[development] {Short issue queues need care - 5} Activity in the branches cvs, 4-7, 4-5... but not in 4-6.

Mon Aug 14 09:05:10 UTC 2006

Hello and welcome to the fourth edition of {Short issue queues need care}.

This week:
1} Report on progress since last time.
2} Featured short issue queues.
3} Why this report and how to cooperate?

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1} Report on progress since last week.
*******************************************

When viewing the report, make sure to check the level of activity in each 
queue. The number in parenthesis designs the number of issues 2 weeks old or 
more (i.e. issues most likely forgotten and not being dealt with). A low 
number of old issues compared to the total number of issues is an indication 
of activity within that particular queue. 

Comparing the queues of Patch Needs Review in both 4-7 and 4-6 branches, we 
notice that the number of issues is about the same compared to the previous 
week. But there is one major difference: 4-6 issues are all old, but 4-7 
issues have almost all been reviewed during the last week or two.

I don't need to tell you about the activity that has been going on in HEAD. 

In the 4-5 branch, however, thanks to Johan Forngren, all bugs have been 
reviewed (hence the 4-5 bugs queue featured last week is cleared and no 
longer part of the report) and the number of other issues have dropped 
significantly from 58 to only 10.

With all this activity, the 4-6 branch stands out for its lack thereof.

There are 930 subscribers to this mailing list.
Is it possible that 20-50 of those read this report and decide to work 
together to lower the number of issues on each of the 7 queues featured this 
week?

Please write to me privately (so that I know that my reports are useful!) or 
reply publicly on the list if you are participating. 

Thank you.

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2} Featured short issue queues.
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Pick one list. See at the very end if you wish to officially 'adopt' one 
queue.

The number in parenthesis designs the number of issues 2 weeks old or more 
(i.e. issues most likely forgotten and not being dealt with).

(Queue #1) DRUPAL-4-6 critical issues:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=12052,11555,11262,10237,9739,9703,7696,7636,7578,5660,7407&priorities=1&states=1,8,13,14,2
18/06/2006 : 24 (19) issues.
25/06/2006 : 8 (5) issues.
02/07/2006 : 5 (4) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 5 (5) issues.
14/08/2006 : 5 (4) issues only.
Those are really critical issues, already fixed in head and 4.7. 
Can 3 or 4 developers agree to cooperate on one of those, so that there is one 
less issue next week?

(Queue #2) DRUPAL-4-7 critical issues:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=12050,11551,11252,10634,10412,10302,10273,10238,10195,9902,9842,9753,9728,10696&priorities=1&states=1,8,13,14,2
18/06/2006 : 31 (19) issues.
25/06/2006 : 12 (8) issues.
02/07/2006 : 7 (5) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 19 (13) issues.
14/08/2006 : 7 (0) issues only!
All 19 issues featured last week have been reviewed (mostly by Gerhard) so 
that there is zero old issues this week.

(Queue #3) CVS critical bugs: 
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=6487&categories=bug&priorities=1&states=1,8,13,14,2
18/06/2006 : 6 (1) issues.
25/06/2006 : 13 (1) issues.
02/07/2006 : 15 (1) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 16 (3) issues.
14/08/2006 : 22 (5) issues only!
A few are marked as fixed already... but a few are getting old...

(Queue #4) DRUPAL-4-6 Patch Needs Review bugs:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=12052,11555,11262,10237,9739,9703,7696,7636,7578,5660,7407&categories=bug&states=8
18/06/2006 : 26 (25) issues.
25/06/2006 : 26 (25) issues.
02/07/2006 : 25 (24) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 24 (23) issues.
14/08/2006 : 24 (23) issues.
Most need to be bumped to cvs, if the bug still exists in HEAD. 
If the bug hasn't been fixed yet, try to reroll the patch for head, or else 
set as "patch needs work".

(Queue #5) DRUPAL-4-7 Patch Needs Review bugs:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=12050,11551,11252,10634,10412,10302,10273,10238,10195,9902,9842,9753,9728,10696&categories=bug&states=8
18/06/2006 : 17 (5) issues.
25/06/2006 : 16 (7) issues.
02/07/2006 : 21 (8) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 15 (11) issues.
14/08/2006 : 15 (4) issues only.
Make sure to note if the bug has been fixed in HEAD already: it would be silly 
to have a fix in 4.7, to see the bug reappear when 4.8/5.0 comes out.
Note the drop in old issues (from 11 to 4), which distinctly shows that the 
4-7 branch is much more dynamic than the 4-6 branch.

(Queue #6) CVS Patch Needs Review bugs:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=6487&categories=bug&states=8
18/06/2006 : 72 (67) issues.
25/06/2006 : 71 (67) issues.
02/07/2006 : 77 (66) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 72 (59) issues.
14/08/2006 : 88 (59) issues.
As you see, many issues are old (over 2 weeks old: 59 issues), so we have the 
choice between :
 re-rolling the patch for current head, 
 set as code needs work, 
 or set as already fixed if appropriate.

(Queue #7)  DRUPAL-4-5 old issues:
http://drupal.org/project/issues?projects=3060&versions=10236,9738,9702,7695,7635,7577,6481,6486,4564,6478&states=1,8,13,14,2
18/06/2006: 67 (66) issues.
25/06/2006 : 64 (62) issues.
02/07/2006 : 60 (59) issues. 
07/08/2006 : 58 (58) issues.
14/08/2006 : 10 (10) issues only.
This week, there has been a dramatic drop of issues in this old branch.
We must thank Johan Forngren for this drop.
For the remaining 10 issues:
Let's not close them indiscriminately, but it is a fact that at least some of 
those are now covered by a contrib module (give a link to module homepage and 
close issue).
Otherwise a feature request, is still a feature request and should be bumped 
back up to cvs.

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3} Why this report and how to cooperate?
*******************************************

There are now over 2200 issues in the queue.
The figure sounds daunting: how can a very few volunteer developers deal with 
such a huge amount of bugs?

The point is that we don't need to worry of the whole issue queue, but by 
getting somewhat more organized, the most important of those issues can be 
definitively dealt with. 

To start with, there shouldn't be anything critical within the Drupal project 
issues. Critical bugs must be dealt as a matter of priority. But one can get 
easily discouraged when facing 4 four pages of critical issues. 
The first step is therefore to sort out what is really critical from what is 
not.
Having a shortlist of what is really critical, two or three developers can 
focus on a single issue, helping each other, so that one week later there is 
one really critical issue less. Similarly, 10-12 developers could get rid of 
3-4 critical issues and in a few weeks, the list of critical issues would be 
down to almost nothing (only 1-2 issues caused by a large patch recently 
introduced in head, for example).

If you wish to participate in tackling one of the 7 short issue queues 
featured here, please reply to the list, quoting only the issue you wish to 
'adopt', changing also the subject title of your email to reflect the queue 
you have chosen. 
Hopefully, two or three more developers will reply to you, saying they want to 
help you with the issues in that same queue.

Thank you to all the volunteers for your cooperation.

Blessings,

Augustin.

-- 
http://www.wechange.org/
Because we and the world need to change.

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Intimate Relationships, peace and harmony in the couple.