[Qgis-psc] Bug tracking (no, not *that* one... a different question)

[Nyall Dawson]

Hey PSC,

I've been thinking more about this topic lately, and I'd like to
re-ignite discussion about whether we should be automatically closing
bug reports after a certain cut off time period.

In the past I've been against this (simply because I think there's
always value in older unresolved tickets), but I've recently changed
my mind and would like to see us adopt an auto-close after ## days of
inactivity for open bug tickets.

Here's my thoughts:

- We've had great success by implementing a 21 day cut off for
auto-closing stale pull requests. After 14 days of inactivity a
warning is automatically added to the PR, and if no further activity
occurs after 7 days the request is closed. This has really pushed back
the effort to original submitters to keep momentum up on THEIR
requests. It's up to them to fix issues, request updated reviews, etc.
This considerably eases the burden on the core development team and
helps share the workload around.

- Because of this, I think the same approach would be valuable for bug
tickets. It pushes the effort back to the original submitter to ensure
that their ticket has sufficient detail to be reproducible, meaning
that the overworked bug triaging team don't always have to be the ones
pushing them for information.

- It helps send the correct message that QGIS is an open source
software project, not a charity service, and not a 24x7 software
service hotline. If they want their bug fixed it's up to them to find
ways to make this easy for us.

- We are drowning in poor value tickets, with limited information, no
test data, etc. Unfortunately, despite TIRELESS efforts by our
fantastic bug triagers it's still very hard to identify good bug
tickets to target. This has gotten more difficult with the addition of
the automated crash reports, and the increase in reporters who are
just pasting the crash report with absolutely no useful other
information.

- People can always reopen tickets if they are auto-closed and they
are still an issue. In this case auto-closing is a good thing, because
it prompts THEM to test latest versions and do the work checking that
the ticket is still valid.

- If a ticket is auto-closed multiple times, it will help convey the
message to the reporter that their bug is low priority for the
project. We could then make the auto-close message hint to the
reporter that they may need to directly engage a QGIS developer or
support contract if they want a speedy resolution to their issue.

- We see roughly 5-6 new tickets opened daily, and maybe a ticket
closed every second day (very rough figures!). The current growth rate
of tickets is making the situation more and more difficult.

Thoughts?

Nyall





- This should only apply to bug tickets, not feature requests. Feature
requests are a different beast and should have different rules.