REMIND and LATER considered harmful [was Re: RESOLVED]

[Gregary Hendricks]

On Wednesday 13 July 2005 08:19, Daniel Berlin wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-07-13 at 07:11 -0700, Benton, Kevin wrote:
> > > For us, besides the 3rd-party feedback, the biggest reason for a
bug
> >
> > to be
> >
> > > pending
> > > would be lack of data.  A lot of the errors we get can't be
reproduced
> > > without
> > > the customer sending us the files they're working on.
> >
> > Isn't that a case where a bug should be unconfirmed?
>
> GCC Bugzilla actually has a "WAITING" state for this, so you can
tell
> the difference between bugs sitting around doing nothing and bugs
> waiting for feedback from the reporter.
>
>
For this we, as well as a number of bugzillae, have implemented a
NEEDINFO 
status. Along with it we have an added field of who we need information
from 
(reporter, last commentor, or someone else entirely) who is then CC'd
on the 
bug for the duration that the bug is in the NEEDINFO state. This places
the 
responsibility of the bug squarely on the shoulders of the info
provider 
until they come back with the additional information. This really helps
in 
the processing of a bug as it is obvious by the status that no work can
be 
completed until someone (usually the reporter) comes back with
something more 
than was initially provided. 

-- 
Greg Hendricks 
Novell IS&T Engineer 
GHendricks at novell.com 
www.novell.com