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Application Support, Ticket & Bug report system?

Started by kim, 2008.03.11, 14:04:58

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kim

We have earlier had request and discussion about adding some kind of Support, Ticket & Bug report system to OS2 World based on that application developers sometimes don't have the proper time to set up system them self and as well hopefully take of some of the loads regarding issues that might already been reported to the author of an application.

Lately above thoughts has been requested again and I'm kind of curious if this is something that we should add  to the site? What is the general interest of 1) using this kind of system from end-user perspective and as well; are there a general interest from developers & authors to use a hosted system for bug and problem reporting?

warpcafe

Hi Kim,

it depends on the scope of the projects in development and whether it is a contributional project (meaning multiple developers in the same project).

Personally, I will have the need to set up a support site with ticket system for 1 or 2 applications that I develop on my own: In this case, it would be too much to have my own CMS- and DB-driven system with forums and ticket system set up only for that "small amount"... also, there might not be *that much* users for the software to justifiy my own system. I would appreciate to get a dedicated "sub-part" of ticket system and forum, perhaps a single web page to display information, news, manual, etc. (Or 3 to 4 pages in all).

Whereas if a developer community is using a CVS-driven system, it might be better for them to set up their own system, get in contact with netlabs or share their ressources at sourceforge. I don't know. All I can tell is that I really like os2world and would prefer to have my stuff in a small "closet" here if that's possible. :-)

regards,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

kim

The idea is to support the smaller projects and developers with a supporting system to make life easier; so there wouldn't be any kind of restriction of the numbers of people involved. The whole idea is we can provide this as a service to make life easier and hopefully the developer can gain some more time to focus on what they love to do - coding :-) Hopefully this could also give non-coders, as myself, a possibility of helping out organise incoming tickets and bug reports and channel this to the single developer/s.

Regarding CVS system; we're actually already hosting a CVS structure on request from the osFree team.

Also, if there are people that finds this kinds of activities interesting, setting up ticket and bug tracker system, well of course we welcome this individuals to contact us with ideas and suggestions. What system should we use and how should we set it up, etc.

MikeG

Or you could just use a free subversion site: http://www.assembla.com/

They allow free svn, trac, and wiki free.  I think the free space is up to 500meg.

I just started using it to hold my rexxutil project: http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/rexxutil

Mike




kim

Even better then; but if there are interest to make use of this kind of systems under OS2 World; well let us know.

MikeG

It would be great, but it might be better to direct your attention to other items since this issue can be had for free.

However, it would be nice if there was a page/section on os2world where the links to svn/trac page links could be posted.

warpcafe

Hi Kim,

I seem to recall that os2world.com is running on Joomla... correct me if I'm wrong - but if that's true, there are quite some ticket systems existing as Joomla extensions:

Flyspray
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,763/Itemid,35/

WebAmoeba Ticket System ("wats")
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,151/Itemid,35/

HelpDesk
http://extensions.joomla.org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,3807/Itemid,35/

For the latter ("helpdesk") it seems there's not that much feddback and documentation, but perhaps it suits the needs anyway. All of the above are GLP'ed extensions, I have left out those who are commercial. Please note that I don't have much of a clue when it comes to CMS, Joomla, extensions... don't ask me about what it means that I wrote... ;-)
Oh, yes: I have not checked if these extensions require a specific version of Joomla and I don't even know what version you are running (if it *is* joomla).

Besides that, there's a lot of free bug tracking solutions but they are mostly "stand-alone" PHP/DB packages and would need to get incorporated into the os2world site. As always when it comes to bug trackers, there is bugzilla of course... ;-)
In addition to that I am not even sure if it would be bettar to simply use a wiki for all these parts? Surely has some effect on the system load too.

Greetz
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

chennecke

Well... to be honest, I do not really like the idea. There are already xtracker and trac plus CVS and svn at Netlabs. Why not use those? Establishing these services elsewhere will only increase fragmentation in the community IMO. It would be good to have only one place for one thing so people know immediately where to go for a certain service.

warpcafe

Hi Christian,

I absolutely agree. Moreover since I'm certainly one of these "all-in-one-place" fanatics. ;)

However.. this topic also is (to some extent) the result of a previously asked "private" question by me to Kim regarding possible requirements to availability, copyrights and distribution for software that was created explicitly for bounties at os2world.com.

Meaning: If I write a piece of software to get a bounty... "must" or "should" I give all/some/which rights to os2world? Should it be available at os2world? If so - what about supporting my software in the future: Would it make sense to get it directly hosted at os2world then... or doesn't that have any relevance at all?

My understanding is that I submit my software to the bounty admins/board... and if it's judged to be OK then I get the bounty and that's it. But I feel these rules are too "weak". In the case of Paul Smedley we all know the great job he is doing and if he gets a bounty you can bet that he's maintaining the stuff and taking care of it even after the money was paid, but "in general", from a USER viewpoint I would like to have some kind of guaranteed place that I know I can get my bugfixes and support from...

I have no problems with using the netlabs infrastructure as it has tracker, wiki and all the bells and whistles I could think of being necessary for my needs... however I thought that if Kim is thinking of providing such facilities anyway... and given the implications of bounties I was thinking of above... well. I was unsure.

After all, thinking about things, asking questions, get peoples feedback: This is what this forum is meant for, so thanks for the heads-up towards netlabs.

Greetz
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy