Bug report: Take bug reporting off the mailing list

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2024-02-09 at 19:18:13 +0000, Jonathan Fine wrote:

 > Hi
 >
 > I thank Nobert and Norman for their contributions.
 >
 > Norbert wrote that some packages don't have a contact point.

This doesn't mean that bugs cannot be fixed.  It means that emails
can't be forwarded automatically to authors.

 > I see two related aspects of this. The first is to make a list of
 > at least some of the packages that have a contact point. The second
 > is to use this list to help users of texlive who have an issue
 > arising from one of their documents. These two together might in
 > time result in a more comprehensive list, and an improved
 > experience both for users and for members of this mailing list.
 >
 > Norbert says that the texlive maintainers don't have the resources
 > to create such a list. That's a good point. Norman makes the
 > excellent (in my opinion) suggestion to have an issues list "on or
 > near TeXLive", to act as a central point.

As Nicola explained, such a list is unmaintainable and redundant.

 > I'm grateful to Norman also for sharing his personal experience as
 > a package maintainer. Perhaps some other maintainers on this list
 > would like to share their experience.
 >
 > Finally, I report my preferred way forward. To look carefully at
 > some of the issue messages sent to this list, in each case asking
 > the questions * how could the issue message be improved * why was
 > the issue message as it was (even by asking the user) * what could
 > be done to improve the information provided to the user
 >
 > I hope this helps, and once again thanks to Norman and Norbert.

What is wrong with the current situation?  Everything discussed in
this thread causes extra work without any benefit.



On 2024-02-09 at 21:45:53 +0100, barbara beeton wrote:

 > Thanks for your contribution to this discussion that has gone on
 > for too long.

I'm also thankful for Nicola's contribution and for Barbara's
statement that this discussion has gone on for too long.  As I said
before, as long as those who are doing the hard work prefer this
mailing list as the most appropriate place for bugs reports, nothing
will change anyway.

In short: this discussion is about finding solutions for problems that
don't exist.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                            Phone: +49-511-3373112
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