ARDEN-documentation/arednGettingStarted/report_issues.rst

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Reporting Problems or Issues
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If you experience issues with building or using AREDN® devices, there are several sources of help. There is an active user community that regularly contributes to the AREDN® `Forum <https://www.arednmesh.org/forum>`_, and you can post your experience there to receive help and feedback.

However, if you have issues that you think should be investigated by the AREDN® development team, you can follow the steps below for engaging with the software developers.

Download a Support Data File
  .. image:: _images/admin-support-data.png
    :alt: Administration - Support Data Download
    :align: right

  Every node has a built-in tool that allows you to download a support data file containing information that is helpful for troubleshooting. To download a support data file from your node, login as your node *admin* and click the tools icon in the left nav bar. In the list of available tools, click the **Support Data** link and the support file will be downloaded to your computer. 

Create a GitHub account
  To open an issue on GitHub you first must create your own GitHub account. This is free and easy to do by following these steps:

  1. Open your web browser and navigate to the `GitHub URL <https://github.com>`_.
  2. Click the ``Sign Up`` button and enter the required information. We suggest using your callsign as the username.
  3. On the GitHub website, click the ``Sign In`` button and authenticate to GitHub with the credentials you created.
  4. Navigate on GitHub to the AREDN® code repository: ``https://github.com/aredn/aredn``

Open a new issue on GitHub
  .. image:: _images/github-issues.png
    :alt: GitHub Issues menu item
    :align: right

  There are several sections in the *aredn/aredn* code repository, and you can navigate to the issues area by clicking **Issues** in the top horizontal menu.

  1. To open a new issue click the **New Issue** button on the upper right side.
  2. Enter a meaningful title in the *Title* field.
  3. Use the edit box to describe your issue fully. You should include the exact hardware model and firmware version on which you saw the issue.
  4. You can attach screenshots or support data files by dragging and dropping them into the text window.
  5. Click the **Submit New Issue** button to submit the issue for review.

  Once the issue is submitted you can click the title in the issues list to see the details. You can enter additional information as a new comment on the existing issue. When any future comments or questions are posted to your issue you will receive notifications of those updates. If the issue has been resolved, you can then close your issue if you desire.