From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tim Cross Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: The art of closing bug reports Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:19:23 +1000 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1310275187 29155 80.91.229.12 (10 Jul 2011 05:19:47 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 05:19:47 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Juanma Barranquero , Emacs-Devel devel To: Lennart Borgman Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Jul 10 07:19:43 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([140.186.70.17]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1QfmQe-0001Uy-1R for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 10 Jul 2011 07:19:40 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:33649 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QfmQd-0004FG-2c for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:19:39 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:59769) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QfmQP-0004FA-Ow for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:19:26 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QfmQO-0007PV-Js for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:19:25 -0400 Original-Received: from mail-iy0-f169.google.com ([209.85.210.169]:52977) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QfmQO-0007PQ-EN for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:19:24 -0400 Original-Received: by iyl8 with SMTP id 8so3353833iyl.0 for ; Sat, 09 Jul 2011 22:19:23 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; bh=RZLRTcP5ywZfNSc64A/eeojWcnBwWDNNUFWvR2dDvD4=; b=jqafkKYCj0okfx+Ut0keFoqhlYC7j9ASuSVENqzf/T6jLzsvGx1iCtFZ8ZLsQLwU+g V5q5XebuSrL5rzVTtLmR1JX3ThlYUSNZ8cwe7RePCrBybbxaK+kMB2c3qmB6N15IRNWT cMndNRTqUfFcFQZPJiTLxdd9k2rVA5JzTSbOA= Original-Received: by 10.231.67.145 with SMTP id r17mr3182557ibi.176.1310275163759; Sat, 09 Jul 2011 22:19:23 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: by 10.231.15.3 with HTTP; Sat, 9 Jul 2011 22:19:23 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 2) X-Received-From: 209.85.210.169 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:141886 Archived-At: On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 12:03 PM, Lennart Borgman wrote: > On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 03:31, Juanma Barranquero wrote: >> On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 02:56, Lennart Borgman >> wrote: >> >>> I do not think that question is serious. That is my experience from >>> before. Can you explain how saying these words will help the >>> development of free software? >> >> I'll do, as soon as you explain to me how do help the development of >> free software (or just Emacs) bugs that say "I have this crash, for >> which I won't send a recipe because I'm a very busy guy, which perhaps >> happens because of my local modifications (that, by the way, I have >> sent you *hundred of times* and you refuse to include into Emacs just >> to make my life more difficult) and perhaps not, because I don't >> really remember, which happened so long ago that I don't even remember >> what was I doing at the time or how to reproduce it... and please >> don't ask me for clarification or help in reproduce it, because, as I >> said, I'm a very busy guy, so please do all the work yourselves and, >> by the way, what's not clear in my report?" >> >> If you think I'm being harsh or mocking you, you need to distance >> yourself from your own bug reports and try to read them as they are, >> not as they seem to be in your imagination. > > Not at all, Juanma. This is just exactly to the point. > > Two concrete ways I think closing of bug reports could be improved are 1. Include the full bug report subject and not just the bug number in the closure notification. I regularly see closure notices that only include the bug number and a message which often just says the bug has been closed. The problem with this is that it gives no clue as to which bug it was. We tend not to remember bug report numbers, but often will recognise subject or description. Knowing that a particular bug (and I'm talking about ones that you have not lodged yourself) has been closed can be very useful. 2. Include a tag in the closure message which indicates whether the bug was closed because it is believed to be fixed, cannot be fixed, cannot be reproduced, is a duplicate of another bug etc. Both of these suggestions are mainly relevant to those who monitor the email list or newsgroup. I am assuming that if you use the bug tracker directly, then this information is already there. I guess the lack of details in the closure messages is possible a reflection of lack of time or possibly a limitation with the bug tracker mail/news gateway. However, many bug tracking systems I have used have some sort of templating system and perhaps all that is needed is some tweaking of these templates. Tim