Target-specific bugs (was Re: Number of 3.3 hi-pri PRs going up)

Nathanael Nerode neroden@twcny.rr.com
Sat Feb 22 07:13:00 GMT 2003


Wolfgang noted:

> [Port maintainers:]
> - The state of reports in the "bootstrap" and "target" categories is
>   probably best described by "neglected". Since not many people can test
>   them, it really requires more attention by the port maintainers. The 
>   majority of our 1800 or so unfixed reports are in these categories, and
>   many of them are in "open" state since their filing -- often two years
>   or more ago. I have tried to make an effort to indicate in the synopsis
>   of many of them for which target they are, but that doesn't seem to
>   incite maintainers to look at them :-( If nobody cares about these
>   reports, we could just as well delete them, since the bug database is
>   worthless then.

How's this for a (slightly radical) proposal?

1. Platforms for which no 3.x build has been reported: Close all 
target-specific bugs immediately and possibly deprecate the platform. 
These are the ones which just aren't going to get worked on.  I would 
make an exception for platforms where the port maintainers are very 
active at fixing bugs, but I don't think I *need* to, since they 
probably have reported builds.  This means there won't be any bugs open 
against 'experimental' platforms, which is fine by me.

2. Platforms for which builds work, but bugs sit open indefinitely: 
Contact the port maintainers.  If there are no active port maintainers, 
or the port maintainers aren't interested in that specific platform, 
close all the bugs and possibly deprecate the platform.

If there are active port maintainers, the bugs should either get fixed, 
be closed as unreproducible, or be noted as 'unfixable' somewhere; but 
I'm guessing that bugs in actively used platforms aren't actually the 
majority of the 1800 reports.  If they are, we have a different problem.

If this sounds like a good proposal, I can start closing reports against 
dead ports in my spare time...

--Nathanael



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