QA and derivatives ( Re: Apport hooks (Re: The changing nature of bug reports))

[David Farning]

On Mon, 2007-03-05 at 09:54 +0100, Martin Pitt wrote:

> BTW, the current name for it is 'ubuntu-bug'. Having Ubuntu in the
> name is needed because it currently files bugs against Ubuntu in
> Malone (not other distributions).
> 

Martin, I believe that we have talked about this before.  But I think
the issue is now ready for wider discussion.

One of the most common request that I am getting when talking with
Ubuntu's derivative distributions is the desire for a more collaborative
issue tracking system.

The first step is including a mechanism in apport that determines which
distribution is generating the report, Ubuntu or one of it's
derivatives.  This will cause the issue reports to be directed to the
correct distribution's issue tracker.  This is a pretty straight forward
technical issue.

The second step is creating a process for pushing issues upstream from
our derivatives to Ubuntu.  This issue becomes more involved because it
involves fairness and the community.

It would be useful if the CC, TB, and Canonical could start considering
how derivatives can become good community members.  The basic balance we
need to consider will be:
1 How can Ubuntu leverage the QA efforts of all of it's derivatives.
2 How can Ubuntu's derivatives leverage the larger Ubuntu communities QA
efforts.
3 How can the the first two conditions be meet in a manner that is fair
to all.

I have started fleshing out some guidelines for 'good' interactions with
both our upstreams and downstreams at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Downstream and
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Upstream

The third step will be either encouraging derivatives to use Launch Pad
as their issue tracker or enabling Launch Pad to work effectively with
other downstream issue trackers.

thanks
-- 
David Farning <dfarning at gmail.com>