Clarion call to make KDE rock! Contributors support and blah...

[Orville Bennett]

Yes, i am taking a direct jab at the mailing list's "mission  
statement" while at the same time beckoning, beseeching, begging  
even, for your involvement (yes, YOU!) So KDE 4 is just around the  
corner, for relative values of "just around the corner" and we want  
to make it rock. Yes, yes, the whole mission statement thing again.

I'm calling upon you fine folk to contribute to the quality of KDE  
products by getting involved with a) contributing to the maintenance  
of the bug database or b) fixing bugs. This post however, is mostly  
centered around a). Recently some have begun to mobilize in this  
respect and as a result we have seen the birth of the Bugsquad:  
http://developernew.kde.org/Contribute/Bugsquad. Contrary to what you  
may be thinking, this is not a horde of insects which have been hired  
to do our QA for us (although the temptation must certainly have been  
very strong). Instead it is a somewhat loose collection of  
contributors who, on an appointed day go forth and scourge the unholy  
mass that is bugs.kde.org confirming, closing, and sometimes even  
creating bugs for a specific application (I know, I've been naughty).
For contributors who are unable to do so themselves, they can point  
these out on the bugsquad wiki, allowing those with the authoritah to  
excercise their awesome power, like so: http://developernew.kde.org/ 
Contribute/Bugsquad/Bugs_to_be_done

On actual bug squad "cleansing" days you can actually join the gang  
in #kde-bugs, on the irc.freenode.net network, if you prefer more  
realtime interaction.  Once bugs are properly triaged then developers  
can go through repairing, patching, and new string introducing as  
they will.

"So what's the catch?" you ask. There is none. If you've never done  
anything like this before WE WILL HELP YOU. Currently "we" includes  
me and http://quality.kde.org/develop/howto/howtobugs.php as I  
haven't spoken about this to anyone else. Sometime today or after  
work I'll pop in to #kde-bugs and pick a fight :-) More info will  
follow later on this later. I suspect a bug day requires a little  
more planning than a simple "Let's do this gang!"  There has to be  
some coordination with both bugsquad and bugkillers, else all the  
triaging in the world is for naught.

You may skip the next paragraphs if you're pressed for time as it is  
basically an impassioned plea re-iterating the above... >>>>>>>>
And now it's time to have a little chat about time.

Some of us will never have the time to partake of the joys of a  
konqueror bug day. Maybe you have to work on that particular day(s),  
maybe you have a hot date. It's OK, I'd choose the hot date over KDE  
too. We're not all perfect. :-) I'm in grad school and have about 4  
hours each day to either sit down in front of the TV and vegetate(yes  
the math is correct, ~12 hrs "working" + ~8 hours sleeping/eating).  
On fridays this is taken up by Sci-fi programming. This will never  
end so Friday is a lost cause.
On Mondays there is Lost, so we're now down to 3 hours. At least 1  
hour for one app can still make a difference.  Multiply that by a few  
days, if you feel so incline and it makes a bigger difference.  
Multiply that by about 80 people [1], and look at that, the bug  
database has almost been tamed.
Going to bugzilla, daunting a task though it may seem initially, and  
checking over one or two bugs in your favorite app is OK, AND it'll  
make you feel good, especially when it's a program you care about.
I believe the potential for the bugsquad extends far beyond the  
domain of KDE proper and can be used to serve KDE in general. "Users  
like you" should feel free to use it's resources to improve your  
favorite apps. Currently I personally far more familiar with apps  
outside of the official KDE repo, such as konversation or amarok.  
This doesn't preclude one from being able to work on applications  
included with KDE however. We're not fixing bugs (yet?) you just need  
to confirm or deny. It's simple, really.  I'm not that smart and even  
I can do it :-) I started off sucking and now I suck less. And 'lo, I  
still live and haven't been burnt alive at the stake :-) <<<<<<<<<

As Jos pointed out KDE-Quality is a place to ask how to get involved.  
Well I'm saving you the trouble. If you're already here I'm assuming  
you want to get involved.  Alternatively you may have been suckered  
in by the list's name (a misnomer if ever there was one) assuming  
that there would be some Quality Assurance work involved. If so we've  
just killed two birds with one stone. In conclusion I again ask for  
volunteers to make KDE rock. Don't all come at once
  :-)

[1] "Around 80 new bugs and wishlist items are filed in KDE's bug  
tracking system every day" http://developernew.kde.org/Contribute/ 
Bugsquad/Guide

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