Re: The bug tracker...again

[Karl Fogel <kfogel@red-bean.com>]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:
>    I'm not sure if Richard meant email per se, or merely that bug-reporting
>    must be possible from within Emacs, i.e., without switching to a
>    separate web-browsing program.
>
>I meant email, strictly and literally.
>
>    If that's the *real* requirement, then any bug tracker with a decent
>    network API would probably work, because we could teach Emacs to speak
>    that API for reporting new bugs.
>
>It is fine if such an interface exists, but it does not substitute
>for access by email.

Thanks.  I realized later you did mean it literally.  (Stephen Turnbull
pointed out to me that email's well-debugged offline queueing mechanism
is the important thing here, not its user interface.)

Many bug trackers have this, nowadays, anyway.  Redmine is one such:

  https://we.riseup.net/cgdev/using-email-with-redmine

Obviously, if a bug tracker supports email intake and outflow, then
that's an API of sorts, so Emacs can provide a non-email form-based way
for users to report bugs, and if absolutely necessary convert that to an
email.  But it's better to use a real network API if available -- then
the user can get real-time confirmation of the bug identifier, etc.
This is something debbugs does not do, AFAIK.

-Karl