bugzilla triage madness :-/

"Jóhann B. Guðmundsson" johannbg at hi.is
Wed Apr 9 16:13:39 UTC 2008


John Poelstra wrote:
> Pekka Savola said the following on 04/04/2008 11:07 AM Pacific Time:
> > On Fri, 4 Apr 2008, Michael Schwendt wrote:
> >> What do I care? When I filed the bug, the product was fresh and
> >> maintained,
> >> wasn't it? But more than a year later I'm no longer willing to 
> spend time
> >> on the same issues without a single sign of life from the package 
> owner.
>
> I think this is completely reasonable.  I'd do the same thing and 
> would thus close the bug.
>
I've been that fortunate to work with exceptionally good people ( so far  ).
Not only has my reports been responded to but responded to very fast.

Which explains all the underlying problem, in a nutshell.

> > That seems like one of the fundamental problems here; I agree with you.
> > Having filed bugs, and seeing them get closed 5 years later with "this
> > product is no longer supported", and no developer response in 
> between is
> > rather disheartening.
>
> This raises several important issues that have been masked as the 
> outstanding bug count in Fedora grew and grew until January 2008 when 
> a few of us thought something needed to be done.
>
> 1) Do we really have enough package maintainers?
>   --If not, why?
>   --Will we ever?
>   --Is this the wrong issue to focus on?
>
Yes, this is the wrong issue to focus on.
It's the quality of the maintainer(s) and packages not the quantity..
> 2) Is it reasonable for a bug reporter or a maintainer to expect that 
> EVERY legitimate bug filed will be fixed?
No but he expects to be responded to ( no later then a month I would say 
) even more so if he bother to patch the issue and submit it...
>    --If not, how does Fedora as project adjust bug reporter expectations?
When filing a new bug show top packages that aren't worth filing against 
because they wont be responded to anyway.
If reporter reports against these packages/applications he *knows* he's 
not getting response.

>    --Could Fedora provide guidelines around which types of bug reports 
> are more desirable than others--assuming bug reporters have finite 
> time as well?
>
All bugs are equal, whether they are big or small, incorrect file 
permissions or segmentation faults ...
> 3) With finite resources is it wiser to attempt to fix all the bugs in 
> Fedora Core 1 to 6 or polish Fedora 9?
>    --The EOL releases have definitely been a distraction and potential 
> time waster for new triagers
>
In a perfect bugzilla world triagers would not be needed at all..
> 4) Is it actually a *better* user experience to routinely close open 
> bugs that aren't getting fixed then let them sit for several years 
> with no response?  In other words is it better to disappoint someone a 
> month or two after reporting a bug or a year?
>
Nope and it would not be needed if there were any response to the bug in 
the first place.

How about some stats about which packages/components have not responded
to reports against them..

So how to solve..

( No I dont just wine about how broken things are I also try to come up 
with a solutions, problems are meant to be solved..)

A simple email reminder to maintainer/developer that he has not 
responded to a bug, once a month maybe..

Add a info field that the package/component in bugzilla which 
maintainers(s)/developer(s) fills out
which contains what he/they want from a reporter and how to get it( log 
files etc. debug mode strace etc.)
and that info box is displayed when filling a report to that 
package/component.

Good for better reports/ and new testers to know what to give.
( New testers need responses and guides. if we are gonna keep them 
reporting. )

Best regards
                 Johann B.
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