Issues

[Andre via Digitalmars-d-learn]

On Tuesday, 23 February 2016 at 00:13:23 UTC, ag0aep6g wrote:
> On 22.02.2016 23:56, Andre wrote:
>> I was wondering how people in this D community think about the 
>> number of
>> issues with NEW status...
>>
>> It could scare individuals/organizations to start with D, when 
>> they get
>> the impression that there are a large and growing number of 
>> issues that
>> are open (for years). I know this is not a fair interpretation 
>> of what's
>> going on, but it's a conclusion one could make.
>
> I guess my reopening of issue 4763 [1] got you here. Old issues 
> may be embarrassing, but I believe closing them without proper 
> resolution, just because they're old, is very bad practice.
>
> Regarding old enhancement request that never got anywhere, it's 
> certainly tempting to just throw them away, but I think it's a 
> bad move when a single member of the community just closes 
> issues that have been filed by someone else. That would make 
> for bad weather in the community.
>
> Instead, I suggest to engage in discussion with the 
> proponent(s) of the request. Or implement the request and try 
> to get it merged.
>
>> - Is there a preferred way to clean things up?
>
> Fix stuff :P
>
>> A resolution status?
>
> Not sure what kind of status you're looking for. There's 
> WONTFIX, but you shouldn't apply it just because an issue is 
> old. As far as I know, we don't use LATER and REMIND.
>
>> A maximum time?
>
> No.
>
>> - Or perhaps the bugtracker (https://dlang.org/bugstats.php) 
>> needs to be
>> adjusted for irrelevant things..
>
> What do you mean by "irrelevant"? If you think an issue is 
> irrelevant, please argue your point in the comments section of 
> the issue.
>
> Maybe all enhancement requests (that are not closely followed 
> by an implementation) are "irrelevant"? I could understand that 
> viewpoint, but that's not how we operate at the moment. If you 
> want us to go in that direction, ask about it in the General 
> group, and if there's consensus to do away with (long-lived) 
> enhancement requests, mass-close them.
>
> By the way, I don't like the bugstats.php page all that much. 
> Some time ago I've played around with charts and put this 
> together:
>
> https://issues.dlang.org/chart.cgi?category=D&datefrom=&dateto=&label0=normal%20bugs&label1=enhancement%20requests&label2=major%20bugs&label3=minor%20bugs&label4=critical%20bugs&label5=blockers&label6=trivial%20bugs&label7=regressions&line0=101&line1=104&line2=100&line3=102&line4=99&line5=98&line6=103&line7=97&name=98&subcategory=data%20sets%20by%20severity&action=wrap&width=600&height=650
>
> I think it's more interesting than the one on bugstats.php. But 
> it doesn't go back as far - it only started counting when I 
> created it. Then I gave up.
>
>> - Or is it a non-issue and should we just ignore the tail of 
>> the list?
>
> Not ignore it, work towards reducing it by actually resolving 
> stuff.
>
>
> [1] https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4763

Judging from the quick response(s) to #4763 and this question I 
get the impression this is an active, positive and thoughtful 
community. Compliments!

I think your 'definition' of irrelevant is getting us somewhere:
- enhancement requests
- that are not closely followed by an implementation
- with outdated information
- empty CC
- no votes
- no owner

I agree with your point that a single member should not close 
something just because it's old. On the other hand, the issuer 
also has a responsibility to track/coordinate/complete issues.

In case of #4763 I closed it because 2 out of 3 enhancement 
requests were fixed/solved and the 3rd was open for about 5 
years, without recent activity, no owner, empty CC and no votes.

> Instead, I suggest to engage in discussion with the 
> proponent(s) of the request.
Point taken, I could have asked the proponent.

>Or implement the request and try to get it merged.
I agree with all people responding, resolving is the best way to 
go.

About the >bug<stats chart, I think it would be more meaningful 
if it only shows bugs. For marketing and to challenge everyone to 
keep it near zero.

Thanks for everyone's insights.