Re: Bug reporting proceedure, was Re: Bug#24066: libc6: rsh segfaults as , a result of new libc 2.0.7r2
Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> writes:
> Suggesting, even strongly, that it is proper proceedure when submitting a
> bug, to research the bug reporting system first, and provide useful
> information second, doesn't seem onerous to me, and has several practical
> uses for the bug submitter, as well as the maintainer.
I disagree. When I am doing an upgrade, I may notice a number of
bugs. Perhaps I can log on to a terminal next to the computer I'm
upgrading and submit bug reports.
However, I do not have time to check the bug logs and webpages (which
may be out-of-date, remember). Sometimes (often, actually, for me)
the Internet connection is slow. I use Debian at work and I'm not
paid to research the Debian bug logs when, for instance, X suddenly
breaks because KDE has removed the /etc/X11/Xsession file. (Still
haven't received a reply to this one yet, and it's in hamm!)
> Merging bugs is not that hard, but it also doesn't provide any bookkeeping
> advantages to the maintainer. The bugs still get reported in the
> "problems" report separately. Nags still come separately. This requires
> that the maintainer keep records of which bugs have been merged.
Well then we ought to fix those reporting mechanisms.
> I am only suggesting that we make clear that the socially correct way to
> report a bug involves adequate research on the part of the bug reporter.
We can SUGGEST this as before. However, I will be Very Upset if
people start complaining at me because I filed bug reports without
checking the webpages first after a particularly frustrating upgrade
experience that took three times longer than it should have because
people delete me config files or fail to put a "read" at the end of
their postinst and important information goes whizzing by the screen.
> This "requirement" provides additional service to the user at the same
> time that it provides the maintainer with more chance to fix the problem.
I feel that I'm already helping out the project by reporting a bug.
I often don't have time to figure out the problem and end up deleting
packages if they're non-essential -- or doing some quick hack to fix
it.
BTW, while we're on this topic, I am ASTOUNDED at the number of
packages that display messages in postinst but don't prompt for Enter
keypress -- the messages then scroll by. Even though policy requires
a prompt.
--
John Goerzen Linux, Unix consulting & programming jgoerzen@complete.org |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade) www.debian.org |
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