4 ms·

I think the whole situation is nuts too, but for a different reason: JWZ expects bug reports as emails. It's easy enough to install Bugzilla, Trac, or whatever

by lake99 11y ago

I think the whole situation is nuts too, but for a different reason: JWZ expects bug reports as emails. It's easy enough to install Bugzilla, Trac, or whatever on his own server. If he doesn't want to make the effort, so many public repo hosts have integrated bug tracking tools. Some of these can mandate entering the version number. People can also check if their bug has been reported already. He could automate replies for bugs reported against older releases. There are so many advantages that it would be tiresome to list them all out here. Instead, JWZ requires users to send him emails, and he makes his email id prominent. At this point, I'd be OK with stripping off his notice, because he's not making life easier for anyone else either. Not that I'm affected by what Debian does; I run Arch and have the latest software already.

digi_owl 11y ago
I suspect his thinking is that the barrier of entry for reporting is much smaller if all it takes is an email. Also, i think he got burned on bugtrackers while dealing with Gnome bugs. That lead him to formulate CADT and abandon Linux for OSX.
- lake99 11y ago
  I can sympathize with his issues with Gnome bugs. But corporate-driven software is no different. I too have been subjected to a similar treatment on Google Chrome's bug tracker. I stopped reporting bugs there years ago. Closed-source software is no different. Had MS and Apple allowed the public to raise bugs against their software, we would have been subjected to a similar treatment there too. For example, the last time I used iTunes on Windows (10+ years ago), it would simply delete all my ID3 comment tags, and write its incomprehensible garbage. Years of hard work, gone in seconds. They did not even have the decency to warn users before they did that. Having lost all my comments, I tried using iTunes for a few months, until more and more bugs made the software simply unusable. I got rid of iTunes, installed Rockbox on the iPod and enjoyed the device for a few more years. I know I went off on a tangent, but my point was that CADT-like symptoms are endemic to all rapidly-changing software. Anyway, how he would administer his project's bug tracker has nothing to do with how Gnome runs theirs. I can come up with easy solutions that makes both Debian users and JWZ happy with his current report-bugs-by-email system. But I don't see the point of making the effort. I don't think JWZ reads HN, and even if he does, he comes across as a stubborn and bitter person, at least as far as this topic is concerned. When I read this on his XScreenSaver FAQ: > There aren't any FAQs about the MacOS version because, well, unlike Linux, MacOS just works. Sad but true. I remembered all the times my Mac-using friends have come to me, asking for help with odd problems on their computers. I turned them all away because I didn't know solutions to any of their problems. If I ever meet JWZ in person, as unlikely as it is, the entire field of software will be on my banned topics list.
  - digi_owl 11y ago
    Heh, he do sometimes seem to have the signs of someone so burned by one "side" that he has gone fanatic for the other.

by lake99 11y ago

digi_owl 11y ago

I suspect his thinking is that the barrier of entry for reporting is much smaller if all it takes is an email. Also, i think he got burned on bugtrackers while dealing with Gnome bugs. That lead him to formulate CADT and abandon Linux for OSX.

lake99 11y ago
I can sympathize with his issues with Gnome bugs. But corporate-driven software is no different. I too have been subjected to a similar treatment on Google Chrome's bug tracker. I stopped reporting bugs there years ago. Closed-source software is no different. Had MS and Apple allowed the public to raise bugs against their software, we would have been subjected to a similar treatment there too. For example, the last time I used iTunes on Windows (10+ years ago), it would simply delete all my ID3 comment tags, and write its incomprehensible garbage. Years of hard work, gone in seconds. They did not even have the decency to warn users before they did that. Having lost all my comments, I tried using iTunes for a few months, until more and more bugs made the software simply unusable. I got rid of iTunes, installed Rockbox on the iPod and enjoyed the device for a few more years. I know I went off on a tangent, but my point was that CADT-like symptoms are endemic to all rapidly-changing software. Anyway, how he would administer his project's bug tracker has nothing to do with how Gnome runs theirs. I can come up with easy solutions that makes both Debian users and JWZ happy with his current report-bugs-by-email system. But I don't see the point of making the effort. I don't think JWZ reads HN, and even if he does, he comes across as a stubborn and bitter person, at least as far as this topic is concerned. When I read this on his XScreenSaver FAQ: > There aren't any FAQs about the MacOS version because, well, unlike Linux, MacOS just works. Sad but true. I remembered all the times my Mac-using friends have come to me, asking for help with odd problems on their computers. I turned them all away because I didn't know solutions to any of their problems. If I ever meet JWZ in person, as unlikely as it is, the entire field of software will be on my banned topics list.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  Heh, he do sometimes seem to have the signs of someone so burned by one "side" that he has gone fanatic for the other.