[support] Best way to fix a bug?

[Jason Flatt]

On Wednesday 12 September 2007 12:37:54 Jim Smith wrote:
> These are good tips! Thank you.
>
> The one thing that these tips don't solve, though, is what to do when
> the maintainer doesn't respond quickly enough for my needs. Let's face
> it, some maintainers are more diligent than others for tackling bugs in
> the queue. I don't mean that as a slight in the least against the
> particular maintainer of the module I'm dealing with now. But generally
> speaking, I'd rather not be dependent on the maintainer if I'm in an
> urgent situation. And if I can find a solution, then I can contribute
> the patch, which is better still.

I understand your frustration (I've been there myself), but not everyone is 
using Drupal for the same reasons, and diligence isn't the only issue. Some 
of us use Drupal on a daily basis for their normal jobs, whether for a single 
site or as a consultant. Some of us only have one website we maintain, and 
may have created a module, theme, etc. for a particular need and then 
contributed it back to the community. Some of us have jobs in other 
industries and just like playing with Drupal and helping out when we have 
free time. There are both good and bad maintainers in all areas, both in what 
they have contributed and in the time they have for continuing the 
maintenance of something. Not everyone has the time or ability to respond as 
quick as you want them to, even those whose job it is to build Drupal 
websites all day long.

It has been proposed, in the not to distant past, that modules, themes, etc. 
should have seconds for maintainership. That is a great idea, and might help 
alleviate some problems, but it hasn't really happened and there are a lot of 
projects out there. It's hard enough, as you've found out, to get one person 
to maintain one module, much less find a second to help.

Another option is to go to IRC for help (http://drupal.org/support). It's not 
always any better than the issue queue, the forms or the e-mail list, but you 
can get help for urgent situations.

-- 
Jason Flatt
http://www.oadaeh.net/
Father of Six:  http://www.flattfamily.com/ (Joseph, 14; Cramer, 12; Travis, 
10; Angela; Harry, 7; and William, 12:04 am, 12-29-2005)
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