Managing Bugs

How to do bug triage on the BugTracker.

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Contents

1. Definitions

Unread - no one's ever responded to this bug (bad)
Deferred - we've decided not to deal with this problem now
Chatting - we're discussing a solution
Need-eg - we need more information to progress
In-progress - a partial fix exist or fix exists but isn't yet integrated
Testing - a patch is merged, but poster has not confirmed it works, or it didn't reach the main repo yet
Done-cbb - (could be better or couldn't be bothered) not perfect, but we've done as much as we're going to do
Resolved - problem is fixed or was not a bug

Get diagnostics first, give suggestions later
Respond to new bugs as quickly as possible, especially where more info would be useful
Make sure its priority is set appropriately
Make sure its title is useful (ie convert commands should mention the backend)
Add appropriate developers to nosey
Add appropriate topics
If it is a common issue, mark it as a duplicate
Bugs that have long been fixed in main should be marked resolved
Bugs that have been marked 'testing' can be marked resolved after two weeks if the user doesn't confirm earlier
Bugs that have recently accepted patches should be marked testing
Bugs with active work, including patches that aren't in main should be marked in progress
Bugs that require more info from the user should be marked need-eg
Bugs that remain in the need-eg state for an extended period may be closed
Features and wishes that have been decided against should move to done-cbb

Commits summaries containing '(issueNNNN)' will automatically move issues to the testing state.

Choose whichever bug is resolved (or has a clear description) as the master
Set superseder on the duplicate to point to the master, add a note, and set the bug as resolved
If the master is not resolved, copy the nosy list from the duplicate and add a message pointing back to 'issueXXX'

Close out bugs that have been in testing and need-eg state too long
Similarly, check if bugs marked in-progress are really in-progress
Sort open issues by priority and activity - here is a triage and a unloved query
Degrade long-standing bugs to features and features to wishes where appropriate