41 Using the Error Reporting Tool

The error reporting tool allows you to submit errors encountered during builds to a central database. Outside of the build environment, you can use a web interface to browse errors, view statistics, and query for errors. The tool works using a client-server system where the client portion is integrated with the installed Yocto Project Source Directory (e.g. poky). The server receives the information collected and saves it in a database.

There is a live instance of the error reporting server at https://errors.yoctoproject.org. When you want to get help with build failures, you can submit all of the information on the failure easily and then point to the URL in your bug report or send an email to the mailing list.

Note

If you send error reports to this server, the reports become publicly visible.

41.1 Enabling and Using the Tool

By default, the error reporting tool is disabled. You can enable it by inheriting the report-error.bbclass class by adding the following statement to the end of your local.conf file in your Build Directory:

INHERIT += "report-error"

By default, the error reporting feature stores information in ${LOG_DIR}/error-report. However, you can specify a directory to use by adding the following to your local.conf file:

ERR_REPORT_DIR = "path"

Enabling error reporting causes the build process to collect the errors and store them in a file as previously described. When the build system encounters an error, it includes a command as part of the console output. You can run the command to send the error file to the server. For example, the following command sends the errors to an upstream server:

$ send-error-report /home/brandusa/project/poky/build/tmp/log/error-report/error_report_201403141617.txt

In the previous example, the errors are sent to a public database available at https://errors.yoctoproject.org, which is used by the entire community. If you specify a particular server, you can send the errors to a different database. Use the following command for more information on available options:

$ send-error-report --help

When sending the error file, you are prompted to review the data being sent as well as to provide a name and optional email address. Once you satisfy these prompts, the command returns a link from the server that corresponds to your entry in the database. For example, here is a typical link: https://errors.yoctoproject.org/Errors/Details/9522/

Following the link takes you to a web interface where you can browse, query the errors, and view statistics.

41.2 Disabling the Tool

To disable the error reporting feature, simply remove or comment out the following statement from the end of your local.conf file in your Build Directory:

INHERIT += "report-error"

41.3 Setting Up Your Own Error Reporting Server

If you want to set up your own error reporting server, you can obtain the code from the Git repository at https://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit/cgit.cgi/error-report-web/. Instructions on how to set it up are in the README document.