hi ken

I think that your are right even if BFAV was really a big help.
Have you some time/ideas to replace it? and migrate what is pending in 
BFAV
into Mantis.

Stef

On 25 févr. 05, at 20:21, Ken Causey wrote:

> Back in September of last year in more or less official terms (the best
> we could manage at the time anyway) it was suggested that all new BUG
> reports be posted on the Mantis database.  At that time all ENH and
> FIXes would still go to the list.  Compliance with this policy has been
> spotty at best.  I'm now suggesting that we stop with the half-way
> measures and simply designate that the Mantis database
> (http://bugs.impara.de/) is THE official location for new BUG, ENH, and
> FIX reports.
>
> Why?
>
> 1.  As the BFAV server maintainer I can testify that the system itself
> is somewhat fragile.
>
> 2.  Posting BUG reports to the list has some benefits in terms of
> visibility but it has some major problems.
>
>    a.  Any tool that has to try to automatically extract the useful
> reports for the flood of activity has a difficult job even under the
> best of circumstances.
>
>    b.  There is no enforcement in email for any kind of standard of
> reporting in terms of minimal information or staying on topic.  One
> result of this is that more than a few threads in BFAV are overloaded
> with off-topic discussion.  This makes the task for the prospective
> fixer, harvester, reviewer whatever rather more difficult.  Also it has
> happened in more than one case that reports to the list have the exact
> same subject even if they are not really on the same topic.  This
> results in them being mixed together in BFAV client.
>
> 3.  As we progress to a world where people are signing up to be
> responsible for parts of Squeak we need a way to filter reports to 
> those
> people that are best placed to handle them.  BFAV has a difficult time
> of providing this.  Mantis already has the facilities to do this.
>
> Now, I don't expect the world to change overnight.  I expect that for
> some time after we make this 'official' that reports will continue to
> appear on the mailing list.  In fact sending reports to the mailing 
> list
> is something that newbies would probably be more comfortable with than
> immediately jumping in and tackling the complexities of filling out a
> Mantis report form.  To that end the Janitors group is proposing to 
> form
> a small team who will accept the responsibility for seeing that all
> reports to the list after some date (sometime next week I hope) will be
> checked for reasonable validity and be posted as new reports on the
> Mantis database.  I expect that we will continue to provide this 
> service
> well into the forseeable future although with luck the volume of new
> reports to the list will decrease.
>
> Why not?
>
> 1.  Using the Mantis requires a little knowledge.  I think with the
> process I outline above that the Janitors will handle we can completely
> address this one by allow the occasional report to still appear on the
> list and the understanding that as quickly as possible we will see to 
> it
> that it shows up in the Mantis database.
>
> 2.  Using the Mantis database is awkward.  Admittedly this is a new 
> tool
> to many people.  I feel that once everyone has learned to use it that
> most of the awkwardness will disappear.  The only acception to this 
> that
> I can come up with is trying to evaluate Squeak code attachments.  
> Right
> now that requires a two-step of saving the file from the web page and
> then opening it in Squeak with a filelist or similar tool.  I 
> personally
> don't think that is too bad.  However I expect that before too long we
> can address this one as well with a little Squeak tool that allows you
> to specify the Mantis ID number of the issue and then offers you a list
> of attachments that can be viewed and processed as easily as 
> attachments
> in the BFAV client.
>
> Ken Causey
>
>
>