OpenJDK bug database: DRAFT Developer Workflow

[Iris Clark]

Hi, Volker.

> nice to hear that somebody is working on this.

Thanks!  

> I have some questions around end user / external user access to the new
> system:
> 
> 1. Who will be able to open a new bug/RFE?
>  a. everybody
>  b. registered users only (with some trivial click-trough registration)  
>  c. only special roles as defined in the OpenJDK bylaws (i.e. Participants,
>     Contributors, Authors, Committers, Members..) 
> 
> I would strongly vote for variant a. or b. but if you choose variant c. at
> least every "Participant" (i.e. everybody who subscribed to an OpenJDK mailing
> list) should be able to open new bugs/RFEs.

Right now, bugs.sun.com requires (b), minimal registration.  There are some
who believe that that bar is too high and would prefer (a).  (c) is not on the
table. 

> 2. Who will be able to change bugs/RFEs?
> 
> This is somewhat related to question 1. Of course I understand that this will
> have to be handled more restrictive, but at least commenting on a bug should
> be handled as liberal as possible (i.e. at least as liberal as in the answer
> for 1).

Define what you mean by "change"?  

- Provide a comment similar to what we have on bugs.sun.com?  

  As you speculated, the answer would depend on what is decided for your first
  question. 

- Provide an evaluation, update the bug's status, and other development
  activities? 

  All OpenJDK Committers will need to be able to update bugs.  OpenJDK Authors
  may also be able to make limited set of changes as appropriate for their
  role as Author.

(I plan to provide more details when I get to the "Roles" section of the
document.)

> 3. Will it be possible to "subscribe" to a bug/RFE in order to get notified of
> any changes?
> 
> Again a crucial feature for me which should be handled as liberal as
> possible. The author of a bug should be placed automatically on the
> subscription list (which would of course require some kind of registration -
> e.g. with the credentials of a "Participants")

Yes.  JIRA provides mechanisms to vote on bugs and receive notifications.
Both of these options will be available to the set of users identified by the
answer to question 1.

> 4. Will newly entered bugs/RFEs be immediately visible with a valid, immutable
>    Bug ID (i.e. will they have status "Dispatched")
>  - As you probably all know, currently new bugs filed from outside Oracle only
>    get a temporary Bug ID until they are evaluated and promoted by somebody
>    inside Oracle (which can take weeks..). I think this is simply a "no-go"
>    for a real open source project. 
>  - Even bugs filed by Oracle employees need a day or more until they become
>    publicly visible. Will this improve with the new system?

All newly entered bugs/RFEs will be immediately visible.  Bugs submitted by
OpenJDK Committers will be part of the Developer Workflow.  

I am currently investigating how we should handle end-user bugs (bugs which
are entered in bugs.sun.com).  It is clear that they'll also be immediately
visible; however, because those bugs tend to require more heavy triage, I'm
exploring the idea of having them in another JIRA project with parallel
ontology.  This would allow us to provide a workflow which is customized to
their triage needs and to provide the additional guidance end-users already
have when submitting bugs via bugs.sun.com.

Thanks,
iris