If you have a problem with Obnam, and you want to report it (please do!), including the following information is helpful and makes it easier to figure out what the problem is.

• What is the problem?
• The version of Obnam and Larch you're using, and how you installed it.
• The exact command line you used. Copy-paste it instead of typing it again into the mail.
• If there's an error message, copy-paste that into the mail.
• The output of obnam --dump-config, which includes the full configuration. Include it as an attachment.
• If you can reproduce the problem while running with --log=obnam.log and --trace=obnamlib options, include a suitable amount from the end of the log file. The suitable amount may depend on the situation, but if you give the last two hundred lines, and it's not enough, we'll ask for more.
• The output of the env command, in the same terminal window in which you ran Obnam. (Again, as an attachment.)
• If your bug is about performance, please run Obnam under profiling, and mail Lars or the obnam mailing list the profiling file. To run Obnam under profiling, install the Python profile (python-profiler package in Debian/Ubuntu), and set the OBNAM_PROFILE environment variable to the name of the file with the profiling output (that's the file you should send by mail). For example: OBNAM_PROFILE=obnam.prof obnam backup would run the backup under the profiler, and write the result to obnam.prof.

Thanks!