Re: Bug tracking

[Kim F. Storm]

Juanma Barranquero <address@hidden> writes:

> On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 14:50:05 -0400, Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > No, this discussion is about tracking issues that need to be
> > resolved before the release.  Here is the message that raised this
> > question:
> 
> Put that on English not being my native language.  I was thinking (and
> referring, at least on my mind :) to both things.
> 
> > A text file is the perfect way to keep track of issues.
> 
> On that, I agree.
> 
> > Bug tracking might be useful, but it is a completely different
> > subject.  If we use a bug-tracker, it should be easy to use via email
> > and cvs.
> 
> Via CVS?  That meaning?


We could start small and simple:

Create an emacs/tracker subdirectory and create text files 1.bug, 2.bug, etc.
with one file for each bug.

Then add a simple header to the file, initially just:

,-------------------------------------
| Subject: Title of this bug
| From: Name and email of original reporter of the bug
| Date: Date created
| Modified: Date last modified
| Status: empty | user name of developer (when assigned) | DELAY | REJECT | DONE
| Priority: RELEASE | FATAL | HIGH | NORMAL | LOW | ...
| Cc: List of email addresses to be notified when tracker is updated
| [empty line]
| Free format text about the bug
`-------------------------------------

Priority = RELEASE means that issue must be resolved before next release.
Priotity = FATAL means this bug makes emacs crash.

Then we can create fairly simple commands like bug-tracker-create
which creates an empty bug tracker, and bug-tracker-commit (bound to
C-c C-c) which checks it into cvs (automatically updating the Modified
date).

We can also make bug-tracker-create-from-message which will take
a mail or news message (in the current buffer) and create a tracker
for it by:

a) select the next unused number in tracker
b) write header + body to that tracker file tracker/N.bug
c) do cvs add + cvs commit on that file

As we progress, we can add more commands that can list, summarize,
search, update those trackers, etc. all with proper interfacing to cvs
(including committing changes at a later time if currently off-line).

The basic idea is that all trackers are recorded as simple text
(mbox-like) files in CVS.

Updates to the trackers will then automatically be mailed to anyone
subscribing to the emacs-diffs mailing list.

Such a system could be written in a couple of hours initially, and expanded
gradually as we find the time and need...  

BTW, progress about the bug can also be recorded in the cvs log, e.g.
changes to Status field.

-- 
Kim F. Storm <address@hidden> http://www.cua.dk