

<h1>Methods of accessing the bug tracking system logs</h1>

<h2>Accessing active bug reports</h2>

<p>Each message received at or sent by the bug processing system is
logged and made available in a number of ways.</p>

<p>The primary access method is to use the web pages. See the
forms on the <a href="./">main BTS page</a> at
<code>http://bugs.debian.org/</code></p>

<p>There is a <a href="server-request">mailserver</a> which can send
bug reports as plain text on request.  To use it send the word
<code>help</code> as the sole contents of an email to
<code>request@bugs.debian.org</code> (the <code>Subject</code> of the
message is ignored), or read the instructions <a href="server-request">on
the World Wide Web</a> or in the file <code>bug-log-mailserver.txt</code>.</p>

<h2>Accessing archived bug reports</h2>

<p>Each closed bug report is archived 28 days after the last message
relating to it is received and filed. This means that it is no longer
possible to access it or change anything about it using the
<code>control</code> and <code>service</code> bots. However, the
reports are still accessible for viewing.</p>

<p>You can search the bug report archive using the <a href="./">WWW
forms</a> at <code>http://bugs.debian.org/</code>, simply select the
<q>archived bugs</q> option.</p>

<p>Note that it doesn't contain the oldest closed bug reports, only those
after #40000, approximately.</p>

<h2>Accessing the raw bug data</h2>

<p>If you need to get hold of the raw data used by the bug tracking system,
you can mirror it using rsync from bugs-mirror.debian.org. The relevant
modules are bts-spool-db (for the active bug spool), bts-spool-archive (for
bugs that have been closed for a while and thus archived), and
bts-spool-index (for the bug index files).</p>

<p>At the time of writing, the active spool is about 2.5GB and the archived
spool is about 10GB. If you only need a sample for testing purposes, please
consider downloading only part of the active spool rather than the whole
thing.</p>

<p>Please do not rely on *.status files in the bug spools, as they are
obsolete, for compatibility purposes only, and will be removed at some point
in the future. Use the *.summary files instead.</p>

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