1 @c -*- coding: utf-8; mode: texinfo; -*-
5 This chapter deals with defects, feature requests, and
6 miscellaneous development tasks.
9 * Introduction to issues::
11 * Bug Squad checklists::
12 * Issue classification::
13 * Adding issues to the tracker::
14 * Summary of project status::
15 * Finding the cause of a regression::
19 @node Introduction to issues
20 @section Introduction to issues
22 @warning{Unless otherwise specified, all the tasks in this chapter
23 are @qq{simple} tasks: they can be done by a normal user with
24 nothing more than a web browser, email, and lilypond.}
26 @qq{Issues} isn't just a politically-correct term for @qq{bug}.
27 We use the same tracker for feature requests and code TODOs, so
28 the term @qq{bug} wouldn't be accurate. Despite the difference
29 between @qq{issue} and @qq{bug}, we call our team of contributors
30 who organize issues the @emph{Bug Squad}.
32 The Bug Squad is mainly composed of non-programmers -- their job
33 is to @emph{organize} issues, not solve them. Their duties
34 include removing false bug reports, ensuring that any real bug
35 report contains enough information for developers, and checking
36 that a developer's fix actually resolves the problem.
38 New volunteers for the Bug Squad should contact the
39 @ref{Meisters, Bug Meister}.
43 @section Bug Squad setup
45 We highly recommend that you configure your email to use effective
46 sorting; this can reduce your workload @emph{immensely}. The
47 email folders names were chosen specifically to make them work if
48 you sort your folders alphabetically.
53 Skim through every section of this chapter, @ref{Issues}. Read in
54 detail any sections called @qq{Bug Squad...}, or any page linked
55 from @ref{Bug Squad checklists}.
58 If you do not have one already, create a gmail account and send
59 the email address to the @ref{Meisters, Bug Meister}.
62 Configure your google code account:
70 @uref{http://code.google.com}
74 Go to your @qq{Profile}, and select @qq{Settings}.
77 Scroll down to @qq{Issue change notification}, and make sure that
78 you have @emph{selected} @qq{If I starred the issue}.
83 Configure your email client:
88 Any email sent with your gmail address in the @code{To:} or
89 @code{CC:} fields should go to a @code{bug-answers} folder.
92 Any other email either from, or CC'd to,
95 lilypond@@googlecode.com
99 should go into a separate @code{bug-ignore} folder. Alternately,
100 you may automatically delete these emails.
102 You will @strong{not read} these emails as part of your Bug Squad
103 duties. If you are curious, go ahead and read them later, but it
104 does @strong{not} count as Bug Squad work.
107 Any other email sent to (or CC'd to):
114 should go into a separate @code{bug-current} folder.
121 @node Bug Squad checklists
122 @section Bug Squad checklists
124 When you do Bug Squad work, start at the top of this page and work
125 your way down. Stop when you've done 15 minutes.
127 Please use the email sorting described in @ref{Bug Squad setup}.
128 This means that (as Bug Squad members) you will only ever respond
129 to emails sent or CC'd to the @code{bug-lilypond} mailing list.
132 @subsubheading Emails to you personally
134 You are not expected to work on Bug Squad matters outside of your
135 15 minutes, but sometimes a confused user will send a bug report
136 (or an update to a report) to you personally. If that happens,
137 please forward such emails to the @code{bug-lilypond} list so that
138 the currently-active Bug Squad member(s) can handle the message.
141 @subsubheading Daily schedule
146 Tuesday: James Bailey
148 Thursday: Phil Holmes
149 Friday: Urs Liska, Patrick
154 @subsubheading Emails to @code{bug-answers}
156 Some of these emails will be comments on issues that you added to
160 If they are asking for more information, give the additional
164 If the email says that the issue was classified in some other
165 manner, read the rationale given and take that into account for
166 the next issue you add.
169 Otherwise, move them to your @code{bug-ignore} folder.
173 Some of these emails will be discussions about Bug Squad work;
177 @subsubheading Emails to @code{bug-current}
179 Dealing with these emails is your main task. Your job is to get
180 rid of these emails in the first method which is applicable:
184 If the email has already been handled by a Bug Squad member (i.e.
185 check to see who else has replied to it), delete it.
