Bugzilla should be application oriented

fernandocarvalho · Post by **fernandocarvalho** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:45 pm

I think that Bugzilla could have an option to join all issues that are related to an specific application.
For example, if someone is testing Oblivion, there should be a place where we can relate every issue that is happening to Oblivion.
So, instead of filing a new entry on Bugzilla, people could only add another issue to an application.
In this way, people can provide more info about an application and developers can follow the behavior of applications on different wine versions.
This will also reduce the amount of entries that appear on Bugzilla.
An advantage of this is that should be possible to wine users automatically submit their execution logs.
This would help increase the amount of valuable data to the developers.

Martin Gregorie · Post by **Martin Gregorie** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:09 pm

On Fri, 2010-08-20 at 15:45 -0500, fernandocarvalho wrote:

I think that Bugzilla could have an option to join all issues that are
related to an specific application.
For example, if someone is testing Oblivion, there should be a place
where we can relate every issue that is happening to Oblivion.

That's already in place and only depends on clued-up users:
- search for similar bugs FIRST
- if there is already one filed, add a comment to it.
Raise a new bug ONLY if you can't find a related one.

If you don't look for similar bugs before raising a new one then YOU ARE
THE PROBLEM. From looking at the Bugzilla 'bug report changes' emails
about bugs I've raised it appears that most people are too stupid to
search existing bugs before raising a new one.

Martin

Post by **dimesio** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:58 pm

fernandocarvalho wrote:I think that Bugzilla could have an option to join all issues that are related to an specific application.
For example, if someone is testing Oblivion, there should be a place where we can relate every issue that is happening to Oblivion.

That's what the AppDB is for, and you can add bug links there.

So, instead of filing a new entry on Bugzilla, people could only add another issue to an application.
In this way, people can provide more info about an application and developers can follow the behavior of applications on different wine versions.

I think you don't understand how the process works.

Wine developers don't usually follow whole applications, they tend to specialize in specific areas of the code, and work on bugs that fall in their area of expertise. A single application may be affected by multiple bugs in completely unrelated parts of the code, while a single bug may affect multiple apps. Lumping together unrelated bugs into one big "this app doesn't work right" bug while requiring separate reports for each app affected by the same bug would not be helpful to the people who actually fix bugs.

fernandocarvalho · Post by **fernandocarvalho** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 6:26 am

And what about a feature to automatically send bug reports to the developers?

thomas.mullaly · Post by **thomas.mullaly** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:10 am

fernandocarvalho wrote:
And what about a feature to automatically send bug reports to the developers?

There's already a mailing list for Wines bugzilla, that anyone can subscribe to, to receive updates about bug reports. Also, I think the bugzilla mailing list is a little too high traffic to be auto emailing developers, as they would be more likely to ignore the emails since they would be getting 25-50 (maybe more) of them a day.

Post by **DanKegel** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:29 pm

Automated bug reports would be nice, but really, there's no shortage
of bug reports, so more won't help too much.

We could use more engaged users helping triage bug reports, though.
See e.g. http://www.kegel.com/wine/qa/

James McKenzie · Post by **James McKenzie** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:45 pm

fernandocarvalho wrote:

[Idea]
And what about a feature to automatically send bug reports to the developers?

It exists and is called Wine-bugs.

As to the metabug feature you are requesting, that has been shot down
more times than you would care to know.

The way that things work is:

Create entry in AppDb. Rate as appropriate (Platinum is only for
programs that work mostly flawlessly with NO substitution of code,
patches or complete .dll files).

If an issue exists, create a bug report AFTER looking for similar
sounding bug reports. If an existing bug report exists, update it with
the new program name and VOTE for the bug.

Link the bug report into the AppDB entry (otherwise duplicates and and
will be created.)

Watch the bug report. Sometimes it will take a long time for any
activity as bugs are generally worked by 'experts' and these are usually
function related.

If you have little or no Windows source exposure and know how to work in
a clean-room building environment, you are always welcome to work on
bugs. Start small and work your way up....

James McKenzie