Re: Dedicated kernel bug database

Brian Jackson (brian-kernel-list@mdrx.com)
Thu, 19 Dec 2002 11:33:29 -0600


I would just like to second what somebody said about bugzilla yesterday,
that it is hard to search for bugs that have already been entered. Just
something to think about.

--Brian Jackson

John Bradford writes:

> Following on from yesterday's discussion about there not being much
> interaction between the kernel Bugzilla and the developers, I began
> wondering whether Bugzilla might be a bit too generic to be suited to
> kernel development, and that maybe a system written from the ground up
> for reporting kernel bugs would be better?
>
> I.E. I am prepared to write it myself, if people think it's
> worthwhile.
>
> For example, we get a lot of posts on LKML like this:
>
> "Hi, foobar doesn't work in 2.4.19"
>
> Now, does that mean:
>
> * The bug first appeared in 2.4.19, and is still in 2.4.20
> * The bug reporter hasn't tested 2.4.20
> * The bug reporter can't test 2.4.20 because something else is broken
> * The bug actually first appeared in 2.4.10, but it didn't irritate
> them enough to complain until now.
>
> A bug database designed from scratch could allow such information to
> be indexed in a way that could be processed and searched usefully. A
> list of tick-boxes for worked/didn't work/didn't test/couldn't test
> for several kernel versions could be presented.
>
> Also, we could have a non-web interface, (telnet or gopher to the bug
> DB, or control it by E-Mail).
>
> It could warn the user if they attach an un-decoded oops that their
> bug report isn't as useful as it could be, and if they mention a
> distribution kernel version, that it's not a tree that the developers
> will necessarily be familiar with.
>
> I'm not criticising the fact that we've got Bugzilla up and running,
> but just pointing out that we could do better, (and I'm prepared to
> put in the time and effort). I just need ideas, really.
>
> John.
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