Any way to individually track & prioritize bugs?

Asked by Tommy Trussell

I've reported and/or commented on more than a few bugs in launchpad (and Debian, and GNOME, and... etc.). Because I have so many open bugs, YET I often can't spend much time on this, I have my email program filter all bug-related emails into a folder. SO I get so many notification messages, the ones I want to track closely get lost. Unfortunately it has usually been months since I reported the bug and I can't tell from the email whether this a bug I reported or one I was tracking for some other reason, and if I'm rushed I don't follow the link back to launchpad to see who the question is directed to. OR there has been some sort of bug activity and my email program "collapses" all subsequent messages into a "discussion" under the first innocuous heading and I miss seeing a later message with pertinent information. SO I often miss activity and requests for more information that are directed to me.

It would be really great if Launchpad included a way to individually track a bug's status from my perspective -- as a To Do list, "unread bugs," and some other way to personally prioritize the bugs. I especially need to mark them somehow when there's a request to ME for more information that I need to research. Launchpad doesn't show when I've looked at a bug report, so I can't tell at a glance (from Launchpad) that I've missed some recent activity. (If the status is "needs info" then I should look at it, but again that requires me to evaluate whether the "needs info" is directed to me or someone else.)

I'd like to be able to go to a page in Launchpad and see the bugs that _I_ consider myself to be working on, maybe ones that I have myself flagged for my personal follow-up (and/or that others have flagged on my behalf). It might also be a place where I could have a scratchpad of things I want to remember but might not be useful for the public reports.

I have considered using my personal wiki page to making links to the bugs I am working on, but of course I would have to manually mark any changes in bug status.

I'm a very part-time user, but I have to think heavy launchpad users have similar issues. What techniques do the "pros" use to keep track of multiple open bug reports?

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Karl Fogel (kfogel) said :
#1

I think Launchpad might supply part of what you're describing.

Go to your Launchpad account page (https://launchpad.net/~tommy-trussell), see the box labeled "Participation" on the right. Click on "Bugs", which wil bring you to

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/~tommy-trussell

It will show you bugs you're active in. See especially the box on the right offering these options:

    * List assigned bugs
    * List commented bugs
    * List reported bugs
    * List subscribed bugs
    * List all related bugs
    * Show package report

Revision history for this message
Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell) said :
#2

Thank you for your answer! I had not noticed the different search options on the right. The list that is most helpful to me is the list of bugs I actually reported (not just subscribed to). I would also like to flag some other bugs for my own purposes (for instance, there might be a particular bug I didn't report or comment upon but I especially want to know the resolution of), so if I could assign my own category, that would help me sort them to the top.

The biggest thing I've run into is there's no indication in Lauchpad whether I have read the new responses, like there would be in a discussion forum. SO if I miss the notification email, I can't easily see what's new. But of course I'd also like to flag items for follow-up and resolution.

Is there a backend to launchpad data that I can link to from a database of some sort?

Revision history for this message
Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell) said :
#3

ACTUALLY, I just clicked the "List reported bugs" link and realized that not all my reported bugs appear there. The list gets VERY short!!! For example, Bug #430333 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/430333 does not appear, and it could be a grave bug for the 9.10 release.

Revision history for this message
Karl Fogel (kfogel) said :
#4

Well, you can access Launchpad programmatically using the APIs:

  https://help.launchpad.net/API

That makes a lot of things possible. We don't really have a "personal bug dashboard" feature, and it would be quite a major thing to design. We've discussed it; see https://dev.launchpad.net/Wishes/PersonalDashboard .

Best,
-Karl

Revision history for this message
Karl Fogel (kfogel) said :
#5

I just saw your comment about not all your bugs appearing in the list (our comments crossed in the pipe).

That sounds like a bug in Launchpad. Can you please file a bug report? I can confirm that https://bugs.launchpad.net/~tommy-trussell/+reportedbugs does not list https://bugs.launchpad.net/netbook-remix/+bug/430333, even though you did report it.

Revision history for this message
Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell) said :
#6

Thanks -- I filed Bug #449785

Revision history for this message
Karl Fogel (kfogel) said :
#7

Thank you (I wonder if bug #449785 will show up in your reported list! :-) ).

I think we can mark this as "answered". That is, you've gotten a definite answer, although unfortunately that answer doesn't solve all of your problem.

Revision history for this message
Gavin Panella (allenap) said :
#8

Launchpad adds a number of headers to bugs-related emails it sends out:

  X-Launchpad-Bug
  X-Launchpad-Bug-Private
  X-Launchpad-Bug-Security-Vulnerability
  X-Launchpad-Bug-Commenters
  X-Launchpad-Message-Rationale

You might be able to use these to help prioritise your email so you
don't missed important updates. There's more information at:

  https://help.launchpad.net/Bugs/Subscriptions#Bug%20mail%20headers

If you use Google Mail, then take a look at at article on the
Launchpad Blog about how to use these headers effectively with GMail's
filters:

  http://blog.launchpad.net/bug-tracking/gmail-filters-for-launchpad-bug-email

Gavin.

Revision history for this message
Karl Fogel (kfogel) said :
#9

Tracking bug #231023 might also be useful. (The fix to that bug wouldn't directly solve your problem, but whatever is done to fix it might also go partway to providing what you need.)

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