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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Bug system - new stuff
From:       Dirk Mueller <mueller () kde ! org>
Date:       2001-01-25 22:53:04
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Hi, 

I changed a few things in the bug system. Read below to find out:

- Added separate bug index for "TODO lists". Now you can assign 
  bugreports to the todo lists of specific people in parallel to 
  assigning it to a specific package. See
  http://bugs.kde.org/db/ix/todos.html
  and the subpages to find out. 
 
  This has several advantages:

  - For big packages, like konqueror, kdelibs, khtml, kmail etc.
    nobody really
    took care of the bugs and there are just too many parts that 
    usually several people wrote and maintain. Now the maintainer
    can use the "TODO" lists to assign reports of his package
    to the todo list of a specific person. Its like "subpackages"
    but much easier and directer. 

  - The TODO list gives a detailed list of things to do for each
    developer. given that the developer maintains it well, he
    always have a quick overview of what has to be done and where.

  - The TODO list helps avoiding duplicate work. Please, before
    looking into a bugreport that is not exactly trivial assign
    it first to your own todo list. This indicates to others
    that somebody is looking into it already and helps 
    synchronizing work. Yes, this is a bit more work but the
    advantages should outweight the little overhead. 
  
  - There is no way to get rid of a TODO list item except fixing
    it or assigning it to someone else ;) 

 Please use this feature carefully. Its meant as a "subset" of
 the normal bug report flooding. now you can sort out the "important"
 ones from the well... not so important ones. Its of no use
 if the TODO lists contain as many bugreports as the package lists. 
 Only keep as many reports on your todo as you can probably work out
 in a few days, or if you already contacted the bug submitter about
 additional information, you can indicate to others that they don't
 need to care about it any longer. 

- How to use the TODO feature: 

  1) make sure you have a TODO list. checkout CVS module bugs, file
     TODOlists. First column is a "shortcut" for the todo command, 
     second column is your full name and email address. 

  2) to assign a bugreport to a given TODO list, write a mail to 
     control@bugs.kde.org containing the text: 

        todo 12345 <todolistname>

     where todolistname is the "shortcut word" listed in the 
     first column of bugs/TODOlists.

   3) Note: there is currently NO corresponding message generated. That
      means neither the original submitter nor the new "TODO list holder"
      will receive a notification. I believe this is not necessary, we'll
      see. Mainly I did it this way because IMHO such a mail would be
      more or less useless. Usually developers will bookmark their own
      todo list url (its a static page) and visit it regularly anyway. 

    4) To find out if a certain bugreport is already on the todo list of
      somebody else, you can either
        a) go to the bug report directly, i.e. by entering its number
           in the form on the mainpage. if the top of the page says:
           "Currently TODO by: ", its already on somebody's TODO. 

        b) go to the package listing, like 
           http://bugs.kde.org/db/pa/lkdelibs.html
           A report that is on somebody's TODO list has a "TODO: foobar"
           behind the bug title. 

- Scrambling of email addresses. Now (almost) every email address
  that is somewhere on the bugs pages is "scrambled", i.e. "@" is 
  replaced by " at ". Its supposed to be a kind of spam protection, 
  lets see..

- I redesigned the bugs log pages a bit. feel free to tell me about
  bugs, more suggestions or if you just dislike the colors ;)

- Added another command to the list of commands control@bugs.kde.org
  understands: "done". 

  "done 12345" works just like "close 12345" except that its "silent", 
  i.e. it doesn't send out a notification to the bug submitter. 

Comments, suggestions, as always welcome. 


Dirk

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