boilerplate messages in bugs

[Karl Goetz]

On Wed, 2008-09-10 at 09:32 -0700, Leann Ogasawara wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-09-10 at 17:41 +0930, Karl Goetz wrote:
> > hi bug people,
> 
> Hi Karl,
> 
> > I'm writing [1] about an experiance I've just had with a 'boilerplate
> > paster' and a number of bug reports i was subscribed too. ( [2,3,4,5],
> > all are filed againt the kernel package. )
> 
> Thanks for sending this to the list.  I was responsible for sending out
> the 2.6.27 call for testing on behalf of the kernel team so I'll try to
> respond as best I can.  The kernel team collectively decided to *try*
> moving to the 2.6.27 kernel based on the fact that the 2.6.26 kernel was
> going to be inadequate for the Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release [A].  A final

Fair enough.

> decision to stick with the 2.6.27 kernel will be made this week.  A
> major factor preventing the transition to the 2.6.27 kernel would be any
> showstopping regressions or critical bugs caused by the 2.6.27 kernel.
> For this reason, the kernel team needed as much feedback regarding the
> 2.6.27 kernel as quickly as possible.  This is the reason the call for
> testing was sent out to all open kernel bug reports.  Given the volume
> of open kernel bugs [B], it would have been inefficient to manually read
> through each kernel bug report and post the call for testing.  It was
> bound to happen that the automated response would not read well with
> every bug report, so for that I apologize.  However, sending out the
> automated call for testing was a necessary action given the time
> constraint the kernel team has for making a decision regarding 2.6.27.

What level of automation was it? a for loop, or someone manually going
and pasting into the bug reports?

> 
> > These all had the same message pasted into them [6], which on the
> > surface is fair enough, but the bit that made this seem somewhat
> > wasteful and gratuitious, was bug 218616 :
> >  This bug refers to a source file, the paste told me to download and
> > test the latest intrepid kernel kernel.
> > 
> > This isnt the first time i've seen bugs with boilerplate messages pasted
> > into them (i dont have any handy though sorry).
> > I'm wondering if theres something that can be done to reduce the amount
> > of 'senseless' pasting of boilerplates - where its relevent (eg, does
> > this modem work?) i think its acceptable.
> 
> You do raise a good point here.  It's difficult to distinguish which bug
> reports should and should not receive these automated replies.  I wonder
> if we should create a new tag in Launchpad which reporters could use to
> indicate they do not want to receive any such responses.  Thoughts?

I guess it depends on the level of automation.
If theres a human doing the pasting, i dont think its unreasonable to
think that a bug title that refers to /path/to/foo.c would be left out
of a call to test a binary kernel.
If its completely automatic, then that makes it somewhat harder.
I dont know how LP works for a 'hands off' level of automation (indeed,
i dont know if it can at all), so i cant comment on wether it can be
told to ignore some bugs in mails like that.
kk

> 
> Thanks,
> Leann
> 
> [A] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2008-August/026142.html
> [B] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bugs
> 
> > [1] Was advised on IRC to post to this list about it.
> > [2] https://launchpad.net/bugs/223175
> > [3] https://launchpad.net/bugs/218616
> > [4] https://launchpad.net/bugs/76347
> > [5] https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/100031
> > [6] 
> > The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the
> > upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would
> > appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel.
> > There are one of two ways you should be able to test:
<message trimmed>

-- 
Karl Goetz <karl at kgoetz.id.au>
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