So I have a question about at what point bugs should be closed.
For instance, a little while ago, I noticed that the google talk
network isn't listed in the current version of empathy in factory.
The bug I filed about it
(https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=539508) was closed pretty
quickly with a note that the fix is in G:F (Gnome:Factory).
Ok cool I think to myself and I go on with my life.
Now, its been a couple days, (not many days, just a couple) and the
version of empathy in G:F with the google talk fix has not made its
way to factory yet (which is fine btw, I just am making my way to a
point). And to be honest, in the between time I had completely
forgotten about the bug until a few minutes ago, I opened empathy and
tried to send a message to my mom and of course, I can't do it with
empathy because it doesn't work with google talk at the moment.
The thought that comes to mind is, why is the bug closed when the
actual distributed version of the software currently available is
still broken? This kinda feels like, "The cheque is in the mail".
In the great big grand scheme of things, this empathy issue is trivial
and I am sure that one day soon I will run zypper dup and the problem
will be gone; And, this is not the point. The point is that we might
be losing sight of issues because the reported problems are closed
before the actual fixes are available. While presumably most people
are following up with bugs that they filed, I wonder if some problems
are squeaking through because people moved on with their lives after
their bugs were closed and visibility was lost on problems before
being confirmed by the reporter.
Of course I have absolutely no numbers to bring to the table here, but
I would like to know what other people have experienced in this realm.
Is the fact that bugs are closed before the fix is released leading
to actual issues in the end product and if so shall we crack the whip
on this behavior?
As a side note, I have not subscribed to G:F because I am not terribly
interested in testing whatever strange voodoo goes on in G:F but
rather just vanilla factory which I feel is plenty dicey enough, so
lets not criticize my point on this topic.
--
Ted Bullock