Bugs in CPython 3.1.1 [wave.py]

[Steve Holden]

Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
> * Alf P. Steinbach:
>> * Steve Holden:
>>> Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
>>> [...]
>>>> PS: It would be nice if someone(TM) could describe here in detail
>>>> how to
>>>> properly report errors like this. Of course I'm not going to do it
>>>> if it
>>>> involves establishing Yet Another Account somewhere. But hopefully it
>>>> doesn't?
>>>>
>>> That's not very public-spirited, is it? Python is open source, remember.
>>> You wouldn't be able to use it if Guido had said "you know, I'm just
>>> going to write this language for myself. It's so much trouble building a
>>> development community ..."
>>>
>>> Give a little something back - create the account, and log the bug. I
>>> promise you'll feel better about yourself ;-)
>>
>> "You will shortly receive an email to confirm your registration. To
>> complete the registration process, visit the link indicated in the
>> email."
>>
>> Yeah, still waiting...
>>
>> And I don't feel better. :-(
>>
>> Oh, mail arriving!
>>
>> Bah, no, t'was from my travel company.
> 
> Hm, similar to Google's feedback forms this, just cul de sac: still no
> mail!
> 
> Trying registration again...
> 
> For perhaps I wrote incorrect mail address? No. Correct. Anyway...
> 
> "Your request is being processed. Please be patient."
> 
> Well how f*****g darn patient do they expect me to be?
> 
> I've decided: I'm not.
> 
> Oh sh**, just as I typed the period above the mail finally arrived. It's
> been, let's see,  about 20+ minutes!
> 
> And still some miles to go.
> 
> Somebody should say THANK YOU for all this effort, pointing out not just
> the bug but exactly what needs fixing, not whining about me not wasting
> half an hour on going through proper channels after already wasting much
> time on that bug!

Well, I can do the first bit.  THANK YOU!

I am, however, confused by your description of "all this effort". I am
sorry you had to waste time running up against a bug in Python, but even
(?) Microsoft users have been known to complain about the non-responsive
nature of their vendor, and they have paid support contracts.

I am very grateful, as Chairman of the Python Software Foundation, that
you took the time to push this through to completion. I hope that even
if it took you half an hour (and I suspect you are counting the 20
minutes you spent waiting for an email, during which you should not have
been tied up by the bug reporting process, and could have done some
other task in parallel) I hope you will agree that the language has
saved you hundreds of times that in your career as a Python programmer.

Anyway, since I have doubtless already whined on too long for your
tastes, just let me say that I am interested in making the bug reporting
process *much* easier, especially for casual users. Sadly leaving a web
system open is no longer practical in this day and age, as there are
spambots that will fill up the database with rubbish in no time unless
we take precautions.

If you have any suggestions for improving things (and the same goes for
any other readers) I will be happy to listen to them. I do agree that
the bug tracker is a rather high hurdle for people to have to jump over
just to offer feedback on software faults, but the PSF doesn't have the
resources to man customer service lines and the like, so we do what we
can with web-based automation.

regards
 Steve
-- 
Steve Holden           +1 571 484 6266   +1 800 494 3119
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