From the NannyMUD documentation

LAST CHANGE

2001-10-06

RULES

NAME
        debug - Tips on debugging.


DESCRIPTION
	This file contains no rules at all, but practical hints on how to
	find out what is wrong when your object malfunction. There are
	basically three ways in which your objects won't work:
	1/ They won't load.
	2/ They load but you get errors when the code runs.
	3/ The code doesn't do what you supposed it to.


	THE_'NO-LOAD'_CASE

	The errors are written to the file /log/your_name. Errors late in
	that file might be caused by the earlier ones. You will learn with
	time what is so and what is not. As a beginner, correct the few first
	and then 'update' and 'load' the file again. Repeat this until the
	object loads properly.

	DON'T do this if the game crashes when you load your object. If so,
	talk to the admin directly.


	THE_'RUN-TIME-ERROR'_CASE

	Those errors will be written at the end of
	/syslog/machine_name.debug.log.  There's a symbolic link to it
	available, /runtime.log. Do 'tail' on the file.  If you don't
	understand what it says, talk to other wizards (like your sponsor).
	If that does not help, talk to the high wizards. Hopefully the link
	will end there, but if worst comes to worst, talk to the arches etc.


	THE_'WHAT-DID-IT-DO?'_CASE

	This is rather a design error than anything else; you might have
	typed the wrong thing or made a logical error when creating the
	object. Those errors are hard to come by, but the players will
	sometimes report those (along with typos etc). This can be seen in
	the file /log/.rep . Keep an eye on this file and work on
	your reports regularly.  Another way to find out how your items work
	is to snoop the players using them. This is what 'snoop' is here for;
	it is not an amusement tool for bored wizards.