Improve troubleshooting for 500 and other server errors #3862

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GiteaMirror · 2025-11-02T05:28:47-06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 05:28:47 -06:00

Originally created by @guillep2k on GitHub (Aug 28, 2019).

Gitea version (or commit ref):
Git version: 1.9.2

Description

Currently, when the server encounters a serious problem, the "500 Server Error" page is sent to the user. The page contains very little information about how to troubleshoot or how to report the problem properly, so users keep filling in issues with "Server Error 500 when attempting XXX", and all kinds of unrelated problems get grouped together under the same entry.

I propose reducing the size of the 500 and adding a section to the error page with instructions that help the user provide a better report. For example (just for opening the discussion) something along these lines:

Please notice that this error code is generic and does not reflect your specific problem. What can you do?

Contact your site administrator and try to find information relevant to your problem in Gitea logs. That information should be more relevant to troubleshoot the issue.
If logs do not contain enough information, please enable more detailed logging (e.g. debug) and try to reproduce the problem again.
If you are sure this is Gitea bug, please search for issue on GitHub and open new issue if necessary. To better your changes that your problem is properly addressed, please avoid using titles like "server 500 error" which are generic and not useful for identifying your problem.

Quick and dirty edit:

Originally created by @guillep2k on GitHub (Aug 28, 2019). - Gitea version (or commit ref): - Git version: 1.9.2 ## Description Currently, when the server encounters a serious problem, the "[500 Server Error](https://try.gitea.io/gitea/gitea/commit/81d7df8fef1e32be455645a578c9ba4adc5de9902)" page is sent to the user. The page contains very little information about how to troubleshoot or how to report the problem properly, so users keep filling in issues with "Server Error 500 when attempting XXX", and all kinds of unrelated problems get grouped together under the same entry. ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/18600385/63867195-d81d9d00-c98a-11e9-83a8-a506f8a89759.png) I propose reducing the size of the `500` and adding a section to the error page with instructions that help the user provide a better report. For example (just for opening the discussion) something along these lines: *** Please notice that this error code is generic and does not reflect your specific problem. What can you do? * Contact your site administrator and try to find information relevant to your problem in Gitea logs. That information should be more relevant to troubleshoot the issue. * If logs do not contain enough information, please enable more detailed logging (e.g. debug) and try to reproduce the problem again. * If you are sure this is Gitea bug, please search for issue on GitHub and open new issue if necessary. To better your changes that your problem is properly addressed, please avoid using titles like "server 500 error" which are generic and not useful for identifying your problem. *** Quick and dirty edit: ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/18600385/63868784-7ca0de80-c98d-11e9-8ec3-6da398a24c22.png)

GiteaMirror added the type/proposal label 2025-11-02 05:28:47 -06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 05:28:48 -06:00

@lafriks commented on GitHub (Aug 28, 2019):

Reporting issue description would should be added as in past we had bad experience for this as users who used public service running Gitea started to report unrelated issues

@lafriks commented on GitHub (Aug 28, 2019): Reporting issue description would should be added as in past we had bad experience for this as users who used public service running Gitea started to report unrelated issues

GiteaMirror commented

2025-11-02 05:28:48 -06:00

@guillep2k commented on GitHub (Aug 28, 2019):

Reporting issue description would should be added as in past we had bad experience for this as users who used public service running Gitea started to report unrelated issues

I didn't know that.

Perhaps the main part of my proposal is to make sure the user is aware that 500 is non-descriptive. The reporting part can be left out.

@guillep2k commented on GitHub (Aug 28, 2019): > > > Reporting issue description would should be added as in past we had bad experience for this as users who used public service running Gitea started to report unrelated issues I didn't know that. Perhaps the main part of my proposal is to make sure the user is aware that 500 is non-descriptive. The reporting part can be left out.

GiteaMirror referenced this issue

2025-11-02 12:26:34 -06:00

[PR #3862] [MERGED] Fix building of docs with latest hugo version (#3856) #17111

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Reference: github-starred/gitea#3862