Ubuntu Wiki

Dev Week -- Bug lifecycle, Best practices, Workflow, Tags, Upstream, Big picture -- jcastro and pedro_ -- Wed Sep 2nd, 2009

UTC

(04:01:09 PM) jcastro: ok thanks everyone for showing up
(04:01:59 PM) jcastro: This next session is "Bugs lifecycle, best practices, workflow, tags, upstream, and big picture"
(04:02:10 PM) jcastro: with myself and pedro_
(04:02:15 PM) ***pedro_ waves
(04:02:39 PM) jcastro: ok, so the idea for this session is we want to familiarize you with general bug "workflow" stuff
(04:02:55 PM) jcastro: so that you're aware of tools and techniques we use to make better bugs
(04:03:05 PM) jcastro: and how to make that process efficient so bugs get fixed quicker
(04:03:23 PM) jcastro: ubuntu is a "distribution", which means we bundle a bunch of software from what we call "upstreams"
(04:03:31 PM) jcastro: so like, GNOME, KDE, Xorg, Firefox, Openoffice, etc.
(04:03:53 PM) jcastro: since we have lots of users and sometimes things go wrong, those users report the bugs to us.
(04:04:04 PM) jcastro: and what people like pedro_ do is to ensure that reports get to the right people
(04:04:29 PM) jcastro: this is important because not all upstreams can keep track of bugs they get from distros
(04:04:51 PM) jcastro: so what we try to do is act as a collection filter and then forward the good bug reports to these upstream projects
(04:05:41 PM) jcastro: and to "close the loop" part of the process is checking to make sure that bugs that are fixed upstream get out to users.
(04:05:59 PM) jcastro: this involves working closely with upstreams to make sure everyone is getting the right information
(04:06:08 PM) jcastro: so, we can start off with the bug lifecylce
(04:06:15 PM) jcastro: which pedro can tell you about
(04:06:42 PM) pedro_: Yeah, the Bug workflow on Ubuntu is not that different from everything else out there
(04:07:13 PM) pedro_: so when Bugs get filed on Ubuntu they are assigned with the "New" Status
(04:07:40 PM) pedro_: this is not  like the "New" on Bugzilla
(04:07:55 PM) pedro_: this is more like the Unconfirmed there
(04:08:13 PM) pedro_: meaning that nobody else has confirmed the bug yet
(04:08:41 PM) pedro_: it might confuse people a bit if you're used to Bugzilla workflow
(04:08:52 PM) pedro_: ok so how to open a new bug in Ubuntu?
(04:09:13 PM) pedro_: Best way is to go to the application menu -> Help -> Report a bug
(04:09:39 PM) pedro_: or execute in the command line : ubuntu-bug $package_name ; ie: ubuntu-bug nautilus
(04:10:11 PM) pedro_: apport will show up and start collecting information of your system, which is going to submit to launchpad along with your description of the problem
(04:10:23 PM) pedro_: wanna know more? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs is a good reading
(04:10:39 PM) pedro_: So we have a New bug on Launchpad now what?
(04:10:54 PM) pedro_: that bug needs to be Triaged
(04:11:14 PM) pedro_: most of bugs on Ubuntu are triaged by the Ubuntu BugSquad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad
(04:12:09 PM) pedro_: and also some of the products out there are triaged by their maintainers, so we're always looking for help to avoid that and let the developers concentrate on just that, fixing bugs and developing new features for Ubuntu
(04:12:20 PM) pedro_: wanna help on that? easy join the BugSquad ;-)
(04:12:35 PM) pedro_: ok so if that bug you reported is missing some information :
(04:12:55 PM) pedro_: the report Status is changed to "Incomplete"
(04:13:07 PM) pedro_: again, this is not like the Incomplete in Bugzilla, the bug is not closed
(04:13:27 PM) pedro_: this is more like the "NeedInfo" there
(04:14:10 PM) pedro_: If that Triager or Developer think that probably the report you opened is not a bug
(04:14:20 PM) pedro_: that report is marked as "Invalid"
(04:15:05 PM) pedro_: or if it's a feature request you want to see implemented but the maintainer don't want to implement it because it's too crazy or too controversial
(04:15:10 PM) pedro_: the bug is marked as "Won't Fix"
(04:15:45 PM) pedro_: when someone else than the reporter is having the same issue, that report is marked as "Confirmed"
(04:16:14 PM) pedro_: this is a recommendation that fit all the bug trackers out there : please do not confirm your own reports
(04:16:26 PM) pedro_: everytime you do that, a kitten die
(04:17:08 PM) pedro_: ok so if someone from the Ubuntu Bug Control team
(04:17:24 PM) pedro_: thinks that the report has enough information for a developer to start to work on it
(04:17:30 PM) pedro_: the report is marked as Triaged
(04:17:37 PM) pedro_: and yes you need extra powers to do that
(04:18:22 PM) pedro_: how to request that rights? have a look to -> http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugControl
(04:19:03 PM) jcastro: ooh, a question!
(04:19:14 PM) jcastro: QUESTION what should we do with upstream packages that are dead, or orphaned (like gnome-volume-manager)?
(04:19:29 PM) jcastro: Usually I try to find the project that supercedes that
(04:19:46 PM) jcastro: so for example, gvm is replaced by something (part of the utopia stack I can't remember right now)
(04:19:54 PM) jcastro: and then ask the reporter if it happens in that
(04:20:05 PM) jcastro: if the problems is dead dead upstream then usually it just sits there. :-/
(04:20:33 PM) pedro_: let's continue
(04:20:50 PM) pedro_: most of the developers look into the Triaged bugs to see what to fix next
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