[GRASS5] bugs

[Hamish]

> > Shouldn't we keep a list of known GRASS 5.4 bugs somewhere rather
> > than just forgetting about them? e.g. 5.4's v.digit "won't fix"
> > bugs.
> 
> Agreed. In my view, the best solution is to make two bugs lists, one
> for 5.4  and one for 6.0.

We already have these 8 "Areas":
None
RCbug
bug
grass5.0
grass5.4
grass5.7
wish
wish5.7


Click on the /\  \/  arrows at the top of the bug list to sort by type.

Adding "Area" to "Queue Filter" options at bottom of main bug list might
help clear here.

These could be updated to:
None
RCbug
grass5.0
grass5.4
wish5.4
grass6
wish6



> Then I volunteer to manage the 6.0 bugs,
> changing grass57 to grass60 where appropriate.

Isn't it always appropriate? They are the same thing.

I think the most important thing is to tag 5.0/5.4 only bugs to "area"
grass5.0 or grass5.4 or wish5.4 and set "priority" on 5.7+ bugs/wishes.


>  BTW: where do I find the total number of bugs?

I don't know if there is a better way than to sort by area/type and count
by hand?


> > I think we need to have some sort of "confirmed", "unreproducable",
> > or "new" tag column for bugs, so we can separate out valid bugs from
> > misconfigured systems at least, giving a more realistic bug number.
> 
> or, old and unreproducible bugs could be just squashed?

GRASS is a huge program with many rare bugs. One can never test all
platforms/setups, so you can never say unreproducible==mistaken report.
Even if it is a mistake, if one person did it, others might as well, and
the others in the future might figure it out & post a solution.
Just deleting the contributed user experience would be a big mistake,
IMO.

 
> > We should not be closing bug reports just because there are a lot of
> > bug reports. Clean up the bug list, sure; as long as it is by
> > actually fixing bugs, and not just forgetting them!
> 
> Right. But it is also necessary to get rid of the rubbish, otherwise
> we'll scare new users away (and, in my view, what grass needs now is
> a larger user base).

The bug list is not a marketing tool! The bug list is not a marketing tool!

Make default "priority" and "area" tag queue filter limits if you want
trim.

If a new user finds an obscure bug, the best thing that can happen is
for them to see that someone else has already found it and a solution is
being worked on. This gives them confidence in the future trends. This
is one of the things that makes Debian work so well.

The bug list is so hard to find (for me) in the new website layout that
I don't think new users will look at it unless they really are looking
for it.

Number of open bugs is does not equate to package stability, in fact
with respect to open software, I think it is often an inverse relationship.


Once 6.0 is released and officially the "stable" version of GRASS I have
no problem with old 5.4 bugs being archived and removed from the bug
list, with a prominent link to the 5.4 BUGS file. Until that time...



Hamish