NeedsPackagingBugs

Summary / Rationale

Currently, 'needs-packaging' bug reports are intermingled in the list of bugs without a package which is problematic for both bug triagers and Ubuntu developers. The long term solution is to have these requests filed about a separate project, not Ubuntu, in Launchpad. Having these requests in Launchpad is beneficial because of the Launchpad API and bug watches. Having new requests filed about a separate project should not happen until it is possible to move a bug report from a distribution to a project, since having the bug reports in two places would only create additional confusion. Until bug 80902 is resolved some steps should be taken to better manage the existing needs-packaging requests.

Use Cases

  • Bug triager Bruce is looking at Ubuntu bugs with in a status of 'New', importance of 'Undecided' and without a package and repeatedly encounters 'needs-packaging' bug reports in which he is not interested in nor knows the special procedures for triaging.
  • Bug triager Dick is not a member of Ubuntu Bug Control but is working with 'needs-packaging' bug reports. Following the procedure for triaging 'needs-packaging' bug reports, he asks in #ubuntu-bugs for the status of a bug report to be set to 'Wishlist'.
  • Ubuntu contributing developer Barbara wants to package a new application for Ubuntu but isn't sure what software users would like to see packaged. Barbara needs an easy place to look to see what applications have been requested for packaging and a way to determine how many people would like the software packaged.

Assumptions

Implementation

  1. Set all needs-packaging bug reports to an importance of Wishlist
    • Write a launchpadlib or python-launchpad-bugs script that finds, via the 'needs-packaging' tag, needs-packaging reports and sets bug importance to Wishlist. It should also add a comment that the bug was automatically set to an importance of Wishlist since the bug was tagged 'needs-packaging'.
    • Notify developer mailing list(s) regarding what will happen to needs-packaging bugs, include comment added by script and criteria used.
    • Setup script on cranberry
  2. Report of users_affected_count for needs-packaging bugs
    • DONE - Write a launchpadlib script, or a database query, that querys needs-packaging bug reports for user_affected_count and generates an html report. Report should include bug number (with a link), bug title and user_affected_count.
    • Publicize the fact that the report exists to entice people to use the "This bug affects me too" 'button' in Launchpad for needs-packaging reports
      • blog
      • forums

BoF agenda and discussion

Agenda

Are needs-packaging bug reports legitimate bugs? If they are should they be tracked in Launchpad? and against the Ubuntu distribution?

There are a tremendous number of needs-packaging bugs reported in Launchpad and they are currently intermingled in the list of bugs without a package. The value of triaging the needs-packaging bug reports is questionable since they are wishlist items for inclusion in Ubuntu. Should anything be done to separate the needs-packaging bug reports from those without a package and if so what?

Previous discussion

Current Status

Concerns

  • Hard to triage bugs that have no package with needs-packaging bug reports intermingled
  • Hard for people to find software to package for Ubuntu
    • Hard to track what closed in Debian
      • bug watches should work for this but require manual closing of the bug in Launchpad

Problem

  • No way to automatically close bugs when new package is accepted

Ideas

  • To have dedicated project
  • To have a virtual package (e.g. wnpp) (wnpp with different semantics in Debian and Ubuntu is *BAD*)
    • Launchpad does not support virtual packages
    • Bugs could then be reported about the virtual package itself and software needing packaging which be confusing
  • Using Brainstorm
    • no bug watches which is quite helpful for finding out if a package needs sync'ing from debian
  • Should Ubuntu needs-packaging requests be sent upstream to Debian?
    • might be controversial with Debian developers
  • Get users to use 'this bug affects me too' for needs-packaging bugs in Ubuntu to identify demand for a package in Ubuntu

Actions

  • Set all needs-packaging bugs to wishlist with a script (weekly)
    • this will avoid people asking for a bug to be wishlisted in #ubuntu-bugs and remove them from the common no package launchpad query
    • notify MOTU mailing list that they'll be wishlisted
    • have a comment added that the bug report was automatically set to Wishlist because the bug report is a needs-packaging bug report

  • When Malone bug 80902 is fixed, move to a wnpp project

  • Query needs-packaging bugs for users_affected_count and generate a report

CategorySpec

QATeam/Specs/NeedsPackagingBugs (last edited 2009-01-23 21:40:26 by c-24-21-50-133)