Re: bugs and bug tracking

On 10/06/2015 11:33 AM, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> Joshua D. Drake wrote:
>> On 10/06/2015 10:57 AM, Josh Berkus wrote:
>>> On 10/06/2015 10:17 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
>
>>> 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.
>>
>> That is an understatement. There is a huge pool of non-hackers that can
>> help contribute to this sort of thing.
>
> It was said, way back when, "adding Windows support will add a huge pool
> of Windows-only developers". I'm not sure that the impact was really
> all that big there. We have a few Windows-enabled people, but how many
> of them are Windows-only?

I think it was naive that anyone would suggest that windows developers
would show up, we aren't friendly to them. It is true that we go through
great pains to have a decent Windows port but our community is and
(AFAICT) forever will be, Unix centric.

> We similarly said, "moving the TODO list to the wiki will add a huge
> pool of users that cannot edit the current CVS-only file". To date,
> most of what has happened is that the old items have become stale and
> Bruce continues to do 99% of the work of maintaining it.

That isn't a wiki issue it is a lack of policy issue. How do we define
what becomes a TODO? How can someone submit a TODO? Does it get voted
on? Where is this documented? (list goes on)

>
> So I am dubious that people that currently do not contribute will
> contribute in the future just because we change the system.
>

No, not just because we change the software. The mindset has to change
too and procedures have to change too.

That said, your argument boils down to, "I once heated water with wood
and it didn't boil. Therefore I won't heat water again."

It should be, "I once heated water with wood and it didn't boil. How can
I change my process so that it will?"

Until hackers have that mindset about all this stuff (except hacking) we
will continue to hit walls we don't have to hit.

JD

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