Re: GNOME 2.12 is slated to be our worst release -- ever!

[Elijah Newren <newren gmail com>]

[Mark cc'ed for item 2, Nautilus-list cc'ed for item 6,
evolution-hackers (and Harish since I'm not subscribed) cc'ed for item
8]

Hi,

Thanks for doing this Olav.  (Note to everyone: Olav emailed me since
he was worried about the showstopper list that hasn't gotten much
attention this release, and since I've also slacked on watching it
this release, I asked him if he could come up with a summary of the
bugs and send it to this list).  Note that I think we've always had a
bunch of bugs left on the "showstopper" list when release time came
around and most were actually puntable (in particular, Murray seems to
be really good at ferreting out which ones are and aren't).

On 9/5/05, Olav Vitters <ovitters gmail com> wrote:
> There are currently 21 2.12 blocker bugs in bugzilla.gnome.org; see
> the 2.12 showstopper link from
> http://live.gnome.org/BugQueryClaimPage.
> 
> (I wanted to put more information per bug report, however.. it really
> is time to mail this)
> 
> Bugs that should block the release:
> 
> 1. text/plain documents on my desktop disappear
> There is some suggestion (untested) that this is caused by broken
> *notify kernels.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314457

It seems to be less reproducible now (comment 11 says how to reliably
reproduce but no one is able to reproduce anymore with those steps). 
Also, it'd be really nice if someone could actually test with a kernel
with the inotify fixes (i.e. >= 2.6.13), which no one seems to have
done yet.

Really sucks, but I'm not sure I want to hold up the release for this
(but then again, I keep stuff off my desktop anyway)...  What do
others think?

> 2. Splash screen doesn't disappear
> I saw something about smproxy possibly fixing some of the splash
> screen / session issues. Do I remember that correctly and has this
> been done? Bugreport itself mentions long running programs causing
> this.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116814

It's in the release notes too and isn't a regression from previous
releases (this bug has "always" been there), but I thought this was
fixed with the smproxy removal too.  Mark?  Even if it isn't, I don't
want to hold up the release given that it's already in the release
notes.

> 3. keys refuse to "unbind"
> Not totally sure if this is a showstopper. Not that many dupes. No
> progress at all, if this is punted it must be fixed next release.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=133815

If it was punted in 2.10, I don't see the reason to hold up the 2.12
release for it.  Given the few dupes, I don't think this adversely
affects that many users (though it definitely does suck really badly
and I hope we can advertise the showstoppers more next release and
hopefully get Bastien on top of this)

> 4. Help browser content is inaccessible [REGRESSION]
> Last comment suggest that this might be fixed. Should be tested! Also,
> will 2.12 actually have that version?
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=157941

>From the comments, it appears fixed now (though just not checked in
gnopernicus).  This bug was brought up previously on this list (and on
d-d-l months and months ago), and it was agreed that a11y shouldn't
hold up forward progress on yelp for forever.
 
> 5. eog makes incorrect use of gthreads
> When browsing many (not sure how many) images, eog will crash. Partial
> patch has been committed in bug 312856. Has patch from Debian (so I
> assume tested).
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=315147

According to the Debian bug report, this also occurred in 2.8.x and
2.10.x, so it won't make this release any worse than previous ones. 
Yeah, crashers suck, but I don't want to shove the release date back
for non-regressions unless they're somehow more prominent now than
before.

> 6. Leak in nautilus-icon-factory
> A fix for a leak introduced a reliable crasher. Suggest to backout the
> fix for the leak.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307288

Yeah, adding new crashers sounds bad and I believe from Alex's comment
this is probably pretty easy to get.  Luckily we have tested code
(i.e. the old code, which we can get by reverting the patch that
caused the crash).  I think we probably do need this fixed first
though maybe nautilus-list can give us a better idea of the impact.

> 7. hal/non-hal incoherence: gnome_vfs_drive_get_activation_uri ()
> This is the cause of bug 310270 (crasher, see below). Seems that patch
> from 310270 works around this bug.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312171

If it's worked around in gtk+ (as suggested in 310270), then I feel
okay.  Otherwise, I'm scared to death by this bug.

> 8. GW Proxy - Evo hangs when started in offline mode
> Start Evolution in offline mode, goto preferences, hang. No progress.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314297

How often is evo started in offline mode--i.e. what's the impact of this bug?

> Undecided:
> 1. crashes on attempt to use in libgnomeui
> Crashes when hitting printscreen button. Caused by
> x-nautilus-desktop:/// in ~/.gtk-bookmarks. Not sure how often that
> would appear. Punt to 2.12.1?
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=310153

Printscreen works reliably for me.  ;-)  Yeah, since no one know how
x-nautilus-desktop:/// appears and it's only when that happens, I'd
say punt to 2.12.1.

> 2. occasional hangs in ORBit_small_invoke_stub
> No dupes. Requires accessibility to reproduce? This is a hang, so
> probably difficult to reproduce and file a bug for (no dupes doesn't
> mean it isn't seen by lots of people). Luis cannot reproduce
> currently, so hard to say what to do.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=311729

Blocking the release on this would probably mean blocking indefinitely
since the only person to get the bug can't reproduce and it's
needinfo...so yeah, punt for now.

> 3. problems with volume handling
> Seems that gnome-vfs-daemon can hang. This causes (un)mounts not to be
> delivered. Currently not reproducable (due to RB change).
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=313474

If not current reproduceable, I say punt.  ;-)

> 4. 'open folder' icon never reverts to closed after window is closed
> No discussion. Manny can't reproduce it.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314137

Annoying, but the system is still usable.

> 5. Clicking "add wallpaper", "File System" icon and Pathbar are bigger
> than the others gtk2 program on gtkfilechooer.
> Easy explanation: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=51228&action=view
> Not sure if this should be release. Will be highly visible.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314346

"Words are too big" isn't a showstopper for me.

> 6. Marking mail as Junk - Evolution crashes - Regressing 311956

Um, it's marked as fixed...

> Battstat applet shows 204% charge when battery is fully charged due to
> voltage/capacity reported by ACPI being higher than engineered (AKA
> ACPI says current level is 10, while reporting 5 as maximum). Has
> patch.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=315259

Patch was presented to r-t, but although it's annoying and ugly, it
doesn't really hurt.

> Non-blockers:
> 1. evolution-2.3.4: printing does not work
> No confirmations from other persons. Needs QA!
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=309919

Yeah, need ppc people to look into it as it may be ppc specific.
 
> 2. crash in file selector while open a directory
> Many dupes. This would have been a blocker. However, a patch has been
> committed. The patch seems to fix the issue. Should be verified.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=310270

Yes, I'm worried about this one... 
 
> Above is related to:
> bug 312171 - hal/non-hal incoherence: gnome_vfs_drive_get_activation_uri ()
> This is the cause of above bug 310270. Seems that patch from 310270
> works around this bug.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=312171
> 
> 3. Recent changes broke HIG compliance
> Some dialogs do not follow the HIG anymore. Cause seems to be a change
> in gtk+ (it ignores a width setting). As it could be gtk+, this could
> impact multiple dialogs. If really is gtk+, we can ignore this.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=313680

"Dialog has incorrect spacing" isn't a showstopper to me, even if it
is ugly.  :-)

> 4. Marking mail as Junk - Evolution crashes - Regressing 311956
> Marking a mail as junk *using groupwise* Evolution crashes. Not sure
> how many will use Groupwise. No progress.
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314346

That sucks...Evo team: how may use groupwise?  I'm guessing (well,
hoping) it's a small enough group to punt for now?