188 If the email is a question about how to use LilyPond, reply with
192 For questions about how to use LilyPond, please read our
193 documentation available from:
194 @uref{http://lilypond.org/website/manuals.html}
195 or ask the lilypond-user mailing list.
199 If a bug report is not in the form of a Tiny example, direct the
200 user to resubmit the report with this response:
203 I'm sorry, but due to our limited resources for handling bugs, we
204 can only accept reports in the form of Tiny examples. Please see
205 step 2 in our bug reporting guidelines:
206 @uref{http://lilypond.org/website/bug-reports.html}
211 If anything is unclear, ask the user for more information.
213 How does the graphical output differ from what the user expected?
214 What version of lilypond was used (if not given) and operating
215 system (if this is a suspected cause of the problem)? In short,
216 if you cannot understand what the problem is, ask the user to
217 explain more. It is the user's responsibility to explain the
218 problem, not your reponsibility to understand it.
221 If the behavior is expected, the user should be told to read the
225 I believe that this is the expected behaviour -- please read our
226 documentation about this topic. If you think that it really is a
227 mistake, please explain in more detail. If you think that the
228 docs are unclear, please suggest an improvement as described by
229 @qq{Simple tasks -- Documentation} on:
230 @uref{http://lilypond.org/website/help-us.html}
234 If the issue already exists in the tracker, send an email to that
238 This issue has already been reported; you can follow the
239 discussion and be notified about fixes here:
243 (copy+paste the google code issue URL)
246 Accept the report as described in
247 @ref{Adding issues to the tracker}.
251 All emails should be CC'd to the @code{bug-lilypond} list so that
252 other Bug Squad members know that you have processed the email.
254 @warning{There is no option for @qq{ignore the bug report} -- if
255 you cannot find a reason to reject the report, you must accept
260 @c Try omitting this from Bug Squad duties
262 @subheading Updates / discussion about issues
264 We try to keep discussions about issues on the tracker, but
265 sometimes it spills over onto email. If discussion has ended with
266 no patch / resolution and at least @strong{3 days} have passed,
272 Summarize the recent discussion on the tracker, and add a link to
273 the original discussion.
276 Add the comment @qq{there was some technical discussion which I
277 could not understand}, and include a link to the original
280 We do not expect Bug Squad members to be programmers, or even to
281 be moderately-skilled users. Your job is to keep track of issue
282 reports; it is @emph{perfectly acceptable} to not understand
283 discussions between advanced users and/or developers.
289 @subheading Regular maintenance
291 After @strong{every release} (both stable and unstable):
296 Regression test comparison: if anything has changed suspiciously,
297 ask if it was deliberate. The official comparison is online, at:
299 @c NOTE: leave this here. In this case, it's worth duplicating
302 @uref{http://lilypond.org/test/}
305 More information is available from in
306 @ref{Precompiled regression tests}.
310 Issues to verify: try to reproduce the bug with the latest
311 version; if you cannot reproduce the bug, mark the item
312 @qq{Verified} (i.e. @qq{the fix has been verified to work}).
315 @uref{http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/list?can=7}
322 @c try omitting from daily tasks for now. -gp
324 Once every @strong{two weeks} or so:
329 Check for any incorrectly-classified items in the tracker. This
330 generally just means looking at the grid to see any items without
334 Check for any items with @code{label:patch}. If it's been more
335 than a week since the last action on the issue, send an email to
336 -devel to remind them about it. If the patch was withdrawn for
337 more work, then remove the @code{patch} label.
340 @uref{http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/list?can=2&q=label:patch}
346 @subheading Irregular maintenance
348 @warning{These tasks are a lot of work; gathering more volunteers
349 to help is definitely recommended. However, the Bug Squad should
350 handle the organization and training of new volunteers.}
352 Once every year or two:
357 Checking all regtests: although we have a system for checking the
358 regtests between two versions, occasionally a bug will slip
359 through the cracks. It is therefore good to manually examine all
360 the regtests (compare the images to the text description). More
361 information is available from in @ref{Regression tests}.
