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I've recently found a bug on the Android SDK for AppInvites.

I searched the web, looking for a bug tracker for AppInvites and couldn't find any.

So I posted on the classic b.android.com receiving this response from a Googler:

Sorry, this tracker is for issues with the Android OS only. Please use https://support.google.com/ to obtain support for Google products or services.

which was not useful at all. The support google page just list support pages for end users, not for developers, and there's nothing there that can work as a bug tracking tool for AppInvite.

So I tried to post in the Google Group android-developers@googlegroups.com, to just discover a while later that group has been discontinued by Google in favor of StackOverflow. But since I can't do a bug report on a Google Product here I just ask for the right place to report a bug to Google.

Example of Google Products or Services:

  • Google Play Services Android/iOS SDK
  • Google AppInvites Android/iOS SDK
  • Google Maps Android/iOS SDK
  • Google Analytics Android/iOS SDK
  • etc...

So, where do I file a bug to Google about one of its Android (or iOS) SDK / products for developers?

Edit: this question was closed because some people think this is off topic. It's not! This speaks about tools commonly used in development. Finding bug in SDK is part of programming. Filing bug on those instrument is either a good practice and sometimes the only option to have your bug fixed. For this reason I think this is on-topic.

halfer
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Daniele Segato
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  • check this link out there are lots of bug reported here https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list – karan Oct 28 '15 at 10:04
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    My question explain that I already tried posting there (I even included the link) and received an answer for Google that tells me that's not the right place to report Google Products and Service bugs. Please read my question. – Daniele Segato Oct 28 '15 at 10:06
  • For gmaps you have https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/. This one for play services https://github.com/playgameservices/android-basic-samples... – Jean-Baptiste Yunès Oct 28 '15 at 11:33
  • Wouldn't it be https://github.com/googlesamples/google-services/issues ? – Reuben Scratton Oct 28 '15 at 11:58
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not a programming question. – JAL Nov 05 '15 at 19:59
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about programming but an external company's way of tracking bugs. – Kyll Nov 05 '15 at 20:01
  • Kyll which is part of developing: you find a bug in a software you are using / need and you want to get help for it. – Daniele Segato Nov 07 '15 at 09:41
  • @DanieleSegato that does not mean this question is on-topic for Stack Overflow. – JAL Nov 09 '15 at 21:34
  • http://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic "software tools commonly used by programmers", google services are. "a practical, answerable problem that is unique to software development", the need of reporting bug on SDK is fairly unique to software development. I agree this is a corner case, it's still on topic because its needed by every programmer that use google services and hit a bug – Daniele Segato Nov 10 '15 at 08:52
  • I've trimmed the edit a bit, as I don't think voting commentary belongs in questions. You can urge people to vote to open it in the comments if you wish, though this does rather feel too specialised. How to use a bugtracker to manage bugs would probably be on-topic for the reasons you cite, but "how to file a bug for company X" feels like a customer support issue that company X should be dealing with. I don't know if I would have closed it, but I don't think it should be re-opened either, tbh. – halfer Feb 15 '16 at 20:04
  • Final note - if you would like to explore the topic further, you can always ask a question over on _Meta_ - you'll certainly get lots of reopeners looking at your question, though whether it will reopen or not is another matter. – halfer Feb 15 '16 at 20:08
  • @halfer I'm not exactly a guru of stackoverflow, didn't know about meta. Thanks I've posted there http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/317061/is-asking-where-to-report-a-bug-for-a-development-platform-off-topic-on-stack-ov (hopefully that kind of question was in topic there) – Daniele Segato Feb 17 '16 at 10:39
  • That's a great question @DanieleSegato (as long as it's not a dup of something that's already asked!). – halfer Feb 17 '16 at 10:56
  • @halfer is it ok to edit my question adding the link to the meta or it is considered as asking for reopen in the question itself? – Daniele Segato Feb 17 '16 at 11:31
  • In my view no - questions are for questions, not for re-open appeals, discussions about voting, resolving disputes with other members etc (we get all those here!). – halfer Feb 17 '16 at 11:50
  • my meta question was closed as duplicate as if I was asking "can i report bug on stack overflow"? since that's not my question I kindly ask you to go to it and vote for reopen http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/317061/is-asking-where-to-report-a-bug-for-a-development-platform-off-topic-on-stack-ov – Daniele Segato Feb 22 '16 at 08:36

4 Answers4

6

Looking at this question there are mixed answers on how or where to report a bug for Google Services.

In my opinion Google Play Developer Console would be the best option.

Contact Us > App development & technical support

which leads you to http://developer.android.com/support.html. Clicking on Report a platform bug opens the form to submit a bug.

The default template states:

This form is only for reporting bugs found in the Android system while developing Android applications. Use the Tools templates for issues with the developer tools.

