Bug Report Vocabulary
Regression, flaky, workaround, hotfix, triage — core vocabulary for writing and discussing bug reports
Core bug report vocabulary
- Regression — a bug introduced by a new change that broke previously working behaviour
- Intermittent / Flaky — occurs unpredictably; "flaky" often used for tests specifically
- Workaround — temporary alternative path while the real fix is developed
- Hotfix — emergency code fix deployed outside the normal release cycle
- Triage — reviewing, classifying, and prioritising new bug reports
Question 0 of 5
A bug that was previously fixed has appeared again after a new deployment. What is the correct term for this?
Regression — a previously working feature that was broken by a new change. Key bug vocabulary:
- Regression: a bug introduced by a change (deployment, refactor, dependency update)
- Duplicate: a bug report that describes the same issue as an existing ticket
- Flaky test: a test that passes and fails intermittently without code changes
- Technical debt: accumulated shortcuts or suboptimal code that may cause future bugs
A bug that only occurs unpredictably — sometimes it happens, sometimes it does not — is described as:
Intermittent or flaky — occurs unpredictably. Related vocabulary:
- Intermittent: general term — the bug does not occur every time steps are followed
- Flaky test: more specific — a test that passes/fails nondeterministically
- Non-reproducible: cannot be made to occur again at all
- Race condition: a common cause of intermittent bugs — two concurrent operations interact in an unpredictable order
The team implements a temporary solution that makes the bug less impactful while a proper fix is being developed. What is this called?
Workaround — a temporary manual or procedural solution that avoids the bug. Distinguish from:
- Workaround: the user or team takes an alternative path to achieve the goal while the bug exists
- Patch: a code fix, usually small and targeted
- Hotfix: an emergency code fix deployed directly to production outside the normal release cycle
- Rollback: reverting a deployment to a previous known-good version
In triage, a bug is marked "Investigate". What does this typically mean?
Needs analysis before prioritisation or assignment. Bug triage vocabulary:
- Triage: the process of reviewing, classifying, prioritising, and assigning new bug reports
- Investigate: the bug is confirmed real but needs root cause analysis or scoping before work begins
- Need More Info (NMI): the report lacks reproduction steps, environment details, or logs — sent back to reporter
- Blocked: a fix exists or is in progress but is waiting on another team, PR, or dependency
- In Progress: a developer has started work on the fix
Which sentence uses bug report vocabulary correctly?
"Rollback as workaround while hotfix is prepared to address the regression" uses all terms correctly. Breakdown:
- Rollback: reverting v2.4.1 — reduces immediate impact
- Workaround: the rollback is temporary while the real fix is prepared
- Hotfix: the emergency code fix being developed for production
- Regression: the bug was introduced by v2.4.1 — previously it worked