365 Checking all issues: we try to mark each Issue @q{fixed} when we
366 fix it, but occasionally one or two issues will slip through the
367 cracks. It is therefore good to check all Issues. If you see the
368 same (broken) output as the initial report, then simply post a
369 @qq{Problem still exists in 2.x.y} message to the issue.
376 @node Issue classification
377 @section Issue classification
379 The Bug Squad should classify issues according to the guidelines
380 given by developers. Every issue should have a Status, Type, and
381 Priority; the other fields are optional.
383 @subheading Status (mandatory)
390 New: the item was added by a non-member, despite numerous warnings
391 not to do this. Should be reviewed by a member of the Bug Squad.
394 Accepted: the Bug Squad added it, or reviewed the item.
397 Started: a contributor is working on a fix. Owner should change
398 to be this contributor.
408 Invalid: issue should not have been added in the current state.
411 Duplicate: issue already exists in the tracker.
414 Fixed: a contributor claims to have fixed the bug. The Bug
415 Squad should check the fix with the next official binary release
416 (not by compiling the source from git). Owner should be set to
420 Verified: Bug Squad has confirmed that the issue is closed. This
421 means that nobody should ever need look at the report again -- if
422 there is any information in the issue that should be kept, open a
423 new issue for that info.
428 @subheading Owner (optional)
430 Newly-added issues should have @emph{no owner}. When a
431 contributor indicates that he has Started or Fixed an item, he
432 should become the owner.
435 @subheading Type (mandatory)
437 The issue's Type should be the first relevant item in this list.
442 Type-Collision: overlapping notation.
445 Type-Defect: a problem in the core program. (the @code{lilypond}
446 binary, scm files, fonts, etc).
449 Type-Documentation: inaccurate, missing, confusing, or desired
450 additional info. Must be fixable by editing a texinfo, ly, or scm
454 Type-Build: problem or desired features in the build system. This
455 includes the makefiles, stepmake, python scripts, and GUB.
458 Type-Scripts: problem or desired feature in the non-build-system
459 scripts. Mostly used for convert-ly, lilypond-book, etc.
461 Type-Enhancement: a feature request for the core program. The
462 distinction between enhancement and defect isn't extremely clear;
463 when in doubt, mark it as enhancement.
466 Type-Other: anything else.
471 @subheading Priority (mandatory)
473 Currently, only Critical items will block a stable release.
478 Priority-Critical: lilypond segfaults, or a regression occurred
479 within the last two stable versions. (i.e. when developing 2.13,
480 any regression against 2.12 or 2.10 counts)
483 Priority-High: highly embarrassing items, and any regression
484 against a version earlier than two stable versions (i.e. when
485 developing 2.13, any regression against 2.8 or earlier). This
486 level is also used for issues which produce no output and fail to
487 give the user a clue about what's wrong.
490 Priority-Medium: normal priority.
493 Priority-Low: less important than normal.
496 Priority-Postponed: no fix planned. Generally used for things
497 like Ancient notation, which nobody wants to touch.
501 The difference between Priority-Medium and Priority-Low is not
502 well-defined, both in this policy and in practice. The only
503 answer we can give at the moment is @qq{look at existing items in
504 of the same type, and try to guess whether the priority is closer
505 to the Medium items or Low items}. We're aware of the ambiguity,
506 and won't complain if somebody picks a @q{wrong} value for
510 @subheading Opsys (optional)
512 Issues that only affect specific operating systems.
515 @subheading Other items (optional)
522 Regression: it used to @strong{deliberately} work in an earlier
523 stable release. If the earlier output was accidental (i.e. we
524 didn't try to stop a collision, but it just so happened that two
525 grobs didn't collide), then breaking it does not count as a
529 Patch: a patch to fix an issue is attached.
532 Frog: the fix is believed to be suitable for a new contributor
533 (does not require a great deal of knowledge about LilyPond). The
534 issue should also have an estimated time in a comment.
537 Maintainability: hinders developent of LilyPond. For example,
538 improvements to the build system, or @qq{helper} python scripts.
541 Bounty: somebody is willing to pay for the fix. Only add this tag
542 if somebody has offered an exact figure in US dollars or euros.
