[Koha-devel] Proposed changes to our Patch Submission and QA workflows

[Ian Walls]

Everyone,


In an effort to make patch submission and quality assurance easier on
everyone for this next release cycle, I've got some proposals to run by you
all.

1.  In Bugzilla, move the Koha Bugs List from being the Default QA Contact
to a Global Watcher.  This has two advantages:
     1. It frees up the QA Contact field for use by the QA Team
     2. It guarantees that the Bugs List always gets included on the
changes; with the current set up, someone could in theory remove the Bugs
List as QA contact, preventing the list from getting updates.

2.  To reduce email traffic, I propose we stop sending SIGNED OFF patches to
the patches list.  We've got Bugzilla lists (which can be connected to RSS
and daily croned emails) which will inform the QA team on what patches are
ready for QA.  I did not use the patches list much this last release cycle
to direct my QA work; it was all based of the Bugzilla statuses

2a.  Ideally, I'd like to set up Bugzilla to automatically send the patches
to the listserv for us, or to be able to accept patches sent to the listserv
as attachments.  This is going to take some custom coding, so it's probably
not practical for right now.

3.  Now that I'm not the only QA person for the release cycle, I'd like to
formalize our rules about making sure that any submitted patch doesn't get
processed solely by one company.  I felt uncomfortable every time I passed a
patch both written and signed off by ByWater teammates, because while I was
sure it was good code, I knew I had a bias (often times, the code was fixing
an issue one of our partners had reported).  My strategy for 3.6 was to
acknowledge the bias, and ask if anyone had any objections.  With 3.8, I can
pass anything that I write, or that is written/signed-off by ByWater alone,
to Marcel or Jonathan for QA testing.

Here're the rules I'd like to see in place:

   1. A patch may not be written and signed off by the same person (existing
   rule)
   2. The QA team consists of the Release Manager, the Quality Assurance
   Manager, and the Quality Assurance Assistants.  This team has the right to
   move a patch through QA.
   3. The QAM delegates the QA work between himself and the QAAs, in
   accordance with the rules.
   4. A patch may not be written and QA'ed by the same person
   5. A patch may not be written, signed off and QA'ed by any group of
   people in the same institution
   6. A patch MAY be signed off and QA'ed by the same member of the QA team,
   but the RM may challenge this if he feels the patch needs more testing.
   Rule 5 still applies in this case.


Comments?  Ideas?  Counter-proposals?


-Ian

-- 
Ian Walls
Lead Development Specialist
ByWater Solutions
Phone # (888) 900-8944
http://bywatersolutions.com
ian.walls at bywatersolutions.com
Twitter: @sekjal
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