Re: issue tracker?

[Bastien]

Hi Mario,

Mario Frasca <mario@anche.no> writes:

> very interesting approach. 

Thanks for looking more closely into it.

> sounds like you don't want to manage the status changes a bit
> tighter.  I know, I can check the code, but it's more practical if we
> mention it here explicitly.  anybody can send status change emails? 

Yes, anybody can confirm a bug and anybody can mark it as fixed.

> I mean, this is an open list, anybody who just knows how to put a
> header to an email can confirm a bug? 

Yes. The pattern I've seen in the last 15 ten years is that someone
sends a bug report and 50% of the time it is not really possible to
reproduce the bug.  And people who reproduce bugs are not always code
contributors, they can be "power users", so I think it's safe to allow
anyone to confirm a bug -- that's something that really helps.

> on the other hand, I never tried to add extra headers using
> thunderbird.

Yes, you can:

https://www.lifewire.com/arbitrary-custom-heading-email-thunderbird-1173089

> apart from the technical aspect, I would suggest: anybody can
> 'vote-for' a bug, and you keep a counter on voted-for.

It would require people to register on updates.orgmode.org.
I'm not sure the expected benefit is really worth it for now.

> but only a maintainer can 'confirm' (that fixing that bug is
> desirable). 

I think it is important that anyone can confirm a bug.

> then
> we new contributors can choose which confirmed bug is easy enough for
> us to make an attempt.  or which fits our interests and skills.  or
> which has accumulated most votes, hasn't been rejected, so we can
> remind the maintainer.
>
> … if the "main focus" is recruiting, I would also suggest a category
> "good first issue".

I have seen "good first issues" in many repositories and I don't think
it is sufficient as a way to attract new contributors: those tags are
useful when you also actively organize the contribution and the
onboarding of new contributors.

Also, "good first issues" are often those we can fix very easily and
there is no good reason not to fix them.

That said, I would love to organize a hackathon for Org-mode where
people would gather online for one day, exchange ideas, break and fix
things, propose new features, etc.  That is, IMHO, the way to recruit
new contributors, on top of simply formally asking "who would like to
be in charge of X, Y and Z?"

> I understand, not a bug "tracking" tool, but it sounds like it's able
> to shed some light in the dark.

Yes, I hope so!

-- 
 Bastien