Issue tracking

Jira usage guidelines

I spent some time in the xReporter Jira and found that the issues were all sort of lumped together, and that I was unable to use it to answer some of the questions I had about what had been entered previously. Specifically, it didn't seem as if we were using the workflow / status flags as best we could.

I used the following guidelines during bulk entry of some 50 - 60 items, and found that they worked pretty well. In the absence of a more formal policy, I thought I'd start one by jotting down my thoughts for review by the community:

  1. User / developer submits issue, preferably in requirement/functional form. The issue remains in 'open'/'unresolved' status until some patch is contributed.
  2. The 'comment' feature is a nice way to document functional / implementation decisions. I'd like to see us try to keep those kinds of dicsussions there, as opposed to the mailing list.
  3. The issue is (hopefully) voted on by the community, which drives the priority / release assignment.
  4. Some patch is contributed and the issue is immediately martked 'fixed' - regardless of whether or not anyone's actually looked at it yet.
  5. Developer reviews problem / solution and either (a) re-opens the issue if the solution needs work, or (b) marks the solution 'Applied' when the solution has been accepted and committed to SVN.
  6. The issue remains open / applied until the release is, er, released, at which time it's closed
  7. When all issues mrked for the release are closed, the release itself must be marked as complete (thus removing it from the roadmap)
  8. For those patches that are not suitable for commit to the core (e.g., Loom install, etc.) The issue is marked 'Fixed' as with any other patch, but is closed immediately. i.e., the issue is resolved, but not applied.

I hope you'll give this some consideration as you browse the project, reviewing, adding, and commenting on your own issues. It'd be nice if we could all agree on how best to use this tool to help us manage releases / contributions, but if I don't get any feedback on this, I'll be in there changing your issues out from under you. :-)

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