Reproducibility

An important step in troubleshooting is reproducibility.

The goal is to identify how to trigger the issue.

If you can perform a series of steps over and over again and always observe the same issue, then the issue is reproducible and you have a good chance of being able to troubleshoot it.

Note

Here’s an example of a reproducible issue:“Every time I walk, I feel a pain in my right foot”.

Reproducibility is key in troubleshooting. It’s very hard to analyze an issue if it’s not reproducible. You’re unlikely to troubleshoot an issue successfully if you don’t manage to identify the steps to trigger it. When you seek help or report a bug, people will always ask you if your issue is reproducible and what are the steps to perform to reproduce it.

If the issue only happened once and isn’t happening again, or if it happens sometimes but you’re not sure why… you haven’t identified these steps.

Important

Do not report bugs for issues you cannot reproduce. When reporting bugs, also always specify the steps to perform to reproduce the issue.