[plt-dev] Re: launchpad instead of gnats?

On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 5:23 PM, Eli Barzilay <eli at barzilay.org> wrote:
> On Dec 10, Sam TH wrote:
>> On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 5:08 PM, Eli Barzilay <eli at barzilay.org> wrote:
>> > On Dec 10, Sam TH wrote:
>> >> On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 4:59 PM, Eli Barzilay <eli at barzilay.org> wrote:
>> >> > On Dec 10, Eli Barzilay wrote:
>> >> >> Questions to consider:
>> >> >> [...]
>> >> >
>> >> > And more:
>> >> >
>> >> > * Is it possible to submit a bug in other ways than the web
>> >> >  interface.  (An email interface will do.)
>> >>
>> >> Yes.  See here:
>> >> https://help.launchpad.net/Bugs/EmailInterface
>> >
>> > I don't have time to read all of these in detail now, but this:
>> >
>> >  Launchpad only accepts email that is GPG signed.
>> >
>> > doesn't look good.
>>
>> Why not?  It's not that hard to have a key that DrScheme uses to
>> sign generated bug reports.  Did you expect them to allow arbitrary
>> people to email them without any authentication?
>>
>> They also have a (beta) web interface described here:
>> https://help.launchpad.net/API
>
> * Is it common to distribute an application with a "private" key?

I don't know.  Ubuntu has an automated bug reporter called `apport'
that you could look at.

> * Can you do the signing in Scheme code so it can run on Windows?

How could this not be possible?

> * If all emails need to be signed, this means that everyone on the
>  project need to use pgp?  (Nobody does, currently.)

For sending emails that are put on the bug tracker, yes.  And John uses GPG.

> * What about email replies from users?  (I personally intensely
>  dislike bug systems like SVN's that force me to use their web
>  interface to say something.)

I think you're probably in the minority among users.

However, the larger question is, do we want to have a modern bug
tracker that will make it easier for people to contribute to the
project and for developers to manage their bugs, or do we want to have
core members of the group continue to spend their time on web
application administration in Perl?  If it's the former, we should
consider our options, and decide among them, rather than just listing
potential problems.

-- 
sam th
samth at ccs.neu.edu