Bug tracking

Bug Tracker Activity

Background:

Bug tracking systems are a form of change management and organization used by FOSS projects.
Bug trackers do far more than simply keep track of bugs. They also are used to hold new feature requests,
patches, and some tasks. Bug trackers are also called request trackers, issue trackers, request trackers and
ticket systems. Please read the two readings below for a more complete treatment of bug trackers and their use
in FOSS projects.

• Karl Fogel's chapter on bug trackers
• Wikipedia's page on Bug Tracking Systems

Directions:

We will begin by looking at a typical Bugzilla instance for a project. We will be using GNOME's Bugzilla instance,
but specifically looking at the bugs for the Accessibility Team.

Part 1 - Bug Reports

1. Open a browser and go to the GNOME Accessibility Bugs
2. Define what each of the column names below indicate. Include the range of possible values for 2-7 below.
   Feel free to explore beyond the page to find more information.
   1. ID: unique identifier for each bug
   2. Sev: severity - how bad is it? From blocker ("application unusable") to trivial ("minor cosmetic issue")
   3. Pri: priority - how important is this to resolve? Assigned by developer.
   4. OS: Operating system with which the bug occurred
   5. Product: where the bug is observed.
   6. Status: How far along in the process is it?
      [UNCONFIRMED, NEW, ASSIGNED, REOPENED, NEEDINFO]
   7. Resolution: How was it solved? What may help for resolving it?
   8. Summary: of the issue in one sentence.
3. Describe how you discovered the definitions and how did you find the information from above
   (hint: the advanced search shows the options or the Reports link has a link)? Previous knowledge.
4. Identify the order in which the bugs are initially displayed? According to Status.
5. What is the meaning of the shading of some bug reports? Shaded ones are less critical or minor
6. What is the meaning of the colors used when describing a bug (red, gray, black)?
   Red is critical, black normal, grey enhancement
7. Select a bug that you think that you might be able to fix and look at it more closely - 385900 
   1. Identify when the bug was submitted. 2006-12-14
   2. Identify if there has been recent discussion about the bug? Not since 2011
   3. Is the bug current? Yes, seems to be according to status.
   4. Is the bug assigned? To whom? To a role (Panel Maintainer) but not an individual developer.
   5. Describe what you would need to do to fix the bug. Find the document or piece of code where this
      originates - nobody has been able to identify it so far.
8. Repeat the previous step with a different kind of bug. Did it for a couple more, nothing out of the ordinary.

Part 2 - Collective Reports

1. Click on the “Reports” link on the top of the page.
2. Click on the "Summary of Bug Activity for the last week".
3. How many bug reports were opened in the last week? How many were closed? 18 opened, 13 closed.
4. What was the general trend last week? Were more bugs opened than closed or vice versa? 5 more opened.
5. Who were the top three bug closers? Why is this important to know? Sebastian, Michael, and Milan.
   They are probably product champions and likely to be able to help finding ways to resolve more of them.
6. Who were the top three bug reporters? Are these the same as the top three bug closes?
   What is the overlap in these two lists? Vrishab, Mohammed, and Sebastian. Yes, the latter one.
7. Who are the top three contributors of patches? Philip, Carlos, and Bastien.
8. Who are the top three reviewers of patches?
   What is the overlap between these lists and the bug closers and bug reporters?
   What is the overlap between patch contributors and patch reviewers?
   Sebastian, Florian, Milan. Only one overlap.
9. Click on the “Generate Graphical Reports” link.
10. Plot a line graph of the severity of bugs by component for Orca:
    1. Select "Severity" for the vertical axis
    2. Select "Component" for the horizontal axis
    3. Select "Bar Graph" for type of graph
    4. Leave the "Multiple Images" as <none>
    5. Scroll down and select Orca from the Product menu.
    6. Click "Generate Report".
11. What class were the majority of the bugs for braille? Normal.
12. What other reports can you generate? Tabular reports and change over time.