On Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:10:55 +0200, Henne Vogelsang wrote:
Not all of our users have a background in information technology, so it's not always obvious what information needs to be provided. To a developer or someone with an IT background, saying "get a stack trace" means something. To a normal user, you might as well be asking them for directions to the Martian highlands - they don't know what a "stack trace" is or how to get one.
And here you have perfectly described the misunderstanding that happens constantly on a public bug reporting tool.
User: I want to do A and then B happens. I try to understand why B happens and it turns out that it shouldn't. So i tell the developer that and he will solve my problem.
Developer: I write A and then release it. A has 63 problems because there is no bugfree software. Now a user comes with the 64th problem and does not even provide a backtrace. Why did he not send a patch?
As you can see those are two valid views on the same situation. The solution to this is that both try to get closer to the others side.
Agreed, and very well stated, Henne. At the same time, though, the user situation is a more common use case for bugzilla - user reports a bug, and the developer asks for additional information to track it down. That's even how bugzilla.novell.com is used for Novell's products other than openSUSE. (I may not have mentioned here, I am a Novell employee - I work in the training organisation, not with the Linux products specifically).
So bugzilla is not a user support tool nor is it a patch submit tool. And complaining about the one or the other is completely unrealistic.
Well, I'd say Bugzilla is a user support tool in as much as it is a place where program defects are submitted and tracked through to resolution. Since users use the software that bugzilla tracks bugs in, the case can be made that it is a user support tool - but I think we agree that the more usual way it should be used is that "I have a problem" is discussed on a mailing list or forum before a bug is submitted; the user searches before submitting a bug to make sure it's not already in the system as well. But if I, as a user, report a bug and haven't provided complete information, the course of action from a developer standpoint isn't "WORKSFORME" but to request more information. Unless it is a configuration or user education issue and not really a bug. Put another way, there's a fine line between using Bugzilla inappropriately as a discussion medium (a replacement for a mailing list or forum) and using it as a means to gather information about a true defect. That becomes a user education issue (not openSUSE user, but bugzilla user - covering both openSUSE users and developers). Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org