> Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From: Egbert Eich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 11:10:14 +0100
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [Devel] Re: Another voice
> -----
> Matt Wilson writes:
> >
> > I'm not attempting to bully anyone, nor have I argued that you or any
> > other member (individual or corporate) of XFree86. However, there are
> > plenty of volunteers that are offering to set up and maintain a bug
> > tracking system for you. I think that such a project would be much
> > more successful if it were endorsed by XFree86 and integrated into the
> > development policy for the project.
> >
Matt, I'm *very* uncomfortable with saying a bug tracking system should become
policy for any project unless/until a project has a pretty universal
buy in that it should be that way. We're a *very* long way from that point.
>
> Sorry, this is not how it goes. We won't be willing
> to adopt anything blindly. There is a German saying
> applying here:
> 'Never buy a cat in the bag!'
>
> 1. First there should be a proposal
Seems like that's what some of us have been making, though we haven't
fleshed it out completely yet. Without discussion, it is difficult
to make it concrete. Ergo, the discussion.
> 2. Secondly there should be a test implementation
> as proof of concept we can work with and see
> how well it goes.
Entirely agree.
> 4. Thirdly this should be evaluated
> - if we think it is usable at all.
> - what modifications we would like to see.
Entirely agree.
> 5. The modified system needs to get retested and reevaluated.
Entirely agree.
> 6. This is the earliest stage we can talk about a more or
> less formal policy.
Entirely agree. Any policy, however, can/should only occur if there is
nearly complete consensus. We're a long way from that, if ever.
>
> Up to now it is not even clear who should be able to
> submit to this bug tracking system:
Very good questions on which multiple opinions are solicited.
> Should it be internal only?
> Should only projects like GNOME, KDE etc and
> distributions like RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake be able to
> submit bugs?
> Or should it be open to the general public?
>
I personally argue for openness, with a couple major caveats:
o The verbiage around bug submission should be carefully crafted to
try to help with the triage process between projects (e.g.
if your server crashes, its definately an XFree86 bug; if it is bad
rendering, asking people to verify it is specific to a particular
piece of hardware, else report to the appropriate project's bug system,
and so on.
o the states of a bug inside the database allow for triage, with
states like "bug verified", duplicate, etc. I suspect/expect many developers
might ignore problems until they've been marked verified. That's the point
of a triage process: to bounce the problem the right direction so that not
all bugs get looked at by all people (or no people).
One could go through an evolutionary process, from developers, to invited
others, to fully open.
The question still is: is there enough interest among the developer community
to it be worth the investment to get it set up? If no-one is going to use
it, why bother? On the other hand, if enough of us say, as I do, that
we're dropping too many problems on the floor and such a system might
be useful if it gets established correctly, I think there is enough
resources to start getting it set up. But those resources should go
elsewhere if there is no interest.
- Jim
--
Jim Gettys
Cambridge Research Laboratory
HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard Company
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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