[GRASS-dev] GRASS at GForge first steps

[Bernhard Reiter]

On Tuesday 07 November 2006 05:57, Hamish wrote:
> Hamish:
> > > > how is a defect different than a bug?
>
> Maciej:
> > > Call it "bad feature". I sometimes was told that I was reporting
> > > something as a bug while actually it was a feature. Although that
> > > feature was not good - eg. the current memory overhaed in GRASS
> > > vectors and dbf driver. Do you want a separate tracker for defects
> > > and bugs (I'd prefer them kept in one tracker, so that defects are
> > > as attended as bugs are).
>
> Bernhard:
> > I think a bug is also too general as a term. Zeller 2006 explains
> > this and uses "defect".
> > See http://www.whyprogramsfail.com/
>
> FWIW, Debian has a "wontfix" tag for bugs.

Often I have seen this used to turn down people.

> I think to say all features which do something other than what a user
> might expect at first are "misfeatures" or a "defect" is wrong. Some are
> real defects/shortcomings, but others are counter-intuitive yet correct
> design choices.

I follow Zeller pretty much here, but his writing goes into a lot more detail
of course. He just says that "bug" is quite general.
To me something that is "counter-intuitive" can be an issue
and a usuability problem.
Speaking of an "issue report" or "problem report" is a good general term,
because this does not judge to early what kind of problem the user or 
developer has.

Bernhard 

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