[Bioc-devel] Bug tracker for Bioconductor?

Dan Tenenbaum dtenenba at fhcrc.org
Fri May 23 21:58:55 CEST 2014



----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Lawrence" <lawrence.michael at gene.com>
> To: "Kasper Daniel Hansen" <kasperdanielhansen at gmail.com>
> Cc: "Michael Lawrence" <lawrence.michael at gene.com>, bioc-devel at r-project.org
> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 12:48:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [Bioc-devel] Bug tracker for Bioconductor?
> 
> To support the decentralized model, it would be nice to have a
> standard way
> of directing users to the right bug tracker. Perhaps this could be
> specified as a URL in the DESCRIPTION and the Bioc package page could
> link
> to it.

Already done; see for example the ACME package landing page:

http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ACME.html

The URL is a clickable link. This could be the link to the github issue tracker. Note that you can have multiple URLs in the URL field, I believe comma separated. See also
http://www.bioconductor.org/developers/how-to/git-svn/#advertise

Dan


> 
> 
> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 12:42 PM, Kasper Daniel Hansen <
> kasperdanielhansen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I want to remind some posters in this thread that most Bioconductor
> > packages are being developed by non-overlapping sets of people and
> > that it
> > is therefore not clear at all that a common bug tracker across the
> > project
> > is necessary (says the person who has definitely "lost" bugs
> > reported per
> > email).
> >
> > For example, with the new github bridge I am intending to use
> > github as a
> > devel repository for my packages because I get 1) pull requests
> > (aka bug
> > fixes and feature enhancements) and 2) bug tracking.  But this
> > workflow may
> > not work well for everyone.
> >
> > In general, for every bug reported on the email list I get quite a
> > few
> > more private emails.  But the flip side is that the number of bugs
> > reported
> > for me packages is much smaller than the number of bugs reported
> > across all
> > bioc packages,
> >
> > Best,
> > Kasper
> >
> >
> > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 3:35 PM, Cook, Malcolm <MEC at stowers.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Michael,
> >>
> >> Well, BioC has many suggestions and requirements for how packages
> >> are to
> >> be constructed, documented, and deployed.
> >>
> >> http://www.bioconductor.org/developers/package-guidelines/
> >>
> >> The only thing about bugs is: Response to bug reports and
> >> questions from
> >> users regarding your package as posted on the bioconductor mailing
> >> list.
> >>
> >> I think this is minimalistic.
> >>
> >> In a similar vein as your suggestion, though, this might read
> >> instead “as
> >> posted on the some mailing list of your choosing but you don’t
> >> have to let
> >> us know what it is.”
> >>
> >> I hope I am sort of funny.
> >>
> >> Sort of.
> >>
> >> So, to answer your question “do we really need...”, I’d vote
> >>
> >> +2
> >>
> >> !Malcolm
> >>
> >>
> >> From: Michael Lawrence [mailto:lawrence.michael at gene.com]
> >> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 1:31 PM
> >> To: Cook, Malcolm
> >> Cc: Keith Hughitt; Nicolas Delhomme; Martin Morgan;
> >> bioc-devel at r-project.org
> >> Subject: Re: [Bioc-devel] Bug tracker for Bioconductor?
> >>
> >> Do we really need a centralized bug-tracker or would it be best to
> >> leave
> >> that to the individual packages, e.g., using the github tracker
> >> via the
> >> github-svn-bridge? Many are probably already doing that.
> >> Michael
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 11:16 AM, Cook, Malcolm
> >> <MEC at stowers.org<mailto:
> >> MEC at stowers.org>> wrote:
> >> Martin,
> >>
> >> I'm sure you're watching this thread.....
> >>
> >> Can we take it as some "feedback from other developers" that you
> >> requested way back in
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/bioc-devel/2011-October/002854.html
> >> when
> >> I wished for similar....
> >>
> >> In any case,
> >>
> >> +1,
> >>
> >> Malcolm
> >>
> >>  >-----Original Message-----
> >>  >From: bioc-devel-bounces at r-project.org<mailto:
> >> bioc-devel-bounces at r-project.org> [mailto:
> >> bioc-devel-bounces at r-project.org<mailto:bioc-devel-bounces at r-project.org>]
> >> On Behalf Of Keith Hughitt
> >>  >Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 12:53 PM
> >>  >To: Nicolas Delhomme
> >>  >Cc: bioc-devel at r-project.org<mailto:bioc-devel at r-project.org>
> >>  >Subject: Re: [Bioc-devel] Bug tracker for Bioconductor?
> >>  >
> >>  >Hi Nico,
> >>  >
> >>  >It's a shame that the effort did not gain more traction in 2004.
> >>  >I
> >> wonder
> >>  >if things would look differently now as the community has grown
> >>  >significantly larger?
> >>  >
> >>  >It does seem like there are a relatively small number of
> >>  >bug-related
> >>  >questions on the mailing lists. I wonder though if this could be
> >>  >in part
> >>  >because some people may be hesitant to ask their questions on
> >>  >such a
> >> large
> >>  >list, and instead end up either forgoing the question or
> >>  >contacting the
> >>  >software authors directly?
> >>  >
> >>  >Also, even if there is only a trickle of bug and feature-request
> >>  >related
> >>  >posts to the mailing list across time, without any way to keep
> >>  >track of
> >> how
> >>  >many of those issues are open/unresolved, it's hard to gauge
> >>  >whether the
> >>  >project really is low-maintenance, or if there are actually a
> >>  >large
> >> number
> >>  >of issues that have just been unanswered or forgotten.
