Proposal - Ubuntu-AU BugJams

[Mitch Towner]

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On 19/05/10 00:56, brett wrote:
> On Mon, 17 May 2010 23:59:34 +1000
> Mitch Towner <mitch.towner.ubuntu at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
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>> In the IRC meeting it was agreed that we need to work together
>> collaboratively. One thing that we can do together is have an online
>> BugJam. This basically entails working together as a team on helping to
>> improve bug reports in Ubuntu's bug tracker - Launchpad [1]. If there is
>> enough interest/participation, Ubuntu-AU BugJams would initially be
>> every 2 months with the possibility or changing it to once a month in
>> the future.
>>
>> Many "not-so-technically-minded" people tend to shy away from this idea,
>> however it is actually easier to help out than it sounds! The whole idea
>> of "bug triage" is to improve bug reports. This can be performed in many
>> different ways.
>>
>> A *large* percentage of the bugs triagers have to deal with are not
>> assigned to the right package - a fair number do not have any package
>> assigned to them at all! One of the easiest ways to get involved in bug
>> triage is to simply look at [2] (a list of bugs that are not assigned to
>> a package) & assigning the bug report to the right package. Currently
>> there are 3165 bugs that need to be assigned to the right package. A
>> great resource that helps with this is [3]. There are also plenty of
>> helpful & friendly people in the #ubuntu-bugs IRC channel channel [4]
>> who are willing to offer assistance with trying to find the correct
>> package for a bug report.
>>
>> Another way that people who are new to bug triage can help out is by
>> confirming bugs are still valid by trying to reproduce them with the
>> latest version of the package that the bug is reported against. A good
>> way to get started with confirming bug reports is to focus on a package
>> that you are familiar with. Try to reproduce bug reports filed against
>> an older version of the package to see if the issue still exists in the
>> latest version of the package. Go to [5] to search for bugs in a
>> specific package.
>>
>> More detailed Bug Triage information can be found in the Bug Squad
>> Knowledge Base [6] & the "How to Triage" wiki page [7].
>>
>> For those interested in participating in an Ubuntu-AU BugJam, please
>> reply to this list. Once we get an idea of the number of people
>> interested in participating, we can organise finer details such as a
>> date, if an online "how to triage" class would be beneficial, if people
>> who are local should meet face-to-face & have everyone collaborate
>> online, etc, etc.
> 
> 
> I understand how this supports Ubuntu, I don't understand how this promotes Ubuntu to the wider, non-Ubuntu community. I think it is a great idea and everyone, regardless of tech-spec, should get involved/be welcomed into the fold, but I don't think it is a prime objective of a LoCo.
> 
> jmo
> 

Hi Brett & the rest of the list,
	Brett, thank you for your comment. It creates the perfect opportunity
for me to explain my reasoning for proposing Ubuntu-AU BugJams. I
totally agree that this (a bugjam) is not one of the "prime objectives"
of a Loco. I also understand that this does not promote Ubuntu to the
wider "non-Ubuntu" community. However, that is not really my reason for
proposing that we (as a Loco) participate in BugJams. In the response
from the Loco Council regarding our re-approval application [1] there
were a lot of points made regarding what we need to do better. Amongst
other things, it was noted that current members feel that they are
unable to contribute, the Australian Loco is perceived as being
inactive, there is a waning number of active members, etc. etc.

BugJams will help to address these issues & are also one part of the
team building process that will hopefully start to re-establish our
sense of actually being a Loco Team. The whole idea behind this is to
start working collaboratively as a team. There are a number of other
ideas that were discussed at the last meeting [2] that will also help
with team building.

I feel that once we can start successfully working together as a team
within the Ubuntu Community we will be in a better position to
collaboratively promote Ubuntu to the wider Australian community (which
definitely is one of the prime objectives of a Loco). These proposed
BugJams are important as they will truly help Ubuntu, however they are
also part of a bigger plan to help this Loco to get "back on track". I
hope this explanation helps people to better understand the reasoning
behind these BugJams & other team building exercises that will hopefully
be happening in the near future.

Kind Regards,
Mitch Towner


[1]	https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-au/2010-May/006166.html
[2]	http://is.gd/cfJR9
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