Bug forum closing soon

K

KC

New member
The thing I don't like about using a forum environment for bug reports is the lack of accountability. Or, more specifically, the ease of accountability. I could update threads as I work on issues, but that's time consuming and not easy for anyone else to get a grip on where things stand.

With many thanks to Pete Fats, we've now got a Bugzilla installation being hosted and finally setup at http://bugzilla.vixenlights.com. This buys us a number of things, including, but not limited to, the ability for people to vote on bugs so that the community, collectively, can say where their priorities are. Referring back to accountability, it also lets people see what I'm working on so that there will no longer be a shroud of mystery in that arena. I don't have nearly the time to work on Vixen as I used to, sadly, but I do still work on it.

Macrosill tried to find a bug tracker that would integrate with the forum so that everyone could use their forum account, but the ones that integrate didn't have the features I was looking for. I really wanted the voting feature so I could get some feedback on direction. Bugzilla is tried and tested and very well supported (and has the voting ability). This means that to use it, you do have to create an account.

A few notes...

I'm sorry for my prolonged absence. I think I've moved for the last time for the next twelve months, at least. A lease will ensure that. Like I said earlier, the rest of my life has been encroaching on the part of my life that I enjoy (Vixen), so my free time is getting divided. I really want to be there for you folks and I have no excuses for not being there other than getting really tired at night these days.

Renard/DMX hang issue...I have a working theory as to why this suddenly popped up when 2.0 left beta. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce it, so it's dang hard to fix. Frank's been kind enough to let me destroy a virtual machine and that did give me some information. I'm going to try to put together a test package to test the theory before the Christmas season is right on top of us. There is a LedTriks change I want to get in at the same time.

I know that I have dozens of messages stacked up over the past month or so. Again, I have no good reasons, just excuses. I'd like to blame it on my advancing years. That, and having a really boring job that actually does put me to sleep during the day sometimes.

I won't pretend to know what's going on these days. What I can do is address the issues as they come into the bug tracker and listen to what the community says with their votes. I'm trying to finagle a couple of things in my personal life, letting them know that I really do need to have more time for this during this time of year, so here's hoping...

Oh, yeah, back to the thread's subject. There's no drop-dead date on when the bug forum will close up. But this serves as notice so that you know that it will be going away so that traffic can start to go to the bug tracker.

Thanks for supporting each other, and thanks to the few people who try to keep me in the loop when something bursts into flames.
 
Thanks KC!!!
I set up an account and was wondering if we also use it for feature requests, or just bug reports?
 
Definitely for feature requests as well. Although in trying to get the exact verbiage to look for, I'm seeing that we're missing the priority and severity fields that would let you specify that it's an enhancement...
 
kmc123 said:
wondering if we also use it for feature requests, or just bug reports?
Click to expand...

There is now a 'Request Type' field when submitting a new bug to help this. I think that feature requests, combined with the voting feature, will be one of the more useful things to come from this change.

Thanks for the suggestion.

@all
Suggestions are always welcome. If you find any problems, or think the site could be better, please let me know.

pm here or
pete fats [a t] gmail
 
well if this makes like easier for you KC then i see it as great news.

As i am one of the lucky ones waiting got the dmx/serial issue to be resolved is there anything we can do to help?

let us know

Peter
 
Bugzilla has bugs of its own!

After signing up yesterday and posting a bug today it only allows me to see two other threads (neither of which is the one that I posted to).
 
Sorry for any downtime you might have noticed folks. The 3.0 to 3.2 upgrade gave me a little more trouble than I expected.

At this point though, everything seems to be working as intended. As always, if you run into anything that's not working as expected, feel free to email petefats (AAAAT) gmail.com.
 
I propose that we rename this area of the forum "Issues" or "Issues/Troubleshooting". In the software testing world there are issues and there are bugs. Sometimes an issue is never a bug and vise versa. This "Issues" area will exist to determine if the problem that is being seen is really a bug or something else. The goal is to only submit bugs, and enhancements to Bugzilla. The other big win is others can try to repro the issue to be sure its not a configuration thing.

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
DynamoBen said:
I propose that we rename this area of the forum "Issues" or "Issues/Troubleshooting". In the software testing world there are issues and there are bugs. Sometimes an issue is never a bug and vise versa. This "Issues" area will exist to determine if the problem that is being seen is really a bug or something else. The goal is to only submit bugs, and enhancements to Bugzilla. The other big win is others can try to repro the issue to be sure its not a configuration thing.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I like this idea. It will keep clutter out of the Bugzilla site and most likely help KC to work on the true 'bugs'.
 
