Re: Taking ownership of Debbugs (Was: controlling how long before archiving?)

[Felix Lechner]

Hi Eli,

On Thu, Jan 11 2024, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> Do I understand correctly that the idea is to make the Emacs debbugs
> UI look like what I see on https://issues.guix.gnu.org/ ?

No, my interest is to reimplement the ancient Perl CGI scripts [1] which
serve invalid HTML [2] and---with the newer version---also embraced an
object-oriented approach via Mouse [3] with a modern web application
written in Scheme.

The hope is to encourage contributions from folks at Emacs and GNU Guix,
two projects steeped in Lisp. I'd like to open the door for patches.

Guix may otherwise switch away. [4]

I merely offered the Mumi client as an illustration of two points,
namely:

  a) the current web interface is insufficient for GNU Guix, and
  b) GNU Guile can serve HTML.

Personally, I do not like the candy-colored look, but I am prepared to
offer a selection of "skins" in a broader effort to renew the bug
tracker.

My current name for the renewal project is "Better," a vocalized acronym
for [B]ug [T]racker [R]eimagined. It's a bit goofy but suggests a
capacity to help improve the projects it serves, as well.

[1] 
https://salsa.debian.org/debbugs-team/debbugs/-/blob/8beaa7ffcf5e07dd814689c28ce8ce060036d532/cgi/bugreport.cgi#L95
[2] https://validator.w3.org/check?uri=bugs.debian.org%2F1000000
[3] https://metacpan.org/pod/Mouse
[4] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2023-09/msg00388.html

> If so, is there a description somewhere of what features that will
> offer?

My goal is to implement the features you need.

> Going to that site, all I see is pretty display of patches and also a
> (future) feature of posting comments via the Web browser.

I agree.

> Is there anything else, and if so, where can I read about it?

I would start with Debbugs, so those are the features you can expect.
For all other purposes, the Mumi source is here:

  https://git.elephly.net/software/mumi.git

Kind regards
Felix