[Python-Dev] Moving bugs and patches through the pipeline more quickly (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip@pobox.com
Wed, 6 Mar 2002 17:08:09 -0600 

>> * Assign it to just about anybody so someone is notified.  

Guido> Please don't do this!  We tried this for a while, but bugs and
Guido> patches actually got lost this way because quite a few developers
Guido> were apparently on permanent leave and just let the bug/patch rot
Guido> in SF.

Okay, that got a response! If bugs are submitted without assignment, we should probably establish a formal triage system. It could work on a rotating basis (weekly?). Still, I think there has to be some way to work through new bugs quickly to either get them advanced quickly or ejected from the system.

As an "official" developer, I would find it useful to get a summary mailing weekly of stuff that's assigned to me. I have no particular other reason to login to SF.

Guido> Assigning to a random *active* developer may seem to work,
Guido> because if this developer isn't the right person, he will quickly
Guido> do triage and pass it to someone more appropriate -- or simply
Guido> unassign it if there's nobody appropriate.  But if the person is
Guido> away (e.g. on vacation or on an extended business trip), the
Guido> other developers will be less likely to pay attention to the bug
Guido> than when it's not assigned at all.

This suggests that it would be useful if SF allowed people to temporarily inactivate themselves. Is there such a feature? (I didn't see anything, though I was just able to change my timezone from US/Eastern to US/Central. woo hoo!) 

Guido> Playing games with the bug priority to get someone's attention is
Guido> also the wrong thing to do -- only the experienced developers
Guido> should raise the priority of a bug, based on its real importance;
Guido> we have rules like "everything priority 7 or higher must be fixed
Guido> before the next release".  (Lowering priority on submission is
Guido> fine of course, if you know you have a low priority bug report.)

I don't believe I suggested this as a way to grab peoples' attention.

>> As the Python user base grows I think we do need a way to expand the
>> developer pool without a lot of effort because the amount of feedback
>> is always going to be proportional to the number of users....

Guido> I would certainly like to see more applications from people
Guido> interested in getting developer status, even if it means I'll
Guido> have to do semi-formal "interviews" or reference checks myself.
Guido> How can we encourage the good developers that exist to help?

Well, you could always post an announcement on c.l.py. I suspect you might have an initial candidate in Jonathan Gardner. ;-) Still, I sort of doubt this is how other large open source projects work. I can't imagine it's a real productive use of your time or that of other gifted folks (Larry Wall, Ben Wing, etc).

Skip