Python bug reporting [was: Re: readline.c & more]

[Jeremy Hylton]

>>>>> "FP" == ISO-8859-1  <ISO-8859-1> writes:

  FP> [Jeremy Hylton]
  >> I agree that the system [of necessarily using the Web to report
  >> Python bugs, instead of the usual Python bug reporting email
  >> address] isn't great, but at least it provides us with a
  >> mechanism to track patches and assign responsibility for them.
  >> The old email approach didn't have either feature, which made it
  >> much harder for the people catching the patches.

  FP> There are plenty of users, and a much smaller bunch of
  FP> maintainers.  It seems more fit to me to adapt to the plenty of
  FP> users, than force all of them into the methods of a few.  This
  FP> is not far from haughty maintenance.  Besides, if the new
  FP> mechanics and bug tracking systems did not even care to provide
  FP> some interface or tools, so maintainers can receive and sort
  FP> email into it, then that system is also haughty and aggressive
  FP> at imposing itself.

I think haughty is a melodramatic word for the problem.  Rather, it's
an unfortunate side-effect of the transition to SourceForge.  That
transition has had a number of positive changes, not least of which is
giving a lot more developers write access to the CVS tree.  But
SourceForge isn't perfect and its support of email-only communication
is probably its weakest point.

We'd love to have a patch manager that supported tracking, assigning
responsibility, and email-only access!  But we don't have one and we
don't have the resources to build one.  

>From what little I've seen of it, I'm 
http://software-carpentry.codesourcery.com/entries/second-round/track/Roundup/
http://www.lfw.org/ping/sc-roundup.html

I hope that the eventual winner of the Software Carpentry contest in
the issues tracker category can be adopted by SourceForge for bugs and
patches.

  >> You might suggestion an email interface in the SourceForge
  >> feature request forum: https://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=1

  FP> Are you serious?  You would force me to use a Web forum to
  FP> discuss that Web is inappropriate?  This isn't real, I am
  FP> dreaming. :-(

You can discuss it on comp.lang.python to your heart's content, but it
won't have any effect on the people who maintain SourceForge.  If you
want to have an impact, you need to reach the people who have the
power to effect changes.

  FP> Please consider Web as a possible service, not as an inescapable
  FP> religion.  email is still ubiquitous, and very usable.  If your

I prefer email to the web as well, BTW.

  FP> bug tracking system cannot help you handling email, this should
  FP> be the problem of those having written or selected it, not mine,
  FP> and surely not mine to correct.

There's a big difference between one or two people requesting a
feature (email-only interface to patches) and many people requesting a
feature.  I ask you to request the feature on SourceForge because it
will only become a priority if its is seen as serving the needs of
many users.

  FP> P.S. - I nearly missed your message, it had no quote, and the
  FP> subject was improper.  Web abuse destroys one's elementary
  FP> communication skills :-).

??? My last message had the same subject as the message I responded
to.  No quoting was necessary as I wasn't addressing the specific
words of the previous messages.  Perhaps opposition to anything Web
related leads to tilting at windmills <1.0 wink>.

-- Jeremy Hylton <http://www.python.org/~jeremy/>