545 Warning: graphical output is fine, but lilypond prints a
546 false/misleading warning message. Alternately, a warning should
547 be printed (such as a bar line error), but was not. Also applies
548 to warnings when compiling the source code or generating
552 Security: might potentially be used.
555 Performance: might potentially be used.
559 If you particularly want to add an label not in the list, go
560 ahead, but this is not recommended.
563 @node Adding issues to the tracker
564 @section Adding issues to the tracker
566 @warning{This should only be done by the Bug Squad or experienced
567 developers. Normal users should not do this; instead, they should
568 follow the guidelines for @rweb{Bug reports}.}
570 In order to assign labels to issues, Bug Squad members should log
571 in to their google account before adding an item.
573 @subsubheading Normal issues
578 Check if the issue falls into any previous category given on the
579 relevant checklists in @ref{Bug Squad checklists}. If in doubt,
580 add a new issue for a report. We would prefer to have some
581 incorrectly-added issues rather than lose information that should
585 Add the issue and classify it according to the guidelines in
586 @ref{Issue classification}. In particular, the item should have
587 @code{Status}, @code{Type-}, and @code{Priority-} labels.
590 After adding the issue, please send a response email to the same
591 group(s) that the initial patch was sent to. If the initial email
592 was sent to multiple mailing lists (such as both @code{user} and
593 @code{bugs}), then reply to all those mailing lists as well. The
594 email should contain a link to the issue you just added.
599 @subsubheading Patch reminders
601 @warning{This is not a Bug Squad responsibility; we have a
602 separate person handling this task.}
604 There is a special category of issues: reminders of an existing
605 patch. These should be added if a patch has been sent to a
606 lilypond mailing list (generally @code{lilypond-devel}, but they
607 sometimes appear on @code{bug-lilypond} as well) and has had no
608 discussion for at least @strong{3 days}. Do not add issues for
609 patches under active discussion.
611 Before adding a patch-reminder issue, do a quick check to see if
612 it was pushed without sending any email. This can be checked for
613 searching for relevant terms (from the patch subject or commit
614 message) on the webgit page:
617 @uref{http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=lilypond.git}
620 After adding the issue, please send a response email to the same
621 group(s) that the initial patch was sent to. If the initial email
622 was sent to multiple mailing lists (such as both @code{bugs} and
623 @code{devel}), then reply to all those mailing lists as well. The
624 email should contain a link to the issue you just added.
628 @node Summary of project status
629 @section Summary of project status
631 The best overview of our current status is given by the grid view:
634 @uref{http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/list?mode=grid&y=Priority&x=Type&cells=ids}
637 Also of interest might be the issues hindering future development:
640 @uref{http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/list?can=2&q=label:Maintainability&mode=grid&y=Priority&x=Type&cells=ids}
643 Finally, issues tagged with @code{Frog} indicates a task suitable
644 for a relatively new contributor. The time given is a quick
645 (inaccurate) estimate of the time required for somebody who is
646 familiar with material in this manual, but does not know anything
647 else about LilyPond development.
650 @uref{http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/list?can=2&q=label:Frog&mode=grid&y=Priority&x=Type&cells=ids}
654 @node Finding the cause of a regression
655 @section Finding the cause of a regression
657 @warning{This is not a @qq{simple} task; it requires a fair amount
658 of technical knowledge.}
660 Git has special functionality to help tracking down the exact
661 commit which causes a problem. See the git manual page for
662 @code{git bisect}. This is a job that non-programmers can do,
663 although it requires familiarity with git, ability to compile
664 LilyPond, and generally a fair amount of technical knowledge. An
665 in-depth explanation of this process will not be given here.
667 Even if you are not familiar with git or are not able to compile
668 LilyPond you can still help to narrow down the cause of a
669 regression simply by downloading the binary releases of different
670 LilyPond versions and testing them for the regression. Knowing
671 which version of LilyPond first exhibited the regression is
672 helpful to a developer as it shortens the @code{git bisect}
673 procedure described above.
675 Once a problematic commit is identified, the programmers' job is
676 much easier. In fact, for most regression bugs, the majority of
677 the time is spent simply finding the problematic commit.
679 More information is in @ref{Regression tests}.