Changing the template to Tools bug report links you to http://tools.android.com/filing-bugs, and looking at Project Overview, you can see that Services is one of the projects inside. I think this would be the right place, because Services should be under developer tools.

Community
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Marko
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  • Google+ Help is for help on using Google+ as a customer, it's definitely not the right place. The other one is just a repository for google examples. May be suitable but without an official statement it's just random guessing :) – Daniele Segato Oct 28 '15 at 10:15
  • Now I see what you meant with the first version of your answer. I'm gonna wait a little more to see if anything official comes out and maybe try to use one of the link you suggested and see if someone actually reply. – Daniele Segato Oct 29 '15 at 11:28
  • This is not the answer I was looking for. Tomorrow my bounty expire. I guess no one know or a bug tracker simply does not exist for those products (which is a shame in itself). If no better answer comes out I'll award you the bounty but I will not flag yours as accepted answer cause I think it's not really the answer, not your fault anyway :) – Daniele Segato Nov 03 '15 at 13:54
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    @DanieleSegato, I searched around and I really think it does not exists... As far as it goes for bounty and accepted answer, I do not really care, no need to award it to me. And if you ever find the answer, be sure to post it here ;) – Marko Nov 03 '15 at 14:06
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    Emiliano. B Answer is good too, very similar to your answer. I awarded you the bug cause you were the first to reply and spent time looking on the issue :) this is a thank you. I'm just happy this question is gathering information on how to report bugs. This is useful for the community. If I ever find out anything I'll surely come here to add my information – Daniele Segato Nov 04 '15 at 09:21
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    @DanieleSegato thanks for that :) The question is indeed very useful! Since searching for the answer, I came to a conclusion, that issue reporting for Google's products is a mess... – Marko Nov 04 '15 at 09:33
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    Same conclusion here! – Daniele Segato Nov 04 '15 at 10:59
3

I understand your "frustration", Google in this case is the essence of fragmentation and it seems it will not change in the immediate future (also after Alphabet).

For this reason for me there is no one answer to your question or better the answer is not conventional.

When I look for the issue tracker related to a Google SDK I do a google search query with this pattern:

"google sdk name" issue site:https://code.google.com/p/

e.g for google analytics I do "google analytics" issue site:https://code.google.com/p/ .

For the SDKs you listed in your question these are the direct links to the respective issue trackers:

  1. Google Play Services Android/iOS SDK
  2. Google AppInvites Android/iOS SDK
  3. Google Maps Android/iOS SDK
  4. Google Analytics Android/iOS SDK

To be clear what I mean with not conventional I give you the link for the issue tracker of Google Support Libraries . As you may see, it's not an issue tracker per se but belongs to the android issue tracker in the form of search result with label "Component-Support-Libraries".

I remember when I filed an issue for an android security bug, it wasn't easy to find an e-mail address to do that confidentially.

I hope Google will change and I think that a way to let them to best understand that, is to up-vote your question, as I do now.

Emiliano Bonassi
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For where do I file a bug to Google about one of its Android (or iOS) SDK / products for developers?

Here is the link where you can report issues regarding google.

You can describe below issues to Google.

  1. I need assistance with my Google account.
  2. I want to remove content on Google Search, Youtube, or another service.
  3. I want to report a technical security bug in a Google product (SQLi, XSS, etc.).
  4. I want to report fraud, malware, or other problems not listed above.

If vulnerability is vaild and they successfully reproduce it you may get Bug Bounty. Google will contact you within day or two.

Bug Report Link :

https://www.google.com/appserve/security-bugs/m2/new?rl=&key=

Steps :

  1. Select option for reporting bug.
  2. Enter your contact details.
  3. Select Google Product as affected.
  4. Enter how to reproduce that vulnerability
  5. Submit It.

Or

There is one more link provided by android to report bugs.

Hope it will help you.

KishuDroid
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  • Thank you this is great information. However this is about security vulnerability not generic bugs. :) I'm happy this question is gathering many information on how to reach google. This is one of them, thank you. – Daniele Segato Nov 04 '15 at 09:17
  • @DanieleSegato : I have provided a link also where you can report your bug related to android. – KishuDroid Nov 04 '15 at 09:37
  • I've seen that link. That's great for Android bugs. But we are talking of google products bugs. They do not fall in the Android AOSP category. – Daniele Segato Nov 04 '15 at 11:01
  • @DanieleSegato : Yeah it is for android only. – KishuDroid Nov 04 '15 at 11:02
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I think here it is, have a look at the template its says: "This form is only for reporting bugs found in the Android system while developing Android applications. Use the Tools templates for issues with the developer tools.":

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/entry?template=Developer%20bug%20report

and for apple here :

https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

and for google maps: https://www.google.co.in/maps/ click on menu in right side of the screen, click on "Send Feedback"--> "Other feedback" and fill the form..

I hope this may help you...

Abdul Aziz
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