Re: Notes and Thoughts From The Desk of XBRM.
|--==> "SJT" == Stephen J Turnbull <stephen(a)xemacs.org> writes:
SJT> I've been working on this, off and on, for a while. Here's my feeling
SJT> about the ones I know about. First, two general principles:
SJT> 1. An email interface is a must; we have a huge backlog of good
SJT> reports in the ML archives that could be converted to the BTS
SJT> database over time. Preferably programmable so we can
SJT> automatically categorize by keywords in the message.
SJT> 2. Should adapt to current workflow. In particular, I don't see Ben
SJT> Wing spending tons of time looking at bug tracker reports; he
SJT> currently doesn't even read the mailing lists on a timely basis.
Both principles I agree with totally. Some other things I'd like to
see, in no specific order:
3. Ability to "assign" a bug report to one or more
developers.
4. Automatic reminder notices sent to "assignees", with
frequency of reminder dependent on severity of bug.
Perhaps:
critical - daily
moderate - weekly
low - monthly
5. Ability to keep a "log" for bugs that take time to fix.
What I mean here is, you work on fixing a bug, but only get
it partially fixed. You "log" what you've done so others
don't come along and try to redo all your hard work.
6. A way for users (bug submitters) to get feedback on the
progress of their bug report (another reason for 5).
7. A way for users to browse the database to search for any
similar bugs etc.
8. Automatic feedback to the submitter once the bug has been
resolved.
Dear <submitter>
Thanks once again for submitting your bug report
titled: <subject>. We really appreciate your blah
blah blah.
We are pleased to inform you that your bug has now
been resolved. For details please visit <URL>.
Thank you so much for helping us make XEmacs a better
XEmacs.
The XEmacs Bug Busters.
I have no idea if any of that is possible but it's all WIBNI...
SJT> Gnats
SJT> Jitterbug
SJT> Debian BTS
SJT> Mostly email-based, some web interface. Closest to current XEmacs
SJT> workflow. Require care and feeding from _both_ a "full-time" bug
SJT> tracker and the core people, or they will get out of control.
I would have thought that any BTS would require a full-time bug
tracker.
SJT> SourceForge tracker
SJT> I hated working with it as a user; AFAIK no email interface.
Correct, no email interface. And I hated it too, as a user and as an
admin.
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