Harvesting Process is not working

Peter van Rooijen squeak at vanrooijen.com
Mon Nov 3 13:32:46 UTC 2003


From: "Joshua 'Schwa' Gargus" <schwa at cc.gatech.edu>
>
> Have you seen the BFAV (Bug Fix Archive Viewer)?  If you use it, you
> can automatically generate mails to the list in the proper format to
> be understood and displayed by the BFAV.  By reviewing in this way,
> you directly help the harvesters, because they're not reading the
> [FIX] emails in Celeste, they're reading them (and filing in
> attachments, etc) in the BFAV.  And the tool support will only get
> better.

I've installed it in a clean image. I got a DNU loading the bug fixes but
after asking it to load what was missing, it said there were no gaps,
whatever that means, but I interpret it as "good".

Now what to do? I choose 'view unreviewed'. This opens a new viewer. I click
on the big list and select an item. It seems these items are called
"topics".

I look in the menu on the topics list for an option to load and run the
tests. I don't see it.

Okay, then maybe I should just install the fix. No option for that either.
But wait a minute! I shouldn't even be trying that! I should know what is
supposedly broken before I can even start to asses the fix, right?

At this point I'm lost, hope to get more guidance here on the list.

> > I want to help in a much more targeted way. I want to shorten the list
of
> > pending fixes. I want to review a fix and respond with observations that
can
> > directly improve the "product".
>
> My above comment applies here, too.

Thanks. I'm trying to use your comments to learn how to be more helpful. I
hope you have some more time to help. I need it.

> > Yes. Like I said, it doesn't make it clear where someone who is ready to
> > help should go. Perhaps it seems quite clear from the point of view from
> > someone who already knows.
>
> Yes, of course.  It is because I realized the difference between our
> perspectives that I want your help in identifying exactly which parts
> were annoying for you.

It is very much appreciated. Did I give the impression I am annoyed? I am
not. I'm simply making progress very slowly.

> The next step is for me to suggest that since the confusing
> documentation is on a swiki, perhaps you could come up with some
> better text that would be less confusing to newbies ("perhaps you can
> come up yadda yadda..." :-)

I might be able to do that, but as someone who is only starting to
experience the process, I don't feel quite qualified to do that.

[I do feel qualified to make a comment about accessibility in general
though. It is so often a matter of common sense.

As an example, let's take the thing called "SqueakMap" (or more often, SM).
Since this is accessible via

- left click on the desktop (what is called the 'world menu')
- open...
- Package Loader

Does common sense really tell one that a newbie has any chance of finding it
without help?]

> > In any case, with your help I have found the next steps, and let's see
how
> > this evolves.
>
> Sorry it was so difficult, and thanks for your perseverance.

Did I give the impression that it was difficult? I didn't mean to. It's been
complicated, slow, error-prone, cumbersome, that sort of thing. Making
progress doesn't so much require understanding as it requires knowledge,
which is simply lacking and without which one can't continue.

Thanks for your help so far!

Peter




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