Re: bugs and bug tracking

On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 10:57:42AM -0700, Josh Berkus wrote:
> This is kind of like CVS. We didn't upgrade so Subversion, becuase we
> said "we already have a user-friendly interface to CVS, called Marc."
> We only moved to git when it could provide us with solid advantages.
>
> I believe the same thing is happening here. The inefficiency of the old
> system (Bruce's mailbox) is becoming higher than the inefficiency of a
> new, hypothetical system.

Yes, just like I used to handle the uncommitted patches until we had a
commitfest app. I was glad to be done with that job too.

> > Therefore, our current default behavior is to ignore user reports,
> > unless someone takes an action to reply, record, or retain the email for
> > later review. What a tracker does is to make the default user report be
> > _retained_, meaning we have to take action to _not_ retain a user report
> > as an open item.
>
> Well, we can determine how that's handled. There are bug trackers out
> there that automatically archive unconfirmed bug reports after a certain
> amount of time. I'd personally recommend it.
>
> Of course, that requires a bug tracker which can have an "unconfirmed"
> status.

Yes, interesting idea. Basically, someone needs to get more benefit
from the tracking than the work we put into it. It might be that our
users mostly get the benefits.

> > Second, we have a mix of user reports. Some bug reports are not bugs
> > and must be reclassified. In other cases, uses ask questions via
> > non-tracked communicate channels, e.g. pgsql-general, but they are
> > really bugs. So, to do this right, we need a way of marking tracked
> > bugs as not bugs, and a way of adding bugs that were reported in a
> > non-tracked manner.
>
> Yeah, I was wondering about that.

Yes, that is 50% of the items that end up on the TODO list.

> Speaking of which ... this project is rich in skilled users who are
> involved in the community but don't code. Bug triage is exactly the
> kind of thing very part-time community supporters can do, if we make it
> easy for them to do.

Yes. Part of the problem is that tracker maintenance is almost done in
a closet, so there is little outward reinforcement to keep people
motivated.

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com

+ As you are, so once was I. As I am, so you will be. +
+ Roman grave inscription +