Getting Involved: Bugzilla

In my first episode (so far my only episode) of Coffee with ThoughtFix, I took Walt Mossberg to task on his review of the N800. I recieved a very polite and eloquent reply back from the man himself. He agreed with some of my points and defended his own.

Here's a little excerpt:

You make a good case for the device. I still disagree, partly because I try to represent the views and interests of mainstream, non-techie users -- NOT enthusiasts or hobbyists or tinkerers or anyone who would even know what "bugzilla" means.

He's right, after all. The vast sweeping majority of users do not know that they can get involved with the development or even how to do so. I mentioned user involvement before and will go into more detail now.

Bugs and Bugzilla

One of the most important aspects of any science is repeatability. What good would a fusion reaction be if the scientist wasn't able to do it again? This is especially true in tech support, systems administration, and programming. When a problem arises, it is essential to track all the steps that led up to the problem and see if they happen again. Once there, it is possible to remove variables and find the exact cause of the problem. In the linked article above, you can get an example of how a problem is duplicated.

What is Bugzilla? Well, the Wikipedia page on Bugzilla can explain the concepts and history of the software. Basically, it's a bug tracking database that developers use to improve their software. Maemo's Bugzilla is public, so any user can register and submit bugs.

What to do with your bug:
This can be a little daunting for the average user. You think you have a bug, but don't know how to report it. It's not that tough but does require some information collection. Once registered on Bugzilla, first perform a search for your bug.

That is one intimidating search screen! Don't worry: You don't need to fill out all of the fields to get results. The Maemo bugzilla isn't huge, so even if you only have a little information it's still possible to get useful results. Even such a generic search term like "reboot" gave me only nine results in the Bugzilla.

If you find that someone else already submitted your bug, you can add more information and vote on the priority of the bug. Voting is important as it helps developers determine how critical it is that the bug be fixed on next release.

If there is no bug that matches yours and you ARE able to duplicate it, go ahead and submit it. When you start the bug submission process, you are first greeted by a bunch of categories. Select the category that best matches your situation. In the main submission screen, there are a bunch of fields:

• Version - Check your software version and select this.
• Platform - If it's happening on the tablet, select ARM.
• Component - Again, select the best match.
• Severity - Leave as Normal. Developers can adjust this based on reports.
• Priority - Leave at P2. Again, developers adjust this.
• Initial Status - New
• Assign To - leave blank
• URL - If you have a site describing the bug or with screenshots, put it in here.
• Summary - One line about the bug
• Description - Put EVERYTHING in here, including the symptoms and the steps used to recreate the bug. Only when developers are able to see the bug for themselves will they be able to fix it, so be as descriptive as possible.
• Keywords - Tags. This is easy. If it's a browser crash, enter "browser" and "crash" and other one-word descriptors.
• Depends on - Leave blank
• Blocks - Leave blank

When the bug is updated, you'll get a nice Email about the updates. Now you can watch your bug as it goes from "report" to "resolution."

Some final tips:

1. Be patient: Don't expect everything to happen within days of the submission. While it may seem like just one little device, the Nokia Internet Tablets run by a big matrix of interconnecting systems and software and those take time to develop.
2. Don't editorialize your submission: Stick to the facts.
   
3. Use Bugzilla responsibly: Nokia didn't HAVE to make this available to the public, but did so we can all contribute to the project.
4. Watch your bug: Even if the Maemo team doesn't personally update the Bugzilla, they may be working on it. My bug here was reported as resolved by other users after software updates.