Re: Stability and Gnome's image among users

[Telsa <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

On Wed, Aug 18, 1999 at 02:12:55PM +0200 or thereabouts, Jacques Du Pasquier wrote:
> Hawlisch Martin a écrit (18.8.1999):
> > If it is not running stable for you then submit bug-reports.
> >  - >  http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html
> 
> Yes. Really I was just submitting a general comment and encouragement.
> Sorry if it's off topic.
> 
> If I may add one thing, note that, from a user point of view, you
> notice general malfunction rather than individual bugs. When things go
> wrong, it's difficult to identify the source of the problem, and so
> the actual bug if there is one.

This is something I notice a lot. I am entirely happy to submit
even the silliest of bugs, largely because the developers have
been really encouraging when I do, and apparently _like_ to be
told, "I just made cards disappear in AisleRiot," and so on.

But working out what's causing the problem is hard. I have a
set of things I try, but they're very hit and miss. I have taken
a couple of hours to work out which package a program is part
of before now. (Yes, I know about rpm -qf for a file, but first
you have to work out what file relates to what you see on the
output of 'top', or know how to find out that what is described
on a menu entry as "About Myself" runs a program with a name
entirely different from that...) 

> I personnally wouldn't know where to start, and unfortunately I cannot
> presently take the few days I'd need to sort it all out and submit the
> useful 1 or 2 bug reports causing all my troubles, though I'd like to.

If there are other people in this boat, I can write up what I
do to work out what package something is part of and so on. If
it helps. (But I'm not very good at it, and I might tell people
a horribly long-winded way. Although I can guarantee it's a 
great way to learn more about how Gnome and, in my case, Linux
work.)

> I understand the situation, and that's OK, and I'm not shocked that
> what I thought would be a self-support user group is more like a
> development coordination group, and I appreciate your good will to
> help end users, too. I just hope you can make the thing work more
> smoothly, and if you do that, that you say clearly that you did, so
> that scared users come back.

I have a few ideas about what might make it easier to submit
bug reports, too. I'n not sure where the best place to send them
is, but if people are interested, I can send them here? (Or
wherever is better.) I have held back so far because (a) I wasn't
sure how many other people have the same problems as me, and (b)
it might involve yet more coding for someone... (I don't think it
would be hard to code, but I am not in the best position to judge.)

Telsa