Re: What bug reports are for

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Jesús M. Navarro writes ("Re: What bug reports are for"):
> Hi, Josselin:
> > You seem to forget the very reason bug reports are here. Their point is
> > not to offer a service to our users - if you want that, you?ll need paid
> > support. Bug reports are here to help improving the distribution.
> 
> Good to know.
> 
> Is *that* Debian's official position?  That the bug report system is
> not there to offer a service to Debian users?

Debian doesn't have an "official position" on this question.  But I
would guess it is the position of the vast majority of Debian's
maintainers.

This has been standard wisdom for Free Software for decades now.  See
for example this extract from the GNU "Information for Maintainers"
document:

  The main purpose of bug reports is to help you contribute to the
  community by improving the next version of the program. Many of the
  people who report bugs don't realize this-they think that the point is
  for you to help them individually. Some will ask you to focus on that
  instead of on making the program better. If you comply with their
  wishes, you will have been distracted from the job of maintaining the
  program.

  ...

  When people ask you to put your time into helping them use the
  program, it may seem "helpful" to do what they ask. But it is much
  less helpful than improving the program, which is the maintainer's
  real job.

http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#Replying-to-Mail

Ian.