[Techtalk] Projects that respond well to bug reports

[Wim De Smet]

On 2/12/07, Akkana Peck <akkana at shallowsky.com> wrote:
> At Linuxconf AU a few weeks ago, I gave a talk on "Bug Fixing for
> Non Programmers" which included a section on how to characterize,
> reproduce and report a bug.
>
> I mentioned that some projects aren't terribly responsive to bug
> reports, and not to get discouraged by that.  One of the questions
> at the end of the talk was: "What are some projects that DO read
> bug reports, care about them and respond in a friendly way?"
>
> I'm sorry to say that I had a hard time thinking of any major
> projects fitting that description, only tiny projects.  Seems like
> once a project grows past a certain size, the number of bugs gets
> too big and a lot of the developers stop reading their bug mail.
> (For instance, Ubuntu used to be terrific but now most bug reports
> languish for years without developer comment.)
>
> But I know there are projects out there that respond well to
> bug reports and are good places for people to report bugs.
> What are some good projects? Let's get a list going highlighting
> the projects that really care. Any nominations?

I'd still say Debian. It depends on the individual maintainer, whether
or not they're close to release (if they are, QA usually checks new
bugs) and the severity of your bug but I usually get a response pretty
quick. Non-packaging related bugs can take ages to solve.

Gaim is another project where the developers seem to jump on bugs
pretty fast. Used to be different I believe so YMMV.

greets,
Wim