Re: Setting up a bug tracking system where users can file bug reports and feature requests for Git

Jason Spiro <jasonspiro4@gmail.com> writes:

This come up on the list from time to time.

I am not fundamentally opposed to using an automated way to help tracking issues, but a tracking system is not a panacea.

A tracking system is just a tool. You need to have a competent and stable project secretary whose job is to look after the issues database. The tasks involved are to expire the stale ones, to reject invalid entries, to prod the bug reporter for additional information, to find a volunteer to take up on an individual issue, to prod the bug reporter for confirmation on the fix once it is ready, and to close completed issues.

And do not tell me that debbugs can route messages. People do not respond to automated messages the same way as they would to messages from a warm and respected body.

We handle the "to expire the stale ones and to reject the invalid ones" part by losing the ones that even the original complainer does not feel motivated enough to be persistent in the mists of time (yes, it is a *feature* of mailing list based community, not a deficiency).

A mailing list based workflow lacks support for other tasks a competent project secratary performs: finding a taker for a task and prodding the party whose court the ball currently is in. That is currently done purely on voluntary basis. Often the person who introduced the bug originally feels ashamed enough to look into the issue. A diligent bug reporter asks if the issue previously reported has a resolution when a certain period of silence passes, and such a "prodding" raises the awareness of the issue in the group of volunteer developers and gives the issue a higher priority.

I would agree 100% with you if you said relying on such a purely volunteer based system would not be ideal. It is not. But given that the ratio between gimme-whiners and can-do-contributors is not so great, that's the best we can currently do.

It would be great to have a competent and stable project secretary to fill the gap. From time to time, we do see some people playing that role, summarizing the issues raised, discussed and then left unresolved, but that too is purely on voluntary basis. I do that as a part of the task for the maintainer, but obviously I have to do other things as well.

If you are volunteering to be the lead for the project secretaries group, that would be great.

Such a person may choose a tracking system he or she is the most familiar with, and if that helps the progress of the project, that would be even better.