Re: bugs and bug tracking

Magnus,

* Magnus Hagander (magnus(at)hagander(dot)net) wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 4:40 PM, Stephen Frost <sfrost(at)snowman(dot)net> wrote:
> > * Nathan Wagner (nw+pg(at)hydaspes(dot)if(dot)org) wrote:
> > > I think I have suggested that there be a way to generate a bug id via
> > > email. Presumably someone could just copy that email address to make a
> > > not-tracked discussion get a bug id. If the system archived all the
> > > lists (not hard) it would be possible to pull the other emails from the
> > > thread into the bug (also not hard). As for marking as 'not-a-bug'
> > > this can easily be done via whatever mechanism might be used.
> > > Something along the lines of:
> > >
> > > Bug Status: not a bug
> >
> > If we're providing control messages through email (which I absolutely
> > believe needs to be supported), I'd strongly prefer that they be easy to
> > write. The above isn't.
> >
> > A good set of commands to support can be seen here:
> >
> > https://www.debian.org/Bugs/server-control
> >
> > The way debbugs currently works, which I like, is that you email
> > NNNN-done(at)bugs(dot)debian(dot)org (NNNN being the bug #) and that automatically
> > closes the bug and that email is sent to the bug reporter. Generally,
> > this will be in a reply to an email which came from, or at least CC'd,
> > NNNN(at)bugs(dot)debian(dot)org, so changing the address to go to -done is quite
> > easy.
>
>
> If I understand that correct, it completely breaks the current workflow of
> "reply-all"? When I need to comment on a bug, isntead of hitting reply-all,
> i should send it to the @bugs address? Or are you saying in those cases you
> still hit reply-all but just edit the actual address?

This, imv anyway, is why I need to just set it up and show people how it
works.

reply-all works just fine, since you like to know *exactly* how it works
at a technical level, I just checked and the bug email address is
automatically included in the Reply-To: header rather than being CC'd
or From. The bug submitter's email is also in the Reply-To.

Please understand that, at least in my experience, Debian's workflows
are *very* similar to ours. They just hammered out these questions
about how to make it work over the past 15 years that we've been writing
a database. ;)

> (FWIW, I think editing the actual address is nowhere near as easy as just
> adding a Status: <whatever> to the message itself. It's likely easier to
> deal with on the *server* side, but it's definitely not easier for the
> user. Especially if you're in a MUA that doesn't let you easily edit a mail
> address (hello gmail! which is quite a few of our users..)

An email to control@ with

close 1234

*is* also supported, but the Debian folks prefer using -done since the
email to -done always goes to the submitter, whereas using 'close 1234'
means you have to make sure you also email the submitter. That's
certainly possible, but if you weren't on the bug originally for
whatever reason then you have to go get the submitter's email address,
etc.

My MUA makes changing an email To: line really easy and since I'm one of
the users of that part of the system, I like it.

One thing that's important to understand is that this system (in
particular, the email interface) is *not* for our users (more
specifically, it's not for the individuals who submit bugs via the bug
form).

It's for *us*.

Thanks!

Stephen