Re: bugsquad guidelines

[Andrew Sobala <andrew sobala net>]

On Sat, 2002-11-02 at 12:21, Malcolm Tredinnick wrote:
> I was thinking earlier today that there is enough collected wisdom in
> the archives of this list that we just about need to write up a document
> collating it all. So not just common bug-reports stuff, but the various
> keyword meanings (including bug_squad), etc. We are starting to have a
> learning curve for the bug busting business.
> 
> [And, no, Telsa and Luis and any other funny guys... the correct
> response is not "well, off you go then". :-) ]
> 

In a very real sense it is :-)

I've attached some quick guidelines I just wrote. They really need
input, someone to flesh them out so they're readable, corrections, and
bits that I missed, but as a starting point they're probably OK.

The real problem is trying to describe general rules for categories of
bugs when they all differ :-)

BTW: I've been thinking about "Urgent" priority. Maybe bugs that block
use of GNOME (eg. login hangs for everyone), or "Panel/Nautilus crashes
at startup every time" etc. should be urgent. ?

-- 
Andrew

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New bugs
--------

General
-- Always set a GNOVER keyword. If you don't know what version, ask the reporter.
-- If it's GNOVER2.0 and reproducable in 2.1, set both keywords.
-- When triaging, take into account:
---- Visibility
---- How often this feature is used
---- Is this very specific to an uncommon OS feature or setting?
---- Does this make GNOME totally unusable?
-- Other important keywords: accessibility, usability, keynav (also add accessibility to keynav issues), doc, string (string changes), PATCH (QAs should watch for patches coming into their bugmail and viciously add this keyword), multihead.
-- If you've actually _read_ the HIG, add this keyword to bugs about HIG-violation. If you haven't, don't bother.
-- All the stuff in b.g.o/triage.cgi
-- If you think it's triaged correctly, add bugsquad. If you are doubtful, Cc+=you, say you've attempted to triage it, and watch for someone else to add bugsquad and what other changes they make. If you add a comment they may even explain why they think what they think.
-- #FIXME: I18N, L11N: What's the difference?

Crashers
-- Immediately Critical+High
-- simple-dup-finder.cgi
-- Put crashing function in square brackets in the description if it is a new one
---- This normally involves skipping through g_* and gtk_* and grabbing first application-specific frame
-- I always confirm a bug with a stack trace. Because, for some reason, it really crashed.

Feature requests
-- Almost always Enhancement+Normal
-- If it's a fringe usability issue, Cc+=usability-maint gnome org and add a wordy comment like "Thoughts, usability?"

Something not working as expected
-- Generally Normal+Normal
-- If it's totally broken, Major+Normal.
-- Would GNOME suck badly if we shipped another version without this? If so, Priority=High.

String moans
-- Trivial, string keyword.

Accessibility issues
-- Are not trivial! Put as Severity=Normal, at least in the general case.

People moaning about the button order
-- Tell them our designated decision making forum for this is http://slashdot.org. (Some mailing lists may appreciate their input, but most are sick to death of the topic. Usability may be interested if there is a good usability reason other than "I want it to be like Windows/KDE", but otherwise NOTABUG.)

Memory leaks (don't get many of these reported)
-- Should theoretically be Critical+Normal
-- Can be bumped down to Major+Normal in applications that don't get run all the time. So in gnome-search-tool, memory leaks aren't so important, but in gnome-settings-daemon or nautilus they are.

Sun/Wipro
-- Are just like any other bugs - and they often don't search for dups or correctly set priority just like all the other bug reporters
-- Can be Sun-specific. If they are talking about something that sounds totally alien, ask them.
-- Can often be multihead. Remember to set the multihead keyword if they are.

Bugzilla crack
-- screenshot keyword is not really used by anyone and can probably be removed...