When some new bug reports are submitted to Bugzilla, some of us are notified about this and I try (as time permits) to reproduce the bug, ask for more information if necessary and in general to make sure that the status of the bugs in Bugzilla is up-to-date. Sometimes I even try to fix the bugs, but I did not have too much time for that in the last months.

When a bug is affecting the core of the program, Sven and Mitch (who also get the notifications from Bugzilla) will usually take a look at it and try to fix it. But when a bug is affecting a plug-in or a part of the code that is maintained by someone else or that occurs only on a system that is not Linux or Solaris, then it is more difficult to be sure that the corresponding maintainer is aware of the problem. Sometimes it is already difficult to find a tester who has access to the corresponding operating system and who can confirm if the bug report is valid or not.

It would be easier to work with Bugzilla if it was possible for me (and others) to add the corresponding maintainer(s) or tester(s) to the CC list for these bug reports, so that they are notified about the new bug report or any additional comments that are added to it. Unfortunately, this is not always easy to do because the e-mail addresses listed in the documentation (MAINTAINERS or PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS) do not always match the address used in the Bugzilla accounts. For example, it took me a while to find out that the address for Nick Lamb, listed as in PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS should be because this is the one that is recognized by Bugzilla.

I propose to add a new field in PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS, containing only the Bugzilla accounts (or list of accounts) that should be added to the CC list if a bug is detected in the corresponding plug-in. This would usually be the same address as the one listed in the MAINTAINER field, but not always (maybe the maintainer uses a different address for Bugzilla or does not want to get the notifications at all). So there could be a new field called BUGZILLA: or BUGZILLA_CC: for all plug-ins, like this:

NAME : normalize AUTHOR : Adam D. Moss, Federico Mena Quintero MAINTAINER : Adam D. Moss (adam@foxbox.org) BUGZILLA_CC: adam@gimp.org
SIZE : 7.7 kB in 1 file (only C files counted) COMMENT :

I think that it would be a good idea to add something similar in the MAINTAINERS file, listing some potential testers for non-Linux operating systems. Some bug reports for systems other than Linux or Solaris (this includes Windows and MacOS X, among others) can remain in the UNCONFIRMED state for several weeks before someone who has access to the corresponding platform takes a look at it and adds some helpful comments that allow the status of the bug to be updated.

Comments?

-Raphaël

On Wed, 10 Apr 2002 23:50:17 +0100, "Nick Lamb" wrote:

On Wed, Apr 10, 2002 at 04:48:10PM +0200, Raphaël Quinet wrote:

I propose to add a new field in PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS, containing only the Bugzilla accounts (or list of accounts) that should be added to the CC list if a bug is detected in the corresponding plug-in.

[...]

OTOH if there are already dozens of people using special CCs or with multiple Bugzilla accounts and whatever then obviously it's a good idea.

Well, there are currently two problems with the maintainers' addresses and the Bugzilla accounts:
- some maintainers use a different e-mail address for their Bugzilla account - some maintainers do not have a Bugzilla account yet (AFAIK) The second problem is problably the most serious one. As a result, if I add the e-mail addresses listed in the PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS to the CC field in Bugzilla, I never know if this will be accepted or if Bugzilla will reject the changes because the accounts do not exist. Adding a separate field for Bugzilla accounts in the PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS file would ensure that these problems do not occur. It would also (hopefully) encourate some maintainers to create a Bugzilla account if they do not have one yet.

Another thing that I was suggesting in my previous message is the addition of some testers for non-Linux platforms. Currently, there are many bugs that are specific to Windows, MacOS X, HP-UX, OSF/1, AIX and other operating systems and these bugs are left in the UNCONFIRMED or NEEDINFO state for a long time because none of the volunteers who look at the Bugzilla reports can test and investigate these problems. Some bug reports are in the NEW or ASSIGNED state, but nobody can work on them for the same reasons (no access to the corresponding OS). For example, take a look at bug #2742 (for OSF/1) that was reported in October 1999 and has not been updated since June 2000: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2742 There are many other examples of bug reports that haven't been updated since last year because nobody could test them. If there was a list of testers for various platforms (maybe in the MAINTAINERS file, maybe in some other file), then it would be much easier to ensure that the people who have access to the corresponding OS can have a look at these bugs.

It may not seem to be a big deal, but every week there is at least one bug report that I have to leave in the UNCONFIRMED state simply because I cannot test it. So if nobody objects to the addition of a Bugzilla field in the PLUGIN_MAINTAINERS file, then maybe I could post a call for volunteers or something like that...

-Raphaël