WordPress Bug Hunts are special events set aside for a special drive to find, confirm, and fix bugs, then submit and test patches for those bugs. A WordPress Bug Hunt normally commences with a session on the #wordpress-dev IRC channel on irc.freenode.net. There are always numerous bug hunting opportunities available for Bug Hunters. PHP coding experience is not necessary — all participants are welcome to join!

Bug hunts are usually announced on the wp-hackers mailing list. If you want to be up-to-date on when the next bug hunt is, or to propose a new one, make sure you are subscribed!

Successful bug hunting means familiarizing yourself with the WordPress Bug Database. You also need the latest version installed and ready to go. Please do not use your main, live blog for participation in the Bug Hunt — things can and will break as we resolve bugs!

Having as many participants as possible during WordPress Bug Hunts greatly enhances the ongoing development of the beta releases and provides WordPress users with a more stable product! Good luck on your Bug Hunting and thanks for joining in!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get the latest and greatest version of WordPress?

• You will want to learn about Subversion in order to access the latest WordPress code.
• Windows users: Review Windows WordPress Toolbox where Peter Westwood tutors on use of TortoiseSVN in Windows.
• Mac OS X and Linux users: Review My WordPress Toolbox where Mark Jaquith simplifies using SVN with Mac OS X and Linux.

I would like to download WordPress instead of using Subversion. Is that an option?

• For the purposes of the Bug Hunt, snapshots may be available for download and installation. If there aren't any, please ask another bug hunt participant, and he/she may provide you with one.

When I get to the IRC channel, what will happen?

• The channel title should list the names of the Bug Hunt Hosts present. Tell these folks what skills you might have or areas of knowledge you might possess and they will assign you bugs to confirm or patches to test.
• The current plan entails running through the Bug Database linearly, addressing the older bugs first and working forward through the list.

Do I just show up or should I sign-up anywhere?

• Just show up!

Anything else I need to know?

• Some WordPress bugs may require additional software to confirm and/or fix: XMLRPC posting utilities and blog-by-email, for example. If you can, let your Bug Hunt hosts know what additional software you have available for testing!
• Brush up on the coding standards for any patches you may submit.
• Please consider using the following resources to host a local development installation!
  • Windows users: XAMPP
  • Mac OS X users: Install WordPress Locally on Mac OS X 10.4
• The Support Forum thread It's a Bug Hunt!! addresses some questions about using Trac.