> >>  >
> >>  >There would definitely be a burden associated with setting up a
> >>  >more
> >>  >sophisticated system for dealing with bugs. I am just not
> >>  >convinced that
> >>  >the burden would be too great, or that it is not worth taking on
> >>  >:)
> >>  >
> >>  >Cheers,
> >>  >Keith
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  >On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 10:33 AM, Nicolas Delhomme
> >>  ><nicolas.delhomme at umu.se<mailto:nicolas.delhomme at umu.se>>wrote:
> >>
> >>  >
> >>  >> Hej Keith!
> >>  >>
> >>  >> I agree that this would be useful. For having been very close
> >>  >> to the
> >> 2004
> >>  >> attempt - a then colleague of mine set up a solution similar
> >>  >> to what
> >> you
> >>  >> describe - I can tell you that the main reason for it dying
> >>  >> out was
> >> that
> >>  >> despite advertising it, it never got widely used. I don’t know
> >>  >> what
> >> the
> >>  >> reasons for that really were, but from experience I know that
> >>  >> many
> >> fellow
> >>  >> bioinformaticians find such tools more time-consuming than
> >>  >>  handling
> >> bug
> >>  >> tracking through emails. And after all very few packages
> >>  >> require
> >> frequent
> >>  >> support, as can be devised from questions to the mailing list,
> >>  >> so I do
> >>  >> understand their point.
> >>  >>
> >>  >> Cheers,
> >>  >>
> >>  >> Nico
> >>  >>
> >>  >> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  >> Nicolas Delhomme
> >>  >>
> >>  >> The Street Lab
> >>  >> Department of Plant Physiology
> >>  >> Umeå Plant Science Center
> >>  >>
> >>  >> Tel: +46 90 786 5478<tel:%2B46%2090%20786%205478>
> >>  >> Email: nicolas.delhomme at plantphys.umu.se<mailto:
> >> nicolas.delhomme at plantphys.umu.se>
> >>
> >>  >> SLU - Umeå universitet
> >>  >> Umeå S-901 87 Sweden
> >>  >> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  >>
> >>  >> On 20 May 2014, at 15:04, Keith Hughitt
> >>  >> <keith.hughitt at gmail.com
> >> <mailto:keith.hughitt at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>  >>
> >>  >> > Hello all,
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > I was wondering if there had been any progress towards
> >>  >> > adopting a
> >> bug
> >>  >> > tracking system for Bioconductor?
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > It has been discussed at least a couple times in the past,
> >>  >> > e.g.:
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> >    -
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/bioc-devel/2011-October/002844.html
> >>  >> >    -
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/bioc-devel/2004-October/000040.html
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > But as far as I can tell, no such system has been set up and
> >>  >> > the
> >> current
> >>  >> > approach is to report issues to the mailing list.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > The main reasons I see for adopting such a system would be:
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > 1. Centralized location for reporting and tracking bugs and
> >>  >> > feature
> >>  >> > requests; this also makes it more straight-forward to see if
> >>  >> > anyone
> >> else
> >>  >> > has already reported a specific issue.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > 2. Ability to associate a given issue with specific a
> >>  >> > project
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > 3. Ability to assign priorities to various issues and assign
> >> developers
> >>  >> to
> >>  >> > work on them.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > 4. Easy to track changes made to a given release.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > 5. Separate usage and development discussion (mailing list)
> >>  >> > for
> >>  >> > issue-related discussion.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > Something like trac <http://trac.edgewall.org/> would be
> >> sufficient to
> >>  >> > cover all of the above issues, although something with
> >>  >> > closer
> >> integration
> >>  >> > to the codebase such as Github <https://github.com/> or
> >>  >> > Bitbucket<https://bitbucket.org/>might provide some
> >>  >> > additional
> >>  >> > benefits. Of course, migrating to a separate
> >>  >> > VCS not a trivial matter and would itself merit a separate
> >> discussion.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > A couple examples of issue trackers working well for R
> >>  >> > projects:
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> >    https://github.com/hadley/ggplot2/issues
> >>  >> >    https://github.com/yihui/knitr
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > Thank you all for your excellent work on Bioconductor! It is
> >>  >> > a
> >> really
> >>  >> > amazing resource.
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > Regards,
> >>  >> > Keith
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> >       [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >>  >> >
> >>  >> > _______________________________________________
> >>  >> > Bioc-devel at r-project.org<mailto:Bioc-devel at r-project.org>
> >>  >> > mailing
> >> list
> >>
> >>  >> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel
> >>  >>
> >>  >>
> >>  >
> >>  >      [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Bioc-devel at r-project.org<mailto:Bioc-devel at r-project.org> mailing
> >> list
> >>
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel
> >>
> >>
> >>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Bioc-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/bioc-devel
> >>
> >>
> >
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
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