Triaging Python tickets
Python has a ton of stalled tickets, and in particular tickets that report bugs that haven't been confirmed, or that have patches that haven't been reviewed. Python needs more people triaging these tickets; want to help?
Overview
This section of the CPython developer guide details triaging tickets. Please note that any registered user can comment on a ticket, but one must have "Developer" rights in the issue tracker to update fields.
If you don't have Developer rights, don't worry! Leave detailed comments on a ticket, and everyone on the nosy list will get an email. With your documented triage, you've greatly increased the chance that someone who can update the fields will review your comments and move the ticket forward.
Also, if you do this for a while, you'll get Developer rights so you can make the ticket field changes yourself!
Verifying bugs
Often, someone will report a bug, but nobody will want to work on a patch for it until the bug is confirmed. Thus, confirming a bug is a big step towards getting it fixed.
If you can reproduce a bug, here's an ideal triage comment:
- Say that you can reproduce the bug.
- Reiterate what you expected to happen, and what actually happened.
- Enumerate the steps you took to reproduce the problem. Include a complete transcript, including the commands you ran, Python code you entered at the interpreter, tracebacks, etc. If the output is very long, for readability, attach it to the ticket instead of putting it directly in the comment.
- List all versions of Python in which the bug was and wasn't present for you.
- List all operating systems on which the bug was and wasn't present for you.
- Attach a short, standalone program that reproduces the bug to the ticket. This will be a helpful basis for writing test cases.