Intro to Bug Trackers (Activity)

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(updating with activity template)
m (hide table of contents)
Line 1: Line 1:
=== Preparation: ===
+
_NOTOC_
 
{| border="1"
 
{| border="1"
 
|-  
 
|-  

Revision as of 16:37, 26 January 2016

_NOTOC_

Title Bug Trackers
Overview Learners will gain an understanding of the features of bug trackers and how they are used to identify work items to be completed in a FOSS project.
Prerequisite Knowledge None
Learning Objectives Ability to: 1) Describe the role that a bug tracker plays in a FOSS project, 2) Describe the different types of issues stored in a bug tracker and their priorities, and 3) Identify and track the status of a particular bug in a project.


Contents

Background:

Bug tracking systems are a form of change management and organization used by FOSS projects. Bug trackers do far more than simply keep track of bugs. They also are used to hold new feature requests, patches, and some tasks. Bug trackers are also called request trackers, issue trackers, request trackers and ticket systems. Please read the two readings below for a more complete treatment of bug trackers and their use in FOSS projects.

Directions:

We will begin by looking at a typical Bugzilla instance for a project. We will be using GNOME's Bugzilla instance, but specifically looking at the bugs for the Accessibility Team.

Part 1 - Bug Reports

  1. Open a browser and go to the GNOME Accessibility Bugs
  2. Define what each of the column names below indicate. Include the range of possible values for 2-7 below. Feel free to explore beyond the page to find more information.
    1. ID
    2. Sev
    3. Pri
    4. OS
    5. Product
    6. Status
    7. Resolution
    8. Summary
  3. Describe how you discovered the definitions and how did you find the information from above (hint: the advanced search shows the options or the Reports link has a link)?
  4. Identify the order in which the bugs are initially displayed?
  5. What is the meaning of the shading of some bug reports?
  6. What is the meaning of the colors used when describing a bug (red, gray, black)?
  7. Select a bug that you think that you might be able to fix and look at it more closely (click on the bug number).
    1. Identify when the bug was submitted.
    2. Identify if there has been recent discussion about the bug?
    3. Is the bug current?
    4. Is the bug assigned? To whom?
    5. Describe what you would need to do to fix the bug.
  8. Repeat the previous step with a different kind of bug.

Part 2 - Collective Reports

  1. Click on the “Reports” link on the top of the page.
  2. Clickk on the "Summary of Bug Activity for the last week".
  3. How many bug reports were opened in the last week? How many were closed?
  4. What was the general trend last week? Were more bugs opened than closed or vice versa?
  5. Who were the top three bug closers? Why is this important to know?
  6. Who were the top three bug reporters? Are these the same as the top three bug closes? What is the overlap in these two lists?
  7. Who are the top three contributors of patches?
  8. Who are the top three reviewers of patches? What is the overlap between these lists and the bug closers and bug reporters? What is the overlap between patch contributors and patch reviewers?
  9. Click on the “Generate Graphical Reports” link.
  10. Plot a line graph of the severity of bugs by component for Orca:
    1. Select "Severity" for the vertical axis
    2. Select "Component" for the horizontal axis
    3. Select "Bar Graph" for type of graph
    4. Leave the "Multiple Images" as <none>
    5. Scroll down and select Orca from the Product menu.
    6. Click "Generate Report".
  11. What class were the majority of the bugs for braille?
  12. What other reports can you generate?


Deliverables:

Wiki posting describing the results of your exploration below.

Assessment:

How will the activity be graded?

How will learning will be measured?

Include sample assessment questions/rubrics.

Criteria Level 1 (fail) Level 2 (pass) Level 3 (good) Level 4 (exceptional)
The purpose of the project
Why the project is open source

Comments:

What should the instructor know before using this activity?

What are some likely difficulties that an instructor may encounter using this activity?


Additional Information:

ACM Knowledge Area/Knowledge Unit What ACM Computing Curricula 2013 knowledge area and units does this activity cover? ACM_Body_of_Knowledge
ACM Topic What specific topics are addressed? The Computing Curriucula 2013 provides a list of topics - https://www.acm.org/education/CS2013-final-report.pdf
Level of Difficulty Is this activity easy, medium or challenging?
Estimated Time to Completion 60 Minutes
Materials/Environment Access to Internet/Web and web browser.
Author Who wrote this activity?
Source Is there another activity on which this activity is based? If so, please provide a link to the original resource.
License Licensed CC BY-SA

Suggestions for Open Source Community:

Suggestions for an open source community member who is working in conjunction with the instructor.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

CC license.png

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Events
Learning Resources
HFOSS Projects
Evaluation
Navigation
Toolbox