Bug tracker association improvement

[Jean-Baptiste Crouigneau]

Hi everybody!

My first, and hopefully not my last post... :)

Martin kindly adviced me to post here my remarks about bug trackers integration
with bazaar.
The --fixes option is a very good thing, but as mentioned in documentation has
some limitations.

If I understood well how it works, my requests would be :

1- Make this option a requirement : not for all projects of course, but could be
configurable. No commit allowed wihtout a bug or task ID (would be a standard
for me).

2- What happens if bug/task ID is wrong? The only way to avoid that is to check
the ID with bug tracking tool (and by the way, check also the status?). But
bazaar is to be used offline... Maybe, if bug/task ID is required, check this
when pushing commit to central location, and reject commits with bad bug/task ID
(meaning you must be able to correct it...).

3- My last wish is not compliant with bazaar core concepts, but I put it anyway,
who knows, could lead to a new feature in the future... :)
My idea is to specify why you are going to change a file before to make the
change... Some VCS require a checkout file by file. Then, you can specify
bug/task ID in checkout command (or even make it a requirement). You can even
checkout a file twice, for two different bug/task (not recommanded but possible
with local merge).
The aim is not to control multiple checkout of one file by several developpers,
but to compel developpers to associate each change to a task or a bug.
You can then checkin (or revert) changes linked to one task/bug, ignoring other
changes.
It leads to a better management of the work, of the changes, a real "task
oriented" workflow.

I also have to mention I'm (personnaly) not a fanatic of automatic update of
taks/bug status when commiting. Then, you can commit several times for a task or
a bug (and several developpers can work on a same task/bug). The only limitation
should be that the task/bug has to be "open" (or any equivalent state) to accept
a new change.

I don't know if all this can interest a lot of body, but with bazaar gatekeeper
feature, it would be my "dream" workflow.
There is a tool (not free...) that propose equivalent features : Synergy (now
owned by IBM). Maybe not the best tool, but I used it a few years ago and had a
good experience with it.

My two cents!