Too Many Bugs

[MattyT]

On Mon, 2004-01-19 at 02:40, Gervase Markham wrote:

> > One problem I see with most bugs is that there's too much debate and not
> > enough implementation.  Some discussions are from 2001 or 2002 and
> > still going on!
> Just because a bug is filed doesn't necessarily mean that a patch will 
> result - for example, it could be an RFE for what, after discussion, 
> turns out to be a bad idea. But I agree that two-year discussions aren't 
> very productive.

I don't think that two year discussions are particularly relevant to
bugs (moreso to RFEs).  There might be the odd one, and that would stand
out, but I'm sure the 98% of our bugs are just sitting there without
this.

> What we actually need is strong ownership of components - so the module 
> owner will decide "no, we're definitely not going to do this", and close 
> the bug as WONTFIX, or decide "yes, we would like to do this", and say 
> so on the bug - at which point anyone who wishes can start coding.

Again, WONTFIX should not be relevant to bugs, there is no such thing as
a bug that should be WONTFIX.

Strong ownership would perhaps be useful in another way however, in that
people currently feel no responsibility to fix bugs.  Perhaps if we had
more ownership people might feel as such.

> I suggest, though, that before everyone goes off in a triaging frenzy, 
> we wait until the upcoming releases are out the door, b.m.o. is 
> upgraded, the regressions are crushed, b.m.o. does its CVS update, and 
> is back on an even keel again. I expect that to take a couple of weeks.

I don't really see how this matters.  Screening and triaging is doubly
important in clearing off the bug list for an impending release, the
upgrade won't dramatically help, regressions are bugs to fix, and being
on an even keel isn't where you want to be if you're drifting further
away from land.

-- 
         Matthew Tuck: Software Developer & All-Round Nice Guy        
 My Short Autobiography: 1985 Grade Bin Monitor 1990 Class Clown Award
1992 Awarded Most Likely To Spontaneously Combust 1996 Crowned Galactic
         Emperor 1998 Released From Smith Psychiatric Hospital