Bug Reports
-----------

  All bug reports for Beta versions of the program must be made
to this group. Bug reports for beta versions sent to the bug
reports group will be ignored.

  Before posting a bug report please read or re-read the POV-Ray
documentation for the feature you are having problems with. Also,
please try to keep up with all of the bug report messages posted
to this group. We would like to keep duplicate bug reports down
to a minimum to avoid wasting our time and yours.

  Do not expect a reply from the POV-Team. They will be busy
reading the daily postings and working on whatever verified bugs
they see reported. If they need further clarification they will
post a reply asking for additional information.

  There were many people involved in the pre-release of this version
and they will be active in this group. If you have a question, or a
possible bug report, they will likely be the ones who will answer
your post and help to verify that it is an actual bug.

Information
-----------

  The minimum information to include in your bug report is:

- The version number of POV-Ray you are using, such as v3.6b1,
v3.6b2, etc. Each beta version will expire at a preset time.
When it does expire you will be required to download the next
version as it becomes available to continue using the program.

- Your operating system. It is surprising how many people fail to
provide this basic piece of information. We need to know what
version of Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. you are running. This will
aid in discovering whether the problem is platform-dependent,
and hopefully will also uncover some work-arounds and a possible
bugfix in the subsequent discussion from those who are familiar
with the POV-Ray source code.

- Your computer; what processor and how much memory.

E.g. POV-Ray for Windows v3.6b1, Windows XP, AMD Athlon 1600, 512
megs SDRam

- A complete description of the problem and what led up to it. Please
include any error messages that POV-Ray or your OS reports when the bug
manifests itself.

It will make it a lot easier to track down if you can include a scene
file that will cause the problem. Please remove non-essential parts
until you have the minimum scene file that will reproduce the problem
(but do include your camera and light source!). We prefer that you copy
and paste your example scene into the body of your message rather than
attaching it. A small image illustrating the problem may also be posted
in the povray.beta-test.binaries group with a reference to it posted
in this group.


Thank you for your help in ensuring that the final release of POV-Ray
v3.6 will be bug free and ready for the final public release.

-- 
Ken Tyler - POV-Ray Technical Assistance Group

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