Hi, Now that Wheezy is released, I'd like to get an opinion from fellow project members if it is okay to add apport to the Debian unstable queue so that we can see it in time for Jessie. Apport [1] is an automated crash reporting tool. It could also be used as a bug reporting tool, but there are certain features missing (a text input to add user description), not making it a candidate for reporting bugs. For crashes, apport does a great job. It can intercept almost all crashes on the box, including Python exceptions. The implementation for Debian is very simple. There is an Apport CrashDB engine for Debian, which drafts the reports, discards the binary crash data (that can be huge), and sends it as an email to the Debian BTS. It lacks the feature to search for duplicate bug reports (like reportbug does, if online) on the BTS though. Apport for Debian currently resides in experimental with a whopping popcon stat of 11000+ installs. In the past, I have blogged [2] about apport's state in Debian, where I received some constructive feedback. 1) Duplicate bug reports: There are high possibilities that we could see a sudden increase in the number of bug reports, many duplicates. This is something I'm not sure how we want to evaluate. We could give apport a try, and leave it to the users to be more conscious when hitting submit. 2) Incomplete / Useless backtrace: This issue has been fixed. If apport senses that the backtrace is incomplete, it will not allow for the bug to be reported. 3) Incomplete / Useless backtrace (Missing debug symbols): Just like point #2, if apport detects that the debug symbol packages are missing for the package, it will deny filing the bug report. 4) Blacklisting: If a developer wants to opt-out for apport reports, they can ship hooks into /etc/apport/blacklist.d/ . There was request to completely blacklist a package on the basis of package names. This is doable. I hacked a patch in the past but it wasn't optimal. If there's a need we can work something out in a later release. I'd like to see this feature in the core apport framework though. I propose to see apport as part of the Debian archive. Having apport will help us catch many unnoticed and unreported crashes. Until some consensus is built, apport will reside in experimental only. [1] https://launchpad.net/apport [2] http://www.researchut.com/taxonomy/term/170 -- Given the large number of mailing lists I follow, I request you to CC me in replies for quicker response
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