Hi,
I'd like to talk about an idea on how DrKonqi (which is a really
useful thing btw) could be
further improved.
In short: DrKonqi shouldn't create bugs directly but talk to a "layer" between.
DrKonqi -> crashes.kde.org -> bugs.kde.org
crashes.kde.org is a new web application - a bit similar to bugzilla:
- lists all reported crashes with intelligent filtering duplicates
- developers can set duplicates
- developers can link a crash to a bug (or create automatically a bug
for a crash)
- developers can enter a solution (that will be presented to the user
that hits this crash)
eg.:
- "update to version x.y"
- "temporary workaround: don't click button x"
- "you missconfigured x, see http://y.com how to fix"
- "the developers are aware of this issue but have not yet fixed
it, see http://bugs.kde.org/... for details"
- "the bug is fixed but an update has not yet been released.
Update to version x.y once it released."
- comments can be added by users and developers (to ask how to reproduce etc)
For the end user there could be the following scenarios:
- user posts the crash, crashes.kde.org finds a duplicate crash in
it's database and will tell the
user on how to proceed (see possible solutions above)
- user posts the crash, crashes.kde.org can't find an exact duplicate
and will show the user
all possible duplicates
- user posts the crash, crashes.kde.org doesn't find a duplicate. User
gets the possibility to
subscribe to updates for this crash to get an email when a solution
for his crash was entered
by the developers
One big difference in implementation I would propose:
DrKonqi makes a *single* POST to crashes.kde.org including all
information and then just shows
a WebView where the server side can do anything. That gives greater
independence of the used
KDE version and changes on the server side.
Advantages over current solution:
- bugs.kde.org isn't filled with duplicates
- crashes.kde.org can be specialized on crashes
- sending a crash would not only help developers fixing that bug but
also help the user by showing
a solution for his issue.
What software could crashes.kde.org run? I'm not sure, maybe a
bugzilla installation or something
custom written. Or some other bugtracking software.
So, what do you think?
Niko
