimizations in the implementation so if 
performance in this function isn't important for your application you should 
ignore this message.
	Real error (which needs to be fixed) is when behavior of Windows program on 
WINE is different than on Windows. And this is what needs to be fixed.
	If you just want to help WINE Project it is good idea to start from some kind 
Janitorial task or look into existing bugs ( http://bugs.winehq.org ) - maybe 
you find one you can fix yourself by sending a patch to wine-patches.
	Few tips: if you didn't get any feedback on your patch and it wasn't accepted 
after 1-2 commit waves - ask on wine-devel why. If still no answer - just 
resend it, maybe it is good but just was lost. If someone find problem(s) in 
your patch - fix it and resend. In other words, sometimes patch can be 
accepted quickly, sometimes after many tries.
	Alternatively, you can try to find problems with applications you are using 
and file bug reports - this also will help WINE Project even if you cannot 
fix these problems yourself.