How not to log a Bugzilla Ticket (or ask for help on an open source project)

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=188570

by vaksel • 17 years ago

22 13 17 years ago

bugzilla.mozilla.org

froo2• 17 years ago

slaps forehead

...a clusterfuck that was 2 years in the making.

Hates_• 17 years ago

I cannot believe I read all that!

andrewljohnson• 17 years ago

Same here!

ctice• 17 years ago

I feel much better now knowing that I wasn't the only one.

mikeyur• 17 years ago

I read it and understood less than 5%

...I need better ways to spend my time

0xdefec8• 17 years ago

Did anyone else get the feeling that it took 2 years of porting Bugzilla to Java for the OP to figure out you don't need to install Perl to view a website?

froo2• 17 years ago

My understanding after reading the whole thing was that he wanted to rewrite Bugzilla in Java so that they could get a bug tracking system for governmental use - although what specifically for (given he was referencing library of congress) is anyones guess.

But since I would assume that the bug tracking would be an internal thing, most likely on some internal network - why would not allowing Perl be a concern? Especially since he was talking about devices that don't run Perl.

I'm still at a loss what devices couldn't run Perl that would be governmental that could warrant such a big job for a bug tracking system.

The whole thing was highly confusing. I hope the guy makes a million bucks, but I'm sure he was trying to create a complex solution rather than an elegant solution.

blasdel• 17 years ago

What's most hilarious about this is that Bugzilla already underwent a pointless rewrite from TCL to perl before it was open-sourced -- because "perl was more popular" (though ironically after perl had peaked in popularity)

dasil003• 17 years ago

It almost smells like a troll. If not it's a bizarre glimpse into the psyche of a enterprise class NNPP--not just damaging code directly, but operating at the strategic level, steering the whole organization toward the jagged rocks of utter failure. I'll bet when it was all over, years later, he still thought it was a fundamentally good idea.

alain94040• 17 years ago

Let me start by saying that for many years I was paid to answer politely to even the most stupid support questions.

That being said, kudos to the bugzilla team for responding in such nice terms. Based on the title of the article, I was expecting a knee-jerk reaction from an open source project.

Instead, I saw very constructive comments from the open source team. Congratulations!

The weird thing is that the original requester seems sincere in his desire to port bugzilla, line by line, from Perl to Java.

hboon• 17 years ago

Reminds me of the time when someone asked Linus to port Git to C++. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57643...

oomkiller• 17 years ago

Reading this, I get the feeling that Mr. Pyeron never really understood how BugZilla works, even though he was using BugZilla to post his comments and tickets. Am I alone here?

mattmichielsen• 17 years ago

I've always been a big fan of the Joel on software article linked to on there: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html

How not to log a Bugzilla Ticket (or ask for help on an open source project)

Related Stories