Filing a Bug Report

RapidRAW is open source and developed mostly by one person. The single biggest factor in how fast a bug gets fixed is how easy your report is to act on.

This page explains the process and points to the official issue templates.

Before reporting

1. Are you on the latest version? Releases are at github.com/CyberTimon/RapidRAW/releases/latest. Many issues are already fixed in newer builds.
2. Search existing issues at github.com/CyberTimon/RapidRAW/issues. If someone has already reported it, comment there with your details rather than opening a new one.
3. Check the relevant troubleshooting page for Windows, macOS, Linux, or GPU & Drivers.

If you've done all three and the issue is real and new, file a report.

Use the official templates

The repo provides two issue templates:

• Bug Report for bugs and crashes.
• Feature Request for ideas (also fine to start in Discussions).

The bug template asks for:

1. What happened? Describe the problem including any error messages.
2. What did you expect to happen? The intended behavior.
3. How can we reproduce this? Numbered steps.
4. Operating System (dropdown: Windows 11, Windows 10, macOS Apple Silicon, macOS Intel, Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Other Linux, Other).
5. RapidRAW Version (e.g. v1.5.4).
6. Additional information (GPU, GPU driver version, workarounds tried).
7. Acknowledgement that you've checked the upstream camera/lens libraries and existing issues.

The template has a built-in note about lens corrections going to lensfun and RAW decoding going to dnglab. For those two categories, opening the issue against RapidRAW will be redirected to the upstream library; saves time to file directly there.

Collect the log first

The log captures GPU initialization, file errors, and panic traces. Always attach it.

For the cleanest log:

1. Quit RapidRAW.
2. Delete or rename the existing log so the new one is clean.
3. Launch RapidRAW.
4. Reproduce the bug.
5. Quit.
6. Attach the log to your issue.

The log file contains file paths, GPU info, and OS info. It does not contain image data or personal content. Skim before attaching if you're sensitive about file paths revealing folder structure.

When the bug crashes RapidRAW

If RapidRAW crashes outright (not just an error: a full close):

• The log usually contains the panic trace at the end. Attach the full log.
• On Windows, also check Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Application for any "Application Error" entry related to RapidRAW.exe.
• On macOS, check ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ for a .crash file dated to your crash. Attach it.
• On Linux, run RapidRAW from a terminal so any stderr output is visible: ./RapidRAW-*.AppImage 2>&1 | tee crash.log. Attach crash.log.

When a specific file won't open

Sample files help enormously. If the file is one you're willing to share publicly (or with the maintainer privately):

1. Compress to a zip.
2. Upload to a file host (Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer) and paste the link in the issue.
3. If the file is sensitive, the maintainer is reachable on Discord for direct sharing.

For RAW files, even a single problematic example often unlocks the fix for an entire camera model.

Where to file

What you'll get back

Common responses:

• "Can you reproduce in version X?": bug may already be fixed; please test.
• "Can you attach a sample file?": needed to reproduce.
• "What's your GPU and driver?": likely a GPU-specific issue.
• "Confirmed, fix in next release.": done.

If you don't hear back within a few days, a friendly bump in the issue is welcome.

Thank you

Bug reports, especially detailed ones with logs and reproductions, are how RapidRAW gets better. Thank you for taking the time.

See also

• Documentation home.
• The project README for release notes and credits.