I yield to KC in the Vixen support area. I personally do not like Bugzilla. It sees like a good idea but I do not see any benefit to using it other than the ability to see a list of bugs. I am sure there are some benefits for KC, he uses it more than anyone. There are some abbreviations there like NOT, NULL, FIXE, ASSI, RESO, REOP and WONT. What do they mean? I can guess at a few of them but others I have no idea. I was not able to find their definitions on the site. I also do not like the fact it requires a separate account to access. Now we need 3 accounts, the forum, wiki and bugzilla. I hope to work on the wiki end of things after the relocation and upgrade. I was able to integrate the chat with the forum so that is one less. And bugzilla is on a different site. We are slowly getting back to the detrimental scenario of 2 years ago where everything is spread out over multiple sites, the whole reason DIYC was started. I am not sure bugzilla is being received or utilized in the way KC had envisioned. I may be wrong but that is the perception I have. For that reason I propose we leave the Bug Forum as is.
 
While I understand multiple password thing I feel the benefits of bugzilla outweigh the issues. Bugzilla offers a single source to track and repair bugs and submit enhancements.

KC and I both work with software on a daily basis. (KC development, me Test) W/O a bug tracker like this, you end up with reams of paper or post-its. The paper method works but isn't visible to the users, they don't know if something is an issue, its been reported, or if there is a work around. Under the current system (forum) KC has to dig through posts to find things that need fixing or dig through emails. If there is a work around users must post that info. With the new system (bugzilla) it’s a single source of info for both KC and the users.

If you don’t use a bug tracker on a regular basis it’s a pain but you get used to it. Bugzilla is one of the nicest I’ve used, I almost replaced the commercial tracker where I work with Bugzilla. I think the forum is a good place to work through issues and when its deemed a “bug” it moves to Bugzilla.
 
Nice to see some discussion :) Here's my 2 cents.

I think that bugzilla fills a great void, much in the same way as the wiki does. It moves the discussion away from the 'free-for-all' style of a forum to a more structured format.

Apart from the usability stuff, I agree with Brian. Having 3 separate users for 3 separate applications is good for no one. Users shouldn't have to remember 3 logins and admins shouldn't have to make changes in 3 places.

Currently, bugzilla.vixenlights.com is just a CNAME for vbug.m0t.org. If it would be possible at the new host to get a bugzilla install running, a simple DNS swing could move it over. I'd be happy to give all of the current bug database if it could be replaced with a version that authenticates against the current DIYC userbase. Let me know if I can help.
 
The good news is the new server has all the access we need, not only to install Bugzilla but also any other application we may need in the future.

The bad news is I do not think Bugzilla can share the user tables from vBulletin.
There is an alternative, vBulletin Project Tools.

General Features:
* Adds project management functionality to vBulletin.
* Unlimited editable issue types allow system to be utilised for any type of project - from developing a software product to building a car
* Integration into vBulletin user system facilitates group working

Feature Details:
* Unlimited admin-definable issue types per project (eg: bugs, features, tasks etc.)
* Extensive searching capabilities with sorting and grouping options
* Ability to save search parameters to generate reports
* Ability to subscribe to issues to track their progress and receive notification of updates
* Issue lists can be viewed both in a sortable tabular form, or in a timeline style
* Issue status, priority, assigned users etc. can be changed instantly using AJAX technology without visiting an edit page.
* Issues can be voted upon - useful for gauging interest in a feature or the number of people affected by a bug
* Issues can be both categorised and tagged to aid in searching and sorting
* Issues can have files attached
* A special 'patch' attachment type exists, which will display a human-readable patch diff


Any switch or change would need to be approved by KC.
 
I took a look at Project Tools, while it’s an interesting tool I don't know that it will work as well as Bugzilla. Over the last two years I've had to review a number of bug tracking packages, largely because its open source and has been around for many years. I feel Bugzilla is the best fit for what we intend on doing with it.

Project Tools appears to have the basics of bug tracking covered but I think put all our eggs in one basket is going to be very limiting. vBulletin is a great bulletin board/forum product but they are very new to bug tracking. I’m always a bit skeptical about the “all things to all people” solutions. Personally a bug tracker should be made by folks that make bug trackers and forum should be made by folks who make forums. Then you are getting the best of each world.

While I agree it’s a bummer to have two usernames and passwords the nice things is we can edit each user list independently. In addition if we change forums or want to migrate to a new/better bug tracker we can do so without a lot of trouble. In addition, not everyone in the forum is a Vixen user; further of the Vixen users not everyone will want/need to enter bug reports.
 
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