While we were at Debconf Jono and I tweaked the 5-a-day page to be simpler and less confusing. One list of possible targets we added is the list of unlinked upstream bugs. These are lists of bugs where people have pasted in bug reports in comments but have NOT linked to it via Launchpad's "Also affects project..." feature.
Why linking bugs upstream is important
Just mentioning a bug report that is upstream is only one aspect - sure it's useful, but linking it allows us to query Launchpad for these bugs, and more importantly track these bugs programmatically so they get on the right person's radar to fix it. Instructions for doing this are here. Now, let me show you an example on why this is important.
Example bug
Bernhard Schmidt reported this bug on rdesktop on February 8th. Basically, he wanted rdesktop to be compiled with IPV6 support. Bernhard also opened up a bug in Debian. Three days ago Laszlo Boszormenyi reported that it was fixed in Debian with the upload of rdesktop 1.6.0-2.
Ok so now what? The bug just sits there right? Well, that depends. As it happens, I was doing my 5-a-day and stumbled across this bug - and I thought "This bug is fixed in Debian already, it should be on someone's hit list to fix, right?" Wrong. Or am I? No way to tell for sure, and short of Bernhard chasing someone down or having someone else who can actually fix it find it isn't very efficient. If only there was a list of easy, low hanging fruit ... like say Harvest!
I linked the bug to Debian bug in Launchpad. The next time the bug watch is updated Harvest will find it, and it will show up in Harvest automatically. Now as people trudge through Harvest the bug is listed as a possible fix and they can fix it.
Oiling the machine
So, what needs to happen for this to be as efficient as possible?
- Bug reporters - Do continue to report bugs upstream like Bernhard did in this case. Well done Bernhard! Instructions for filing bugs in upstream trackers are here.
- Bug reporters and triagers - Don't just throw a URL in the comment box, link it via Launchpad (instructions).
- Bugsquad / Experienced Bug Triagers - encourage people to link bugs during Hug Days.
- Ubuntu Developers - Keep monitoring Harvest for easy "sync-from-Debian-or-upstream" bugs.
Lessons Learned
As you can see, linking bugs upstream helps get bugs moving in the process, and eventually end up in things like Harvest or the "bugs fixed elsewhere" pages. People write tools and scripts to find these bugs, especially if they're resolved upstream, which makes it easier for people to find so that the fixes can be shipped to users, which is what this is all about!
Now let me put my Jordan Mantha hat on: "But Jorge, getting it on Harvest is one thing, that's only half the solution. Getting someone to find it and fix it on the other hand ..." Yes, absolutely. If you think as this entire Harvest workflow as one big machine, then upstream linkages are feeding the machine, but at the end of the day it needs to spit out bushels out the back.
So we need developers to fix these bugs - which is why we have things like Ubuntu Developer Week, MOTU mentorship, sponsorship, Harvest, etc to grow the developer community. This is a tough area to grow, but we are making progress, and tools like Harvest are making things easier I think, in the meantime, keeping the machine well fed is still better than a bug sitting in Launchpad all by itself ...
I was doing some of these bugs this morning, and I did the first few without much problem (after looking up in the wiki how to properly link upstream bugs again because I apparently forgot). Then I ran across bugs with multiple upstream bug reports. How to handle? I managed to link as many as 2 upstream reports (one against a package, one against "Linux"), but I had a report with 3 upstream bugs, and couldn't figure a decent way to link all 3. I know I should probably dive upstream and mark some as duplicates of others, but that goes from "low hanging fruit" to "uphill struggle" as I have to start creating accounts with upstream bug handlers and learning their processes... Would be nice if Launchpad could handle *that*!
Posted by: wolfger | August 19, 2008 at 13:36
Generally when I don't actually link it's because of the ridiculous Launchpad misfeature wanting to created a fake home home page for the project as a pointless prerequisite to actually doing what I want to do.
Posted by: ScottK | August 19, 2008 at 14:05
We do not need Harvest, we need to post low hanging fruit on blogs and spread them through planet Ubuntu. *joking*
Posted by: Benjamin Drung | August 19, 2008 at 18:37
Jorge, you rock. Have I ever told you that? Ask Edwin or Ken; this is one of my biggest peeves about working with bugs downstream. Thanks for discussing it and helping make it easier. See you at OLF; I'm getting excited!
Posted by: Andrew Conkling | August 20, 2008 at 18:22
Hi Jorge, do you have any examples of good bug reports?
I'm trying to get the bugs written where I work to be easier to read and it would help with some examples from bugzilla or launchpad.
Posted by: Mårten | March 09, 2009 at 10:30