Why do we report bugs?

[Nathan Olberding]

Not that I have any clout, but I agree with JRT. This is worthy of
discussion on this list, in my opinion, because it addresses the issue
that probably dissuades a lot of newcomers; having bug reports
dismissed without proper scrutiny. I've had that done to me, though
with every instance I've experienced, the outcome has seemed
reasonable (ie, a bug report was submitted as a kdelibs issue when it
was really a kdebase issue, the bug was marked as a duplicate of
something that wasn't really the same, but discussion on that bug's
thread incorporated the "duplicate"'s issues, etc).

I don't personally sense a problem with the work flow here; just a
problem with the execution. If a bug is dismissed without action, a
developer might do well to point the reporter at another outlet, such
as another bug report (if possible) or give a detailed explaination as
to why the bug report must be dismissed. If the answer is simply, "I
don't think it's that big of a bug," well, maybe the developer could
have a bit of a better attitude.

Maybe the problem would be allieviated if there were more KDE devs
handling the work load. I would love to help out, but I'm only
recently becoming a decent programmer, and wouldn't dare to call
myself a Developer (yet!). Lowering the bar to entry with better
documentation, higher level languages, etc. could go a long way in
that department, but that's not a discussion for this thread, much
less this list.

So to sum up my thoughts, I think there's a (fairly minor, but
annoying enough) problem that needs to be adressed, and I can't think
of a better place than this list.

On that note, though, I'd like to mention that 99% of the time, the
KDE devs are amazing people to discuss bugs with, and it's definitely
not a bad process as-is.

On 4/18/05, James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj at acm.org> wrote:
> Carlos Leonhard Woelz wrote:
> > Hi James,
> >
> >
> > On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 07:19:02 -0700, "James Richard Tyrer"
> > <tyrerj at acm.org> said:
> >
> >> I now believe that part of the font problem is in KDE -- rather
> >> than Qt -- code so I filed a bug report:
> >>
> >> http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=103852
> >
> >
> > Great bug report. Really. And BTW, thanks for your efforts tracking
> > down bugs in the Qt/KDE font system.
> >
> Thanks for the good words.
> >
> >> How is this 'mad house' organized?  Are we really all peers or is
> >> there an organization chart somewhere?
> >>
> >> I, for one, feel dissed when my bug reports are summarily dismissed
> >>  as irrelevant.
> >
> >
> > I understand that. I think all bug reporters felt the same at some
> > point. I have an (unrequested) opinion about this, but I won't say
> > it, as I don't think this is the right place to discuss it.
> >
> > Please refrain from posting these rants here, start a blog, complain
> >  to kde-devel, or post inside the bug report instead.
> 
> I realize that this is, basically, your list.  But, I have to tell you
> that I think that this is a more appropriate place to discuss this
> issue.  I do not think that such remarks belong on BugZilla, and I
> promised Stephan Kulow that I would not post such "rants" on kde-devel
> in the future.
> 
> > This list is to support and coordinate the work for new contributors,
> >  and this is hardly a subject for new people to discuss.
> 
> Yet it is an issue that many new people will face.
> 
> > (In fact, this is one of the first lists some people subscribe. This
> > kind of discussion is hardly a great incentive to them).
> 
> Actually, having their work summarily dismissed is the real disincentive
> -- "forewarned is forearmed" -- and they should expect that this will
> happen to them.  Many new people will face the same frustration.
> 
> > Could we end this thread, James? I feel like experiencing a deja vu.
> 
> If I promise not to whine about this, could we please continue with an
> objective discussion of the issue.  There is, I believe, a lack of
> coordination between the major developers and people that are willing
> and able to do little jobs.  It is an issue that is appropriately
> discussed on your list.
> 
> --
> JRT
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> 


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