Re: Reporting Bug
On Fri 23 Oct 2015 at 00:03:02 +0300, Piyavkin wrote:
> On 22.10.2015 17:03, Brian wrote:
> >On Thu 22 Oct 2015 at 16:15:27 +0300, Piyavkin wrote:
> >
> >>I agree with the topic starter: the Debian's bug reporting process is
> >>horrible and not userfriendly from user's viewpoint. If an organization
> >>cares about usability and effectiveness of bug reporting process, it
> >>shouldn't be like that.
> >
> >If a user cares about the usability and effectiveness of the bug
> >reporting process, more detail to back up the complaint would be
> >welcome.
> >
[...]
> As it could look in my view. Bug tracking system is a web-service with such
> reporting interfaces as application (~thick client), web-page, mail.
>
> /Web-page/
>
> Web-page is most convenient and most reliable way to report for user. On the
> mentioned above web page instead of wall of text there is placed a huge red
> button «report a bug» and few links below to pages with short descriptions
> of alternative ways (app, mail) and «more details» in those.
>
> There is a standard form to fill. User is asked to fill just needed fields,
> and fills only those ones that he can, bug reporting system provides hints
> and examples straight in the form (or through «more details»). Selections
> from drop-down list are presented whenever possible.
>
> The process of reporting can be partitioned in steps: a) common information
> (what reportbug collects from user now, plus contact information); b)
> description according to template; c) system specific technical information
> («run such command, copy results here»). When every step is finished,
> provided data is recorded in database. Even if the process is not fully
> completed and there is no sufficient information to solve the problem, there
> is still information for analysis on types of bugs, their intensity, etc. In
> some cases user can be contacted through provided contact information and
> asked to give more details.
This sounds suspiciously like a Bugzilla type process. The chances of
Debian going that route are vanishingly small. Also see bug #277744:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=277744
The reason for the 'wontfix' is at
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2007/03/msg00381.html
Any such frontend must not be worse than reportbug at actually
gathering information and providing real contact information for the
submitter. I personally don't think one for submission will ever be as
useful as reportbug, which is why I've never worked on it myself, and
why I've marked #277744 wontfix.
The thread with msg00381 starts at
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2007/03/msg00362.html
It is worth a read to get some feeling for the issues involved. As far
as I can determine the project was not completed, which might be an
indication of the complexity in realising it or a lack of consensus on
whether a web frontend for reporting bugs to the BTS is needed.
[...]
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