Re: [boost] Trac policy on "won't fix" issue

Subject: Re: [boost] Trac policy on "won't fix" issue
From: Ulrich Eckhardt (doomster_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-05-27 01:33:47

On Tuesday 26 May 2009 22:16:46 Henrik Sundberg wrote:
> On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 9:53 PM, Ulrich Eckhardt <doomster_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> > On Tuesday 26 May 2009 18:52:18 Robert Ramey wrote:
> >> What I really need is an option "can't fix".  Since I don't have that
> >> I use "won't fix".  About half the time, the original poster
> >> reopens it because he thinks I should fix it anyway.  At this
> >> point I just leave it open and move on.
>
> Perhaps you should reset them to won't fix after a couple of months again?
>
> > I would leave such bugs open and thus make them easier to find,
>
> Are they really easier to find this way?

If I find something that strikes me as odd, I browse the open bug reports and 
file one myself if it isn't listed yet. Actually, this is only the second 
step, the first is that I look at the FAQ or list of known issues in the 
documentation for the module to see if the misbehavior I perceive is known and 
possibly even intended. However, I don't look in the "closed" issues. 
Depending on how the issue search is configured in TRAC, the "search for open 
issues" could well include unfixable bugs, so it isn't strictly necessary to 
mark the issue with the "open" state, an "unfixable" state would also work 
then.

Actually, in different words, maybe it just takes a few other possibilities 
for the state of an issue, in order to classify different states of "open", 
like "open but unfixable". Note that TRAC allows attaching arbitrary keywords 
to an issue, maybe that would also be an option do do that.

> > otherwise you get the gun of closing duplicate bug reports.
[Note: should have read "fun", not "gun"]
>
> That should not be a reason for leaving tickets as open.
> I'd say that it's more important to know what problems are actually
> under consideration to fix. Why should "open" have the extra meaning
> "this will never be implemented"?

"open" means just that, and it classifies the current state of the issue. If 
something is a bug but not fixable for whatever reason its current state is 
"open" because it is not fixed at the moment. The fact that it never will be 
fixed is a different thing, which should obviously be justified in the ticket, 
but it doesn't change the state from "open" automatically.

Uli