[alsa-devel] ALSA bugs and Launchpad

[Takashi Iwai]

At Wed, 8 Aug 2007 18:21:26 +0200,
Gavin Panella wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I previously sent a similar message to webmaster at alsa-project.org, so  
> apologies if you've seen this before.
> 
> We've been trying to get Launchpad (*) to watch bugs within your  
> Mantis bug tracker, but we can't get a full CSV export from your  
> installation. I'm guessing it's been disabled or restricted somehow,  
> so I want to make a case for letting Launchpad get at it.
> 
> [* I work for Canonical Ltd. (http://www.canonical.com/) on the  
> Launchpad.net site, specifically on the Bug Tracker (a.k.a. Malone).  
> You can verify my signature and status as a Launchpad Developer at  
> https://launchpad.net/~allenap.]
> 
> I'll explain from the beginning, so you might want to skip a few  
> paragraphs if you already know something about the Launchpad Bug  
> Tracker.
> 
> One feature of Launchpad is that users can add upstream dependencies  
> to a bug report. For example, a display bug in Ubuntu could be filed  
> on Launchpad, but be related to a bug in the core X.Org server project:
>    https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/38939
> 
> To add a dependency, a Launchpadder clicks "Also affects: Upstream"  
> on the bug report, then enters the URL of the upstream bug report.  
> Launchpad recognises this URL and will then "watch" the bug: once a  
> day, Launchpad will fetch the status of the upstream bug and record  
> it. Any changes are sent to bug subscribers, who might be the  
> maintainers for that package in Ubuntu and who can then update the  
> package with the fix.
> 
> [Note that Launchpad only tracks the status of the upstream bug. If a  
> Launchpadder wants to get involved in fixing the upstream bug then  
> Launchpad will direct them to the upstream bug tracker.]
> 
> We've recently added support for Mantis BT:
>    Support Mantis as a remote bugtracker (and add ALSA's bugtracker)
>    https://bugs.launchpad.net/malone/+bug/32266
> 
> There's also some info here: https://help.launchpad.net/Mantis
> 
> The current approach we take is simple: the code logs in to a Mantis  
> instance as a guest and fetches a complete CSV export (via  
> csv_export.php). Many Mantis instances return a complete export of  
> all their bugs to the guest user, but the ALSA bug tracker returns  
> nothing unless the search is narrowed.
> 
> This approach is not perfect (*) but it does work right now. If  
> you're happy to do so, we'd be very grateful if you could let us  
> fetch the full export while we're working on improvements. This will,  
> amongst other things, help people working on Ubuntu be more aware of  
> what's going on in the ALSA world.
> 
> [* Taking a full export is crude (we get a full export even though we  
> might only be watching a single bug, we only record the status and  
> resolution anyway, and CSV has a plate-full of problems out-of-the- 
> box) so we're already planning improvements, like narrowing searches,  
> page scraping, writing extensions for Mantis, or using MantisConnect.  
> Above all, we need to play nicely with external bug trackers.]
> 
> Gavin.
> 

Yes, this sounds cool, and it'd be certainly beneficial for both of
us.  I forwarded this to Jaroslav, in case he didn't read it...


thanks,

Takashi