Re: What backend should be the default now on -nix?

[MJ Ray]

Gregory John Casamento <greg_casamento@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > [...] If one
> > changes too many things together, you can't tell what fixed the bug
> > and it teaches little.  Each "cvs update" run risks introducing new
> > problems as well as cures. [...]
> Actually, I was talking from the point of view of the end user, not the
> developer who is fixing the bugs. [...]

Actually, so was I. I'm certainly not a developer who can fix the bugs
and at this rate I never will be. One of the things I really like about
free software is the ability to get involved and learn new things. It's
really frustrating when I encounter the box-shifter's attitude of "oh,
that one's broken for you? Have a new black box."

Would the developers like to get more feedback and specific thanks for
fixing particular nasty bugs?

> I, personally, fix one bug at a time, but when I commit it's usually only 
> after
> I've been through the process of fixing several bugs.

So no-one besides you can really untangle your bugfixes?

> I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this.  How else would you rather it be
> handled?  Should we be more detailed in our responses to users and tell them
> what the nature of each bug in the previous release was and how it was fixed? 
>  
> This is actually what the ChangeLog is for, BTW.   To show what was done with 
> a
> little explanation of how it was done.

I think I answered part of how I would rather it was handled before:
Release patches.  If there are so many serious problems fixed that there
are too many patches, it may be time for another release, or at least
a Release Candidate compilation patchfile.

I doubt that verbose descriptions are necessary, but I would like
some way to connect a bug report (which describes the user experience
problem) with the fix commit (which would identify the patch) or the
patch. That's not possible from the ChangeLogs, as far as I can tell,
or Savannah tracker. Some Savannah bugs just get closed with a comment of
"Fixed in CVS".