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Errors, Errors Everywhere But Not a Bug To Be Found

• "ei.ecn doesn't work, could you fix it?"
• "My program doesn't work, what should I do?"
• "I get an error when I troff my file, what's the problem?"

These are common questions that terminal room consultants and site specialists hear frequently. Unfortunately (in their current form), they can not be answered. The same would be true if you brought your car to a mechanic and simply said: "It's broken, please fix it." Immediately the mechanic would ask, "What's broken?", "What is the car doing that makes you think it is broken?"

When you come to ECN personnel with a problem, we need information about your particular situation. Here is a list of items needed to help find a solution to your problem:

1. Name of the machine on which the error occurs
2. Exact command you are running
3. Actual error message(s) you are getting
4. Description of what you consider the problem to be

A good method to collect this necessary information is to make use of the script command. This command will take everything that appears on the screen and read it into the file you specify. Now when you contact someone for assistant in solving your problem, you can either show them a printout of your script file or provide the PATHname to allow them to look at the file directly.

To use the script command, type:

  $  script  collect.temp
  Script started, file is collect.temp
  $  printenv
  $  pwd
  $  command  (type in command giving problems)
  $  control-d
  Script done, file is collect.temp

With this information in hand, the person assisting you will be able to quickly narrow your problem down and begin to solve it without the initial bottleneck of questions. If you have a problem obtaining any of the information above, then see a terminal room consultant.

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