Free Hugs!

When I started Bug Router there were 3600 bugs in the Queue, last night I cleared 3100! At this rate, alone I only have 6 months left… The work on Project Bug Router has been noticed, and that feels good. I got scolded a bit for sending bugs under the package ‘gnome’ and thought that was odd. Not that I got scolded, but that I shouldn’t mark anything under ‘gnome’. It makes sense now that I need to trace down the part of gnome affected, and wow that can be hard. If I can’t find the package, I’ll never be able to find the code and fix it later though. so I keep trudging

Last week I got an e-mail asking if I’d like to help organize the HugDays. Yes! Pedro showed me how to make the list of bugs and I tried it out with a package I see everyday as part of Bug Router, the beastly Xorg. It was so easy, and if it helps free up someones time to work on other things, I’ll happily keep it up! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/20080703

Now that I have done a bit of wiki work, I wonder what other documentation I can add to make things smoother for newcommers. We’ll see what ideas make it from my head to my fingers.

Project Bug Router

I want to become more active in the Linux community and gain a wide perspective of how everything works, and so I came up with an idea; I call it Project Bug Router. There are thousands of bugs that have no package set, and as such will sit in LaunchPad until the end of time. I want to get these bugs into the view of the proper package maintianers and provide an easier point of entry for BugSquad.

Simply set the package on all the bugs in Launchpad under the following link:

https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.searchtext=&orderby=-datecreated&search=Search&field.status%3Alist=New&field.importance%3Alist=Undecided&field.assignee=&field.owner=&field.omit_dupes=on&field.has_patch=&field.has_no_package=on

This is a very attainable first goal for me in addition to the 5-a-day commitment. I make sure that in addition to forwarding the bugs to the right people, at least five bugs get a more thorough rundown.

#ubuntu-us-mi
ok, who is Dereck, and how did he find time to do 121 bugs today?
Man, that’s like “full time job” status.
I have trouble finding ones that I know how to do

This snip from IRC that shows what I felt when I first started bug work, I wanted to do something but every bug I opened was too daunting for me to be able to help. Project Bug Router helps ease the step into the BugSquad because even the packages I couldn’t help confirm or request more information for, I was able to help by just setting the package.

Care to join me? Just add ‘bug-router’ to your 5-a-day tags and start routing!

Time to start a wiki page and get it rolling for real now that I thing I have a grasp on the bug-hunting methodology.

First Patch!

I have to say, a first post is awkward to say the least, I mean if someone starts a blog they obviously think they have something to say, right? I’m just documenting my own experience with the Linux community in hopes that later, reading back in my own blog after I’m rich and powerful, I might be able to use my own experiences to make changes so that there is less of a barrier for other newcomers to the Linux community. That is the mindset right now, I wonder what I’ll be thinking a few months from now…

What has led me to start a blog today? What is different today from yesterday or the day before that? I finally decided to use my free time this summer to do something of worth and submitted my first patch for Rhythmbox.

Index: shell/rb-tray-icon.c
===================================================================
— shell/rb-tray-icon.c (revision 5715)
+++ shell/rb-tray-icon.c (working copy)
@@ -552,10 +552,10 @@

switch (event->scroll.direction) {
case GDK_SCROLL_UP:
- adjust = 0.1;
+ adjust = 0.02;
break;
case GDK_SCROLL_DOWN:
- adjust = -0.1;
+ adjust = -0.02;
break;
default:
return;

I know, two whole BIG CHANGES! :p It is something that has annoyed me to no end in Rythmbox for a long time; adjusting the volume with the mouse scroll wheel in the application and using the try icon had different levels of sensitivity…. FIXED!

The sad part is that I feel that the change is too small to be noticed or cared about by anyone that has powers to get it in the source tree for everyone to enjoy the fine-grain control, but it is a good first patch I think.

Of course, my thanks go out to seb128 and ivazquez for putting up with me in IRC today as well as I learned how things work.

~Dereck