From: Sean O'Dell <sean@...>
Date: 2004-07-07T03:42:24+09:00
Subject: Re: Bugtracking & UnitTests == good?

On Tuesday 06 July 2004 11:31, Jamis Buck wrote:
> Sean O'Dell wrote:
> > On Tuesday 06 July 2004 11:17, martinankerl at eml dot cc wrote:
> >>Hi all! I am afraid this post is a bit offtopic. If you are not
> >>interested in Bugtracking and Unit Tests, read no further! :-)
> >>
> >>At the moment I am playing with the idea of writing a simple bugtracking
> >>system in Ruby. I thought that it would be a cool idea to integrate Unit
> >>Tests with such a system: Every reported bug should get a unit test
> >>assigned. If a unit test fails, the bug is automatically reopened. When
> >>the tests is successful, it is closed. I have not really thought this
> >>through, I am just asking if people here think this is be a good idea or
> >>not.
> >
> > Actually, this does sound like a great idea.  Idea: allow the users who
> > submit bugs to provide the unit test to prove the bug's existence.
>
> It would have to be handled delicately. Otherwise, this sounds like a
> great way to discourage people from submitting bugs. :( I can think of
> lots of people, many of whom I work with, who would rather just work
> around the bug than report it if the bug reporting process was too
> cumbersome.

On the other hand, it would save a lot of time trying to decipher cryptic bug 
reports, or reports that misinterpret the nature of the bug itself, making 
actual location of the problem difficult.  I would say at least half, if not 
more, of all bug reports I get don't come with enough information for me to 
locate the problem, or I simply cannot reproduce the bug as described.

	Sean O'Dell