[Pkg-mc-devel] launchpad noise?

[Dmitry Smirnov]

On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:42:23 Yury V. Zaytsev wrote:
> For a couple of years I used to be the sole and the only maintainer of
> mc *both* in Ubuntu and in Debian (in fact my interest at the Debian
> side of things was mostly due to the desire to reduce the maintenance
> overheads for both distributions).

I appreciate and respect your work - thank you.
(I'm one of your grateful users)

But for the only maintainer it makes even less sense to use the public mail 
list for working with both bug trackers combined.


> So while I was working on both issue trackers at the same time
> cross-referencing the issues and duplicating those that haven't been
> filed against the Debian packaging, I found it to be highly practical to
> receive both kinds of notifications to the same mailbox (and I still
> feel it this way).

Trouble here, is that you're talking not about your personal mailbox but about 
the public mail list. 


> > Ubuntu people have two options - either forward the bugs they're
> > concerned about to us, or directly to our upstream.
> 
> Now that Ubuntu-specific deltas have been finally dropped, bugs in
> Ubuntu == bugs in Debian packaging in 99% of the cases. I see no harm in
> getting more relevant reports which might help to improve the quality of
> the package.

And yet we're not using the proper channel for such information.
This can hardly excuse not using bug tracker.

 
> You always have the option of null-routing Launchpad-generated traffic
> if it annoys you so much.

I could, but that's not just about me. This traffic is polluting mail list 
archive.
To my knowledge this is the only Debian mail list with such problem.

I would advise you to make Ubuntu-specific mail list and subscribe there.


> > Instead we're forced to read through mostly irrelevant LP communication
> > here.
> 
> This is/was a temporary outburst following the sync with Debian.

I understand that, but even the small flow of irrelevant messages is annoying 
enough. 
We're all familiar with junk mail which is causing noticeable distraction even 
when there are not too much of it.


> > Of course I'm not following this mail-list long enough to recall some
> > really useful information we could possibly get through LP subscription,
> > but so far IMHO the potential benefits from LP subscription are outweigh
> > by junk-mail- like stream of worthless messages.
> 
> Quite a lot, like in bugs in the Debian packaging that haven't been
> reported by Debian users.

And they should have been properly forwarded using bug tracker.


> > It will be better to stop our LP subscription and encourage communication
> > between humans which we're substituting with automatic messaging at the
> > moment.
> 
> Any more reasons apart from your personal dislike for Ubuntu?

Yes there are. I would like to see this mail list as a place of communication 
between maintainers (as it meant to be), rather than dump for foreign bug 
tracker flow. 
It's not too difficult to use LP directly if necessary and in most cases it is 
not, unless you work with Ubuntu bugs specifically.

Please let's not make it personal. We're on the same side after all.


> I'd rather keep it the way it is, then at some point I have the option
> of working through the whole batch while on the plane / train etc.

This is plain wrong because you're arguing for using Debian resource at your 
personal convenience for doing your work for Ubuntu.

I'm sure this is not the only way you can access the information you need.

Related work or not, this is a misuse.
If more people from Ubuntu will be using this mail list for working on Ubuntu 
there may be situation when most subscribers will find LP flow highly useful.
But such overtake would be wrong for both teams. We have dedicated resources 
for that. 
If Ubuntu need a pkg-mc-devel mail list, pleas set it up and leave us an 
*option* to subscribe to it. Cross-posting (if done by humans) may be 
perfectly adequate then.


Regards,
Dmitry.