> I agree, I try to catalog most of the bugfixes and enhancements at
> LinuxHQ. As for using the bug reporting system that Debian uses, here's
> my thoughts on this:
Many thanks for your work on this, BTW.
> Debian, Apache, GNU, etc. are all very controlled development
> environments. They lend themselves to using a centralized tracking
> system. Linux on the other hand has a very open development model. Linus
> utilimately produces the kernel release, but input is taken from many
> sources. I doubt very seriously that most of the kernel developers are
> ready to sign up for a controlled reporting system, it simply isn't how
> Linux development is done (which is one of Linux's strengths in my
> opinion).
Agreed (not that my opinion counts much around here ;-)
> In my opinion, what I've been doing at LinuxHQ is the right thing to do,
> catalog the kernel patches, tracking when one has been included in a
> kernel release or when one is obsolete. This doesn't not impose any
> additional requirements on kernel developers or any kernel hacker.
Yes. But it would also be useful (but more work, I fear...) to set up a way
of commenting on fixes: "Doesn't work here with foo controller bar", ...
> I'm not saying that there isn't room for improvement, but I think trying
> to create a centralized bug tracking system where programmers must adhere
> to certain rules for reporting, testing and fixing bugs isn't the right
> answer either.
What I have in mind (sort of ;-) is something as I say above. At least for
the releases there should be some comment by somebody(ies) in the know:
Like the WARNING for 2.1.44, and similar comments saying most filesystems
_don't_ work for 2.1.4[56], ... Perhaps set up two comment tracks, one for
"regular folks" and one for "maintainers/registered kernel hackers"? Much
of the problems I'd find as a newbie is to find out if the guy/gal posting
(about) a patch is guaranteed clueful or possibly clueless...
-- Dr. Horst H. von Brand mailto:vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl Departamento de Informatica Fono: +56 32 654431 Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria +56 32 654239 Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile Fax: +56 32 797513