# bug tracker merging

- Thread: https://externals.io/message/29957
- Original archive: https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/29957
- Started by Gregory Beaver on 2007-05-30T16:40:25+00:00
- Messages: 8
- Reply by email to internals@lists.php.net
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## #29957 — Gregory Beaver — 2007-05-30T16:40:25+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#29957

Hi all,

I'm a bit concerned by the headlong rush to refactor phpbugsweb to
include PEAR and PECL bugs.  The concept is fine by me, but starting
with phpbugsweb as the starting point is a big mistake if you plan to
include PEAR bugs.  The PEAR bug tracker has several killer features
that you will have to pry from my cold dead fingers before I would
accept a merge with the phpbugsweb

1) patch tracker complete with versioned patches
2) roadmap support with auto-generation of package.xml based on closed
bugs/features
3) limited-privilege accounts eliminate the need for CAPTCHA altogether
(all you need is the ability to check email and fill in a form with name
and password after the fact).  We haven't had any spam bugs since
implementation and it is more handicapper-accessible. 
http://pear.php.net/bugs/report.php?package=PEAR_ErrorStack to see an
example, all that is required is a valid email address and the ability
to add or subtract numbers between 1 and 100

The main problem with the codebase of pearweb/bugs is that it depends on
the core of pearweb (bad) and so needs to be independentized, but we are
doing this ASAP.  roadmap for the website is at
http://pear.php.net/bugs/roadmap.php?package=pearweb

Of course, it's also in the process of being refactored along with the
rest of pearweb (unit tests *gasp*) so please don't discount a look at
this codebase, no matter how bigoted against PEAR you might be ;)

Greg

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## #29962 — Steph Fox — 2007-05-30T18:25:19+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#29962 · In reply to: #29957

Hey Greg,

> I'm a bit concerned by the headlong rush to refactor phpbugsweb to
> include PEAR and PECL bugs.

DON'T PANIC!  There's not really a headlong rush to combine them all, it's 
just Marcus brainstorming and me agreeing for the sake of the PECL devs 
(especially but not only those with core extensions.) I don't think you'll 
find any consensus to add PEAR bugs into the mix, not least because there's 
no confusion there.

The only reason I'm opining at all is that I've been going through CVS 
commits with a fine-toothed comb for the Zend weeklies for the last three 
years and some. I can tell you exactly who does or doesn't observe the 
existing conventions; who develops in HEAD and who develops in 5_2, who 
merges and who doesn't; who remembers to add MFB/MFH, and who remembers to 
add any info other than MFB/MFH to the merge comment. The core devs 
generally respect reference numbers far more than they do descriptive text, 
and the vast majority of commits are 'quickies' like test script 
additions/changes, ws/cs or one-line improvements rather than bug fixes or 
major changes in the core API.

There's a lot of unspoken resistance to PHP 6 when it comes to MFB because 
the _internal_ code (not the userland code) can be very different there, so 
merging even a simple one-liner isn't always a straightforward process. Who 
knows how many 'spur-of-the-moment' fixes for 5_2 are abandoned because the 
author doesn't have time to evaluate their impact on HEAD?

- Steph

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## #29963 — Gregory Beaver — 2007-05-30T18:43:36+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#29963 · In reply to: #29962

Steph Fox wrote:
> Hey Greg,
>
> > […]
>
> DON'T PANIC!  There's not really a headlong rush to combine them all,
> it's just Marcus brainstorming and me agreeing for the sake of the
> PECL devs (especially but not only those with core extensions.) I
> don't think you'll find any consensus to add PEAR bugs into the mix,
> not least because there's no confusion there.
:)

I'm 100% in favor of moving pecl bugs off of pb12 and combining with
bugs.php.net.  This is long overdue.

> The only reason I'm opining at all is that I've been going through CVS
> commits with a fine-toothed comb for the Zend weeklies for the last
> three years and some. I can tell you exactly who does or doesn't
> observe the existing conventions; who develops in HEAD and who
> develops in 5_2, who merges and who doesn't; who remembers to add
> MFB/MFH, and who remembers to add any info other than MFB/MFH to the
> merge comment. The core devs generally respect reference numbers far
> more than they do descriptive text, and the vast majority of commits
> are 'quickies' like test script additions/changes, ws/cs or one-line
> improvements rather than bug fixes or major changes in the core API.
>
> There's a lot of unspoken resistance to PHP 6 when it comes to MFB
> because the _internal_ code (not the userland code) can be very
> different there, so merging even a simple one-liner isn't always a
> straightforward process. Who knows how many 'spur-of-the-moment' fixes
> for 5_2 are abandoned because the author doesn't have time to evaluate
> their impact on HEAD? 
This is also a tricky one.  It's true that even my uber-simple
__HALT_COMPILER(); patch required some unintuitive changes to completely
different code areas in order to make it work, and it took a long time
of valgrinding and gdbing to figure this out.

