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Ubuntu Open Week - Ubuntu Bugsquad + Triaging Bugs - Pedro Villavicencio - Mon, Apr 28, 2008

see also Saturday session.

[19:06] <pedro_> good day freedom lovers!
[19:06] <iulian> Hello everyone!
[19:06] <pedro_> My name is Pedro Villavicencio and I'm going to introduce you to the Bug triaging
[19:06] <pedro_> i'm here with the bugsquad member Iulian, he's going to deal with the questions of you at the ubuntu-classroom-chat
[19:07] <pedro_> so feel free to ask whenever you want to
[19:07] <pedro_> the good Brian Murray already talked to you about ways to filing bugs in Ubuntu
[19:07] <pedro_> great session so we already know how to do some things on launchpad
[19:08] <pedro_> once you filed your bug in launchpad, someone needs to take care of it
[19:08] <pedro_> and that team on Ubuntu is called the "Ubuntu BugSquad"
[19:09] <pedro_> the Ubuntu Bugsquad is the first point of contact for the bugs filed about Ubuntu
[19:09] <pedro_> we keep track of them and try to make sure that major bugs do not go unnoticed by developers
[19:09] <pedro_> and we do this with a process called "Triage", will talk to you about it in a few
[19:10] <pedro_> Working with the Bug Squad it's an excellent way to start helping out and learn a lot about Ubuntu and it's infrastructure
[19:10] <pedro_> You do not need any programming knowledge to join the team in fact it is a great way to return something to our lovely Ubuntu project if you cannot program at all
[19:10] <pedro_> We have a team on LP https://edge.launchpad.net/~bugsquad it's an open team, so everybody can join us
[19:11] <pedro_> so please feel free to do it if you're willing to help
[19:11] <pedro_> we also have a mailing list https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugsquad and a couple of IRC Channels where bugs are discussed #ubuntu-bugs and announced #ubuntu-bugs-announce
[19:12] <pedro_> And if you later on have questions about an specific project you can look to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad/Contacts to see to who you can ask about it.
[19:12] <pedro_> and we hope to see your name there in the short term :-)
[19:12] <pedro_> Ok so Bug Triage
[19:13] <pedro_> Triaging bugs consists of a few things
[19:13] <pedro_> - Responding to new bugs as they are filed
[19:14] <pedro_> - Ensuring that new bugs have all the necessary information, you already learned how to submit good quality bug reports in previous session
[19:15] <pedro_> - Assigning bugs to the proper package: this was also one of the topics that Brian talked to you about it
[19:15] <pedro_> we currently have around 3000 bugs without a package
[19:15] <pedro_> you can take a look to a brief list here http://tinyurl.com/32l4gd
[19:15] <pedro_> it's a big quantity of bugs, and with your help we can reduce that :-)
[19:16] <pedro_> - Confirming bugs reports by testing them
[19:16] <pedro_> - Setting the right priority and status
[19:16] <pedro_> - Searching for duplicates and marking them as such
[19:17] <pedro_> - Sending bugs to their upstream authors when needed
[19:31] <iulian> Ok, it seems that pedro_ is having some problems, don't know. Will try to replace him.
[19:33] <iulian> Let's see the how can we change the status of a bug and what means.
[19:33] <pedro_> sorry guys, my network connection went down
[19:33] <pedro_> where are we?
[19:33] <iulian> Cool, nice to have you back.
[19:34] <ompaul> <CaioAlonso> QUESTION: what to do when the bug cant be reproduced but it still happens on the persons machine?
[19:35] <pedro_> CaioAlonso: depending on where you're having the issue, there's detailed instructions on how to debug your problem
[19:35] <pedro_> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures
[19:36] <pedro_> ok let's make this a bit fast
[19:36] <pedro_> we currently have 9 status on launchpad
[19:36] <pedro_> New, Incomplete, Invalid, Confirmed, Triaged, In Progress, Fix Committed, Fix Released and Won't Fix
[19:36] <pedro_> The first ones are kinda clear, New status means that no one has triaged or confirmed
[19:36] <pedro_> The Incomplete status means that the bug is missing some information for example a debugging backtrace of a crash or steps in order to trigger the bug.
[19:37] <pedro_> A Confirmed is almost self explanatory, someone else than the reporter have the same bug
[19:37] <pedro_> and please do not confirm your own reports
[19:37] <pedro_> The Triaged status is set by a member of the Ubuntu Bug Control team when they think that the bug has enough information for a developer to start working on fix the issue
[19:38] <pedro_> If a bug was marked as Triaged and a Developer is working on fixing the bug, that report needs to be marked as "In Progress", because there's somebody working on it
[19:38] <pedro_> and please use that status only for that task
[19:39] <pedro_> If that developer committed the fix to a bzr branch or to another repository the bug needs to be marked as Fix Committed and when that fix get released the status of the bug is changed to Fix Released
[19:39] <pedro_> released meaning available on our Ubuntu official repositories
[19:40] <pedro_> if you want to read a bit more you can have a look to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status
[19:40] <iulian> <mbt> QUESTION: You said not to mark one's own bugs as "Confirmed." However, if there is confirmation in the bug comments, or the Confirmed status is required as part of submission for sponsorship, would those qualify as valid exemptions?
[19:41] <pedro_> yes, if somebody confirmed the bug on the comments but forgot to change the status, it's ok to change it yourself
[19:42] <pedro_> and one important issue on this too, when you change a status , please indicate on a comment why you change it
[19:42] <pedro_> a little comment with "I can confirm this" or "Setting as incomplete because why are waiting for more information"
[19:43] <pedro_> are ok
[19:43] <pedro_> but if you want to do things in a good quality
[19:43] <pedro_> you might want to use https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Responses
[19:43] <pedro_> those are the stock responses that everybody on the bugsquad use daily
[19:44] <iulian> <ligemeget> QUESTION: How do we deal with bug reports containing error messages in another language than English?
