Re: Getting started with issue tracking

Ian Hickson wrote:
> On 11/2/07, Julian Reschke <julian.reschke@gmx.de> wrote:
>> as announced by Dan Conolly in
>> <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Oct/0367.html>,
>> I've added a first issue as trial:
>> <http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/issues/1>.
> 
> I am concerned that this issue, as described, does not follow the
> template and principles laid out in past posts to this working group,
> e.g. here:
> 
>    http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/IssueTemplate
>    http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Jun/0003.html
>    http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Jun/0863.html
>    http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Jun/0946.html
>    http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Jun/0953.html
> ...

Ian,

first of all my understanding is that we actually want to *change* the 
way the WG handles issue, by introducing an issue tracking system that

- keeps audit trails,
- watches for emails about specific issues,
- tracks actions and resolutions.

So I would expect that entries from the issues wiki actually will be 
migrated to Tracker (slowly, I guess).

Also, I'm not sure what principle the test issue doesn't get right, 
maybe you could be a bit more specific? It points out what several 
people think is a bug in the spec, it links to the parts of the specs 
that are relevant here, and to some of the emails (I haven't figured out 
yet how to tell Tracker to link past mails, but again, we're just 
getting started).

> Given the past volume of mail to this mailing list, it is unlikely
> that Hyatt and I will be able to read every mail for every issue.

I don't think anybody stated or expected that.

> Having issues summarised in the above format in the wiki is much more
> likely to allow everyone to have their point of view considered.

Tracker has a Description field that is editable, plus notes which can 
be added. I would expect that when discussion on a specific issue 
progresses, the Description field would be maintained to summarize the 
current state of discussion.

> That is to say -- while I think the tracker is a fine tool to use to
> track issue discussion, please don't consider it the final word on an
> issue. The editors are far more likely to make sensible decisions if
> the issues are presented in the format described in the above-cited
> e-mails and template page.

Not sure what's the proposal here. I don't think it would be a good idea 
to maintain information about one issue in multiple places.

Best regards, Julian

Received on Friday, 2 November 2007 18:33:29 UTC