launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Maris Fogels <maris.fogels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 09-08-03 01:01 AM, Karl Fogel wrote:
> This is for everyone here who ever responds in bug reports:
>
> Let's please try to use each bug report as an opportunity to let the
> reporter know that they might be able to fix the bug themselves!
>
> Many reporters may not even know that Launchpad is open source, so be
> sure to point that out and refer them to dev.launchpad.net.  If they
> grab the Launchpad source code and have a look, who knows -- they may
> try their hand at fixing the bug.  I've certainly seen this technique
> work in other open source projects; it might work here too.

It is certainly worth a try.

> The way to do is something like this, I think:
>
>   "Thanks for the bug report.  Yes, I can confirm that I see this too.
>    If you would like to help fix it, please visit dev.launchpad.net to
>    get the code to Launchpad (it's open source), and if you have
>    questions, post to the launchpad-dev mailing list -- many people
>    there will be glad to help anyone who's trying to fix a bug.  But
>    don't worry if you don't have the time or expertise to do that; the
>    bug will still enter our normal triage system and someone else will
>    get to it eventually.
>
>    [...more discussion about the bug, workarounds, etc, here...]"

Is it necessary to post all of the instructions?  Or is it enough for a core 
developer to say:

  "This is an easy fix, just
   A)...,
   B)...,
   C)...,

   I'll sponsor anyone who wants to submit a patch."

You need to respond with a clear, authoritative statement that it is easy to 
fix, clear steps to fix it, and that a core contributor's help is available. 
And I really think all three parts are necessary.

I've seen a similar pattern in Mozilla and Gnome bugs, and people do respond 
with patches.  But anecdotally it follows the 1000/10/1 rule: you'll get one 
patch for every 10 commentors, and every 1000 viewers :)

Maris

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