[19:45] <pedro_> well that depends, if somebody filed a bug in spanish and you talk spanish, translate the report
[19:45] <pedro_> otherwise if you have time you can ask for more info or reject the bug waiting for a new one in English
[19:45] <pedro_> more info meaning "Please translate this in English"
[19:45] <pedro_> s/in/into
[19:46] <pedro_> sadly we have to deal with hundreds of reports daily and we don't have enough resources to translate all of them
[19:46] <pedro_> ok let's grab another iulian
[19:46] <iulian> <ligemeget> QUESTION: What's the difference between Confirmed and Triaged?
[19:47] <pedro_> the Confirmed status in general means that other person than the reporter is having the issue so they confirm the bug
[19:48] <pedro_> if that bug report have enough information the status is changed to Triaged by an Ubuntu Bug Control member
[19:48] <pedro_> enough information for a developer to start working on fixing the issue
[19:49] <pedro_> Ok so Bug Importance
[19:49] <pedro_> As soon as you have done enough good triage work, you can apply to the ubuntu-bugcontrol team which is the one with more rights over the reports, so basically you can change the importance of the bugs and set the Won't Fix status, the requirements for join the team are available here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugControl
[19:49] <pedro_> Ok so we have 6 importances, Undecided, Wishlist, Low, Medium, High and Critical. During your first weeks on the BugSquad you're probably not going to use the importances, so i'm going to describe you just some of them and you can read more about them here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Importance
[19:50] <pedro_> The Undecided one is the default for the new bugs and it means that there's no sufficient information to determine the importance.
[19:50] <pedro_> A Wishlist is a request to add a new feature to the programs available on Ubuntu, but if it's too complex to be implemented it should rather be written as a feature specification, for instructions on how to do this you can look to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FeatureSpecifications and also if you have some ideas that you'd like to see included on Ubuntu you can use the Ubuntu Brainstorm http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/
[19:51] <pedro_> and a Low importance bug is the one that affect functionality on the software for example an usability problem or just a typo.
[19:51] <pedro_> If you are interested you can adopt a package and start triaging bugs on it, there's a loooong list of Universe packages needing love
[19:51] <pedro_> if you're interested on GNOME I've collected a list of GNOME related packages https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME/UniverseList
[19:52] <pedro_> for example if you use Banshee, you can work on it and help the project and Ubuntu
[19:52] <pedro_> Does everybody knows about 5-a-day?
[19:53] <pedro_> 5-A-Day means everybody will do 5 (or more) bugs a day every day, you can look for 5-a-day stats at http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/
[19:53] <pedro_> and for example if you want to work with your LoCo team on a specific task or do a bug jam session you can use 5-a-day too to show other people your team progress
[19:53] <pedro_> if you look to almost the bottom of the page you'll see what i'm talking about, And yes the kubuntu-de guys are just awesome, so come on people let's follow them :-)
[19:54] <pedro_> more information about it here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/5-A-Day
[19:55] <pedro_> At the Bugsquad we also organize Bug Days also known as Hug Days, well the idea of a hug day is to work together with the bugsquad and project maintainers on a specific task, weekly we organize two hug days, one the Tuesday and another one the Thursday
[19:55] <pedro_> first one are more general hug days, focused for example of the bugs without a package and the Thursday ones are focused on desktop related task like compiz, firefox and GNOME applications
[19:55] <pedro_> If you want to join us at Hug Days just come to #ubuntu-bugs the days I've mentioned and join the fun, of course everyday is a perfect day for triaging and help your lovely linux distribution
[19:56] <pedro_> more information about them available here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay
[19:56] <pedro_> ok last questions!
[19:56] <iulian> <toobuntu> QUESTION: Is there a way to add another Ubuntu package to a bug report? E.g. when a dev marks as invalid for the first package the bug was assigned to, can the reporter add another Ubuntu package (as opposed to an upstream project) or must a new bug be filed?
[19:57] <pedro_> toobuntu: you can create another task for it
[19:58] <pedro_> but sometimes it's better to just re assigning it
[19:58] <pedro_> that depends, really, so you can always ask on #ubuntu-bugs to our lovely and cool bugsquad
[19:59] <pedro_> another?
[19:59] <iulian> <rubicon_> QUESTIONS: bug squad memebers earn 'karma' for their efforts. what is it good for? are you working solely for community ideals or have any profit? just interesting :)
[19:59] <pedro_> haha funny one
[20:00] <pedro_> rubicon_: well if you have more karma on bug management it means that you know what you're doing
[20:00] <pedro_> so for example if there's another person that doesn't know something
[20:00] <pedro_> and just set the status to "Incomplete"
[20:00] <pedro_> but the right status is "In Progress"
[20:01] <pedro_> if the person with more karma set the status it means that he really knows what's he's doing and his oppinion needs to be respected
[20:01] <pedro_> but besides that
[20:01] <pedro_> karma means nothing else
[20:01] <pedro_> you cannot change it for a t-shirt
[20:01] <pedro_> but that'd be really nice
[20:01] <pedro_> ;-)
[20:01] <pedro_> ok so we're running out of time
[20:02] <pedro_> thanks you all for the patience and sorry for leaving during the session
[20:02] <pedro_> i'll kill my isp provider don't worry
[20:02] <pedro_> thanks you all!!
[20:02] <iulian> Thank you all and apologies for the interruption.
[20:02] * pedro_ hugs iulian
[20:03] <pedro_> hope to see you all on #ubuntu-bugs pretty soon ;-)
[20:03] <pedro_> thanks!