Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

lardon · 2009-01-22 16:19:01

I believe that software reliability is one of the key parts of software quality: having a lot of features is useless if they don't work reliably. It is for this reason that most open source project have a bug tracker of some sort. However, having a bugtracker is not very useful if you let bugs sit there until you can mark them as "obsolete" several years later. I try to report most of the bugs I find because I believe it's one of the best contributions I can make to open source, however in my experience (I've reported dozens of bugs), more often than not bug reports are ignored, even if they are detailed and the reporter agrees to give more details when needed.

So if you develop an open source project and you're reading this, please pay attention to your bug reporters. These people take time to help you improve your software, don't ignore them. At the very least, close your bug tracker if you're going to ignore bug reports anyways. That way I won't lose valuable time creating reports that you will never read.

GogglesGuy · 2009-01-22 16:54:28

My view from a developer standpoint. A lot of bugs go unreported due to users only reporting them to a distribution forum like this one. Or also very annoying, package maintainers creating patches but never bother to inform the developers. I guess both sides can improve a little bit.

anrxc · 2009-01-22 18:50:01

Hi Goggles, I know nothing of Google services but I got the impression that you must have some form of a Google ID to report issues to your project. That could be a deal breaker for some number of people as it was for me... since I knew you were an active member it looked promising to write about them here. Also, the final decision was made after I failed to find personal contact information on the project page.

GogglesGuy · 2009-01-22 19:43:21

anrxc wrote:

Hi Goggles, I know nothing of Google services but I got the impression that you must have some form of a Google ID to report issues to your project. That could be a deal breaker for some number of people as it was for me... .

Yes.. I could see that might be a problem for some people.

anrxc wrote:

since I knew you were an active member it looked promising to write about them here. Also, the final decision was made after I failed to find personal contact information on the project page.

Good point. I added a Contact page to the website. Can you check if you can find it easily?

Sander

Last edited by GogglesGuy (2009-01-22 20:43:34)

anrxc · 2009-01-23 17:53:22

That looks good, I hope you'll get more user feedback now.

test1000 · 2009-01-23 18:33:57

"A lot of bugs go unreported due to users only reporting them to a distribution forum like this one."

I think that might have to do with people being unsure if it's just them or a real issue. Noone would want to bother devs with issues if they weren't sure that it was a real issue and, as importantly, could fend for that issue with technical authority..

And in many cases, maybe it is right(for example imagine if all the ubuntu noob forum ppl would flood archlinux one day)

But regardless of how it is I think that program authors should check forums around the net for issues in their programs since this problem will probably stay a long time unless human nature changes..

Another thing is of course lazyness,etc which i supposse will always be there too

Last edited by test1000 (2009-01-23 18:36:28)

shining · 2009-01-24 17:45:56

lardon wrote:

I believe that software reliability is one of the key parts of software quality: having a lot of features is useless if they don't work reliably. It is for this reason that most open source project have a bug tracker of some sort. However, having a bugtracker is not very useful if you let bugs sit there until you can mark them as "obsolete" several years later. I try to report most of the bugs I find because I believe it's one of the best contributions I can make to open source, however in my experience (I've reported dozens of bugs), more often than not bug reports are ignored, even if they are detailed and the reporter agrees to give more details when needed.
So if you develop an open source project and you're reading this, please pay attention to your bug reporters. These people take time to help you improve your software, don't ignore them. At the very least, close your bug tracker if you're going to ignore bug reports anyways. That way I won't lose valuable time creating reports that you will never read.

This is probably true, many bugs are ignored. But open-source developers normally only have their free time to work on their projects, and the motivation is not the same for all issues.
Also I think it's not common that all issues get ignored. Usually it's the ones who are not important, or very hard to fix, or a combination of both.
In any cases, don't lose motivation, reporting bugs is indeed a good contribution, and even if only a minority gets fixed, it's still better than nothing

lardon · 2009-01-24 17:50:55

This is probably true, many bugs are ignored. But open-source developers normally only have their free time to work on their projects, and the motivation is not the same for all issues.
Also I think it's not common that all issues get ignored. Usually it's the ones who are not important, or very hard to fix, or a combination of both.

I agree, but at least some sign of life would be nice... Maybe just a little comment to the bug like "Indeed it's a bug but I don't know how to fix it", "I'll take a look when I have five minutes", anything, really! Unfortunately more often than not the bug stays "NEW - UNCONFIRMED" for an indefinite amount of time.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-22 16:19:01

Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#2 2009-01-22 16:54:28

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#3 2009-01-22 18:50:01

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#4 2009-01-22 19:43:21

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#5 2009-01-23 17:53:22

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#6 2009-01-23 18:33:57

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#7 2009-01-24 17:45:56

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

#8 2009-01-24 17:50:55

Re: Rant: project developers should pay more attention to bug reports

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