[Python-Dev] Closing old bugs

[Raymond Hettinger]

There should be some greater care exercised in closing old bugs.
Marking them "deprecated" and then erasing them is only a good strategy
if we have no means of reproducing the error or ascertaining what the OP
was talking about. 

For instance, in www.python.org/sf/640553 , it was possible for a
reviewer to directly verify whether usr/local local was still being used
in setup.py.  Likewise, www.python.org/sf/728515 should not have been
closed (Martin's post could have been taken as a clue that the bug was
valid and simply waiting for some volunteer to submit a patch).

Old age and a missing OP is not sufficient reason to close a bug.  If
the report is clear and the bug is potentially still valid, it should be
left open.  Efforts to clear old bugs should focus on fixing them or
making a conscious Won't Fix decision (with old age possibly indicating
that there is not a real problem in practice).



Raymond


P.S.  When setting a time deadline for an OP to respond, we should use
some terminology other than "deprecated".  The word doesn't fit well and
can be confused with the unrelated topic of module or feature
deprecation.