[Koha-devel] [NEW_TOPIC] Getting bugs further

Fri Jan 13 00:13:03 CET 2017

I think that all makes sense, although I'm still not sure what it means to get in contact with people. 

That is... every time I have a patch that matters to me, I should individually email each QA team member to ask them for their help? If I have to do that, I will, but I just want to know what I need to do. 

And in the event that no one is interested... I suppose we arrive at a bit of an impasse. But then that's the nature of open source too. Not every patch has to make it into Koha. 

I've sent a few listserv emails about some work I'm doing, but haven't received much enthusiasm and that in turn makes me think maybe I shouldn't bother submitting a patch. That maybe I should try to implement it as a plugin, or a complete standalone component. And I suppose that's my prerogative. If people start finding that standalone component useful, maybe then it can be merged into the Koha codebase. I don't know. I was actually thinking about that in terms of Coce today and yesterday. 

I actually really like the idea of decoupled systems, so maybe I should go that route with some of my work...

Anyway, meeting time, so gotta run.

David Cook
Systems Librarian
Prosentient Systems
72/330 Wattle St
Ultimo, NSW 2007
Australia

Office: 02 9212 0899
Direct: 02 8005 0595

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Cormack [mailto:chrisc at catalyst.net.nz]
> Sent: Friday, 13 January 2017 10:01 AM
> To: David Cook <dcook at prosentient.com.au>
> Cc: 'Marcel de Rooy' <M.de.Rooy at rijksmuseum.nl>; koha-devel at lists.koha-
> community.org
> Subject: Re: [Koha-devel] [NEW_TOPIC] Getting bugs further
> 
> Interestingly enough you have both read Tomas in completely the opposite way
> I have.
> 
> "... you should keep in touch with people that might have interest in helping you
> get your patches in. Sometimes people just drop some patches and wait for
> others to care about them. And it doesn't work like that most of the time.
> Keeping in touch means contacting them, explain things, ask for feedback on
> specific edges."
> 
> I read this as, people sometimes dump their patches out and that is the last you
> ever hear from them. They get some feedback but nothing is ever done. There
> are tons of them (most of them in the failed QA and patch does not apply
> queues).
> 
> So like everything in life its a 2 way street. Tomas was making the point for big
> patches you need to engage. There are so many patches/bugs updated every
> day, reaching out to people to tell them about your one is really the only way
> you will get it noticed.
> 
> Not to negate that we can always do better signing off. However we are
> currently working on getting a big patch through now, it takes time, but its
> possible. If it wasnt, we'd still all be using HTML::Template::Pro
> 
> :)
> 
> Chris
> 
> * David Cook (dcook at prosentient.com.au) wrote:
> >   I agree with Marcel.
> >
> >
> >
> >   Admittedly, I haven’t been doing much testing lately. In 2015 and 2016, I
> >   have had other projects which have diverted my attention, but generally I
> >   try to test anything, so long as it’s small enough to fit in the time I
> >   have to devote to testing.
> >
> >
> >
> >   I suppose that’s harder for larger patches, since everyone has finite
> >   time. Plus FIFO isn’t always the best idea, because there are going to be
> >   some patches which should be prioritized over others, although perhaps
> >   that’s where severity comes into play a bit. Or maybe the QA team could
> >   have a sort of roster where some people just deal with critical bugs, some
> >   people deal with features, etc? I don’t know if that’s feasible either
> >   though. I wanted to join the QA team long ago, but I know I don’t have the
> >   time to devote to it…
> >
> >
> >
> >   As a developer, I know I’m apprehensive about submitting some of my latest
> >   work, because I think it’s too big for anyone to sign off or QA, so I’ve
> >   been thinking about feasible ways of setting it up as third-party software
> >   and just adding hooks to Koha, which have a better chance of making it in.
> >
> >
> >
> >   So long as I’m supporting Koha, I’ll be writing patches for it, but I’m
> >   probably not going to even try to upstream something unless I think
> >   someone is going to look at it. I think that’s the key… I don’t need a
> >   guarantee that it’ll make it into Koha. If it’s not good enough, it’s not
> >   good enough, and it’ll need more work from me.
> >
> >
> >
> >   But as a community it would be good to at least have eyes on more patches
> >   and some comments, even if it’s from someone who doesn’t have the
> >   authority to Pass QA. In fact, that’s something I’ve done a little bit in
> >   2016. While I might not have the time to test a patch, I try to review the
> >   code, and offer up some comments that might help the developer. If that’s
> >   something others would find useful, maybe I could try to build in some
> >   code review into my day/week? Maybe that’s a bug wrangler task?
> >
> >
> >
> >   David Cook
> >
> >   Systems Librarian
> >
> >   Prosentient Systems
> >
> >   72/330 Wattle St
> >
> >   Ultimo, NSW 2007
> >
> >   Australia
> >
> >
> >
> >   Office: 02 9212 0899
> >
> >   Direct: 02 8005 0595
> >
> >
> >
> >   From: koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha-community.org
> >   [mailto:koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha-community.org] On Behalf Of
> Marcel
> >   de Rooy
> >   Sent: Friday, 13 January 2017 1:49 AM
> >   To: koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org
> >   Subject: Re: [Koha-devel] [NEW_TOPIC] Getting bugs further
> >
> >
> >
> >   > I guess there's no straight answer. It will depend on signoffers and QA
> >   people's opinion. People tend to focus on the stuff they care, lately, so
> >   that's why I said...
> >
> >
> >
> >   > Sometimes people just drop some patches and wait for others to care
> >   about them. And it doesn't work like that most of the time.
> >
> >
> >
> >   Shouldn’t we as a community do something about this evolving trend then?
> >
> >   If we scare away developers by ignoring their patches, the community is
> >   not better off in the long run (imo).
> >
> >   So, we should signoff or QA not only what we need or like. Isn’t that
> >   something for the bug wranglers too?
> >
> >
> >
> >   Marcel
> >
> >
> 
> >_______________________________________________
> >Koha-devel mailing list
> >Koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org
> >http://lists.koha-community.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/koha-devel
> >website : http://www.koha-community.org/ git :
> >http://git.koha-community.org/ bugs : http://bugs.koha-community.org/
> 
> 
> --
> Chris Cormack
> Catalyst IT Ltd.
> +64 4 803 2238
> PO Box 11-053, Manners St, Wellington 6142, New Zealand