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Ask HN: Etiquette for open source bug reports?

4 points by delinquentme 15y ago

So I've been working on a few projects in which I've found a number of bugs. It turns out I found 3 in the time span of 20 minutes and I sent them merrily along to the developers ... Is this bad etiquette? Should I be waiting a day / a few hours between submissions?

samlev 15y ago
If you find bugs, then you find bugs. Just make sure that the bug hasn't already been reported, and that it is actually a bug (not just you expecting something to behave differently - the unexpected behaviour may be intentional, or at least documented) Other than that, though; bugs are bugs, and waiting to submit them to spare a developer's feelings doesn't really help anyone.
- delinquentme 15y ago
  yeah this is kind of what I was after ... I'm sure its not "HOORAY MORE BUGS" but I think I agree with "waiting to submit them to spare a developer's feelings doesn't really help anyone"
makecheck 15y ago
If the bugs are new it shouldn't matter how quickly they are filed. Do be sure to search existing bugs before adding more however. A unique bug report is helpful but a duplicate can be a nuisance. Sometimes the duplicate will be a closed bug too, e.g, "we found this and decided not to fix it for the following reason:".
- samlev 15y ago
  Or "this has been fixed in a newer version".
  - makecheck 15y ago
    That's not necessarily an open and shut case. People have their reasons for being unable to upgrade software; while the developer can certainly start by pointing out the new version, it is sometimes reasonable to resolve the issue by releasing a patch of an older version.
axk 15y ago
If you found them in the first 20 minutes of using the program, there's a good chance they've been already reported. Search the bug database before submitting, if these are indeed new bugs, developers won't mind if you submit a bunch of them in one go.
JangoSteve 15y ago
I think sending as many as you find when you find them is fine, as long as you present yourself well. I recently wrote (and have given this presentation at a conference) on the topic of communication etiquette in bug reports for open source, believe it or not. http://www.alfajango.com/blog/communicating-with-engineers-and-contributing-to-open-source/ http://www.alfajango.com/blog/communicating-with-engineers-a...