Greg

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## #29975 — Steph Fox — 2007-05-31T00:15:36+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#29975

Hi Jani, sorry didn't realize this was a public exchange.

> ATM I'm focusing only in getting all the projects (pear,php,pecl)
> to use same codebase for their bugtrackers in this first phase.

At the risk of boring you, I'll repeat: 'Hmm.... I'm not familiar with PEAR 
code base, but I can appreciate it's had more love than the others.'

> Solving commit merge problems through adding some magic "link to bug"
> thing in commits sounds so wrong to me..there's so much "fuzziness" 
> involved.

Again at the risk of... 'You were all for it some hours ago! And it wasn't 
'link to bug', it was 'create bug report'. For maintenance fixes only.'

> This pear bugtracker has some features that might be somehow useful, but 
> I'm not familiar with those, so I leave that to Gregory for now. 
> (patch-tracker and roadmaps)
>
> --Jani
>
> p.s. Yes, I'm going to Norway next week..

See ya there!

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## #29976 — David Coallier — 2007-05-31T00:21:37+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#29976 · In reply to: #29975

> Hi Jani, sorry didn't realize this was a public exchange.
>
> > […]
>
> At the risk of boring you, I'll repeat: 'Hmm.... I'm not familiar with PEAR
> code base, but I can appreciate it's had more love than the others.'
>

Basically the PEAR codebase is an updated and upgrade version of the
PECL codebase, shouldn't be too complicated to do


> > […]
>
> Again at the risk of... 'You were all for it some hours ago! And it wasn't
> 'link to bug', it was 'create bug report'. For maintenance fixes only.'
>
> > […]
>
> See ya there!
>
> --
> 
> 
>
>


-- 
David Coallier,
Founder & Software Architect,
Agora Production (http://agoraproduction.com)
51.42.06.70.18

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## #29977 — Steph Fox — 2007-05-31T00:25:34+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#29977 · In reply to: #29976

Hi David,

> Basically the PEAR codebase is an updated and upgrade version of the
> PECL codebase, shouldn't be too complicated to do

Yes, but the problem is in relating either/both of them to the PHP 
bugtracker codebase. Thankfully we have an expert in Jani who has 
effectively told us to shut up :)

- Steph

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## #30019 — Jacques Marneweck — 2007-05-31T22:51:48+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#30019

Are you using PHPUnit for the unit tests?

Also there was some alert stuff that Jim Winstead if I remember  
correctly
was wanting to hook into the mix (it's all commented out from my last  
look at
the bugsweb code), which would be great to allow devs to subscribe to  
bugs
(package / project / etc.) that interests them.

Regards
--jm



> I read this email *AFTER* discussing with Gregory in IRC about  
> current situation  of having 3 separate bug trackers in *.php.net.  
> So now I'm hijacking this coincidentally related thread for  
> informing what happened during/after the discussion. :D
>
> Gregory Beaver kirjoitti:
> > […]
>
> I agreed with Gregory that the PEAR version of the original PHP bug  
> tracker code is the best starting point for unified codebase. So  
> now there is pear/Bugtracker
> in CVS which Gregory created from the current PEAR bug tracker code.
>
> This will be the base for the übertracker.
>
> > […]
>
> I'm dividing the task in hand first into 2 phases required to  
> kickstart this:
>
> Phase I (one):
>
> - Unified codebase that works for PEAR/PECL/PHP bug trackers using  
> their own databases. (*)
>
> * Basically all changes/additions are needed only for current PHP  
> bug db,
> PEAR/PECL both share the "package/type" concept already. This is my  
> first TODO.
>
> Phase II (two):
>
> - Add "project" concept into the tracker and merge each database  
> into one,
> http://bugs.php.net/ will be the only bugtracker for *.php.net,  
> [pear|pecl].php.net/bugs/ can just be redirected there..not to  
> forget php-gtk, etc. When projects are in DB, adding one more will  
> not be hard. :)
>
> ..more phases will propably come up later, these 2 are the main  
> targets now.
>
> > […]
>
> I will ignore any unit tests for now. :)
>
> --Jani
>
> p.s. Any volunteers: You're not needed right now..and most likely  
> not later either. (this is friendly hint to everyone: keep your  
> hands off! :)
>
> p.p.s I refuse to discuss things like coding style, using pear/not  
> using pear stuff..etc. Focus!

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## #30022 — Greg Beaver — 2007-06-01T03:00:43+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/29957#30022 · In reply to: #30019

Jacques Marneweck wrote:
> Are you using PHPUnit for the unit tests?
> 
> Also there was some alert stuff that Jim Winstead if I remember correctly
> was wanting to hook into the mix (it's all commented out from my last
> look at
> the bugsweb code), which would be great to allow devs to subscribe to bugs
> (package / project / etc.) that interests them.

Hello Jacques,

As you can see for example in http://pear.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=11195
subscription to bugs is already supported in the PEAR bug tracker, and
so will be supported in the combined tracker.  In answer to your second
question:

> 
[snip]
> > […]
