Re: should all bug reports be filed against /source/ packages?

[Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>]

Hi Ansgar,

On Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 08:32:11AM +0200, Ansgar wrote:
> I believe bugs should always be assigned to source packages as source
> packages are really the unit we use to keep track of packages.

Since the thread seems largly in favour of this, let me strongly
disagree.

I extensively use the distinction between source and binary packages and
loosing it would be making my work very much harder. The ftbfs tag
specifically relies on this and so do the cross build user tags.

If some tool (say debhelper, because it happens every so often) breaks
building a package, then that bug must be filed against the debhelper
binary package and not against the debhelper source package. Doing
otherwise would imply that debhelper were failing to build, which is not
the case. The packages that do fail to build are the affected source
packages. If on the other hand, debhelper were failing to build itself,
the bug should be assigned to the debhelper source package.

I do fix up wrong assignments every so often. If you want to get rid of
the distinction, please offer an alternate way to quickly tell which
packages are known to ftbfs.

The arguments brought forward for this change seem very unconvincing to
me:
 1. Renamed binary packages. Source packages do get renamed as well and
    this is equally painful.
 2. Confusion for users. The BTS is difficult for new users in many
    ways, but I've rarely seen users struggle with pinpointing the
    correct package. Instead they tend to just file with "some" package
    and that is wrong every now and then. It is easy to fix up and we
    only have to do that anyway if the bug is meant to be long-lived or
    affects stable. More often than not, such reassignments cross source
    package boundaries.
 3. Maintainers missing bugs. The source package view includes all bugs
    filed against all binary packages and the source package. You won't
    miss any bugs if you always use that view.
 4. Question of what should be filed with binary packages. Guillem
    already said that build/licensing issues should end up with the
    source package. Binary package bugs include crashes and wrong
    runtime behaviour.
 5. Non-alternative usertags: usertags are insufficient as the crucial
    part is affected packages and this is not reasonably expressible
    with usertags. We'd need "useraffects" first.

Please keep in mind that a lot of QA in Debian currently relies on
quickly getting a relatively accurate view of which packages are
supposed to be buildable.

Until there is an alternative solution: Yes, please do distinguish
between source and binary packages. At least for long-lived bugs.

Helmut