linux-kernel - Re: [Ksummit-discuss] RFC: create mailing list "linux-issues" focussed on issues/bugs and regressions

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Message-ID: <54aeb1f7-ffc7-74e1-a731-8970d44ff852@leemhuis.info>
Date:   Tue, 23 Mar 2021 09:57:57 +0100
From:   Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@...mhuis.info>
To:     Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>
Cc:     Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Greg KH <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        workflows@...r.kernel.org,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        ksummit <ksummit-discuss@...ts.linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [Ksummit-discuss] RFC: create mailing list "linux-issues"
 focussed on issues/bugs and regressions

On 22.03.21 22:56, Theodore Ts'o wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 22, 2021 at 08:25:15PM +0100, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>> I agree to the last point and yeah, maybe regressions are the more
>> important problem we should work on – at least from the perspective of
>> kernel development.  But from the users perspective (and
>> reporting-issues.rst is written for that perspective) it feel a bit
>> unsatisfying to not have a solution to query for existing report,
>> regressions or not. Hmmmm...
> First of all, thanks for working on reporting-issues.rst.

Thx, very glad to hear that. I didn't get much feedback on it, which
made me wonder if anybody besides docs folks actually looked at it...

>  If we can
> actually get users to *read* it, I think it's going to save kernel
> developers a huge amount of time and frustration.

And users hopefully as well. But yes, making them read it is the
problem. :-/

> I wonder if it might be useful to have a form which users could be
> encouraged to fill out so that (a) the information is available in a
> structured format so it's easier for developers to find the relevant
> information, (b) so it is easier for programs to parse, for easier
> reporting or indexing, and (c) as a nudge so that users remember to
> report critical bits of information such as the hardware
> configuration, the exact kernel version, which distribution userspace
> was in use, etc.
> 
> There could also be something in the text form which would make it
> easier for lore.kernel.org searches to identify bug reports.  (e.g.,
> "LINUX KERNEL BUG REPORTER TEMPLATE")

Hmmm, yeah, I like that idea. I'll keep it in mind for later: I would
prefer to get reporting-issues.rst officially blessed and
reporting-bugs.rst gone before working on further enhancements.

Maybe the best idea would be to have a script and/or webpage that helps
people creating the proper text form (which they then could simply
copy-and-paste into their mailer). I had such a script/webpage in mind
already to help with one of the IMHO biggest pain points when it comes
to reporting issues: finding where the report needs to go, as decoding
MAINTAINERS requires that you have a at least a vague idea which
component might be causing the issue – which afaics is hard even for
people that known a thing or two about the kernel. :-/

Ciao, Thorsten