Re: No bug tracker

[Bogdan]

Gavin Smith <gavinsmith0123@gmail.com>, Thu Mar 23 2023 20:44:47 
GMT+0100 (Central European Standard Time)
> On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 05:57:58PM +0100, Bogdan wrote:
> >   No bugtracker? Not good from a bug reporter's point of view :). I thought
> > all FSF projects use the same bugtracker, it would seem logical. You
> > probably have a good reason for not to have one, but don't you sometimes get
> > 10 reports about the same problem? :)
>
> Users are free to write to bug-texinfo@gnu.org with bugs.  It doesn't
> mean we don't care about bugs.


 I didn't say you don't, I'm pretty sure you do.


>  Having a bug tracker doesn't mean that
> the bugs will get fixed or that formally reported bugs are something
> that the developers care about.


 I do hope that developers care about formally reported bugs, not 
only those sent to a mailing list :). Although a mailing list is a 
formal report in this case.


>  You've likely had the experience of
> submitting bugs to bug trackers and then the reports being ignored --
> I know I have.


 Well, maybe not ignored, but long waiting times and "Please check if 
still valid" - sure.


>  It's a volunteer project and contributors will work on
> what they themselves consider to be valuable, not what a bug tracker
> orders them to.
>
> I also find that a lot of reported bugs are questionable, and may
> not really be bugs.


 True.


>  Rather than risk pissing people off by closing
> their bugs immediately as NOTABUG, WONTFIX or the like, or having the
> tracker fill up with 1000s of junk bugs that will never be closed,
> it's better to have a discussion on the mailing list to improve mutual
> understanding of the issues involved.


 Discussion - sure. Having to write "It's a feature, not a bug" for 
the same issue 1000 times in 1000 e-mails separately to 1000 users may 
be a bit less fun.


> If there is a clear bug that doesn't get fixed, and it's likely there
> are contributors with capacity to work on the issue, the best course of
> action is to keep on emailing about it if you are worried it has been
> forgotten about.


 "Is my bug fixed yet?" every week :)


>  This shows some commitment on behalf of the person
> reporting the bug and gives an indication it is something worth worrying
> about, if the reporter has been motivated to follow it up.


 True.


> The scale of this project is also a factor here, and if it were a larger
> project a bug tracking system might be more useful, although I don't really
> have experience of this.


 That may also be the deciding factor.
 I don't know how it looks in Texinfo, but when there are 3 people 
working on a project tightly, a mailing list may suffice (although I 
see quite of a monthly volume on 'bug-texinfo').
 When there are tens of people and hundreds of mails weekly, a 
bugtracker may be better. Also perhaps easier to search for old bugs 
and not duplicate them.

 Anyway, I guess that we both have valid points and "it depends on 
the project" is the right outcome of this thread. I was just 
surprised, because Texinfo is rather important and I thought it would 
be more "formalized" with more tools. Just asking, not criticizing :)

--
Regards - Bogdan ('bogdro') D.                 (GNU/Linux & FreeDOS)
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