Bug^WPATCH Day

[Luis Villa <louie ximian com>]

We've taken a long break from bug days, probably well earned. But with
our new tools come new potential- so this week we'll have a bug day but
focus it on patch information instead.

Why patch day?
==============

After the recent unpleasantness at www.gnome.org, we upgraded bugzilla,
adding the ability to do searches on patches. Of course, to
provide /useful/ searches on patches, we have to add flags and metadata
and such to the patches. Sadly this does not fall from the sky, and
there are 1700 open patches without metadata :) So... we're going to
brute-force this, or so is the hope.

IMPORTANT:
This is not about volunteers actually reviewing patches- it is about
volunteers looking for phrases like 'this patch is committed' or 'this
patch doesn't apply' or 'oops, mistake in the old patch, attached a new
version.' If you can read those things, you can help with Patch Day- all
we're doing is finding some of the many bugs that are obsolete,
rejected, or accepted, and marking them as such. We're NOT actually
reading the patches :)

Why will this be helpful?
=========================

We've given developers a new tool:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/patch-status.cgi
that allows them to find new, unreviewed patches. But... right now much
of what it turns up is old, reviewed/rejected patches. If we can clear
those out of that query, we can help developers get to new, relevant
patches faster. 

Who can help at a bug day?
==========================

Virtually anyone[3]. Bug day can be for the very timid, the very quiet,
or the very persistent. 

You do need:
* decent ability to read English 
* a user-level knowledge of GNOME
* 30 or so minutes of the day (the first time, after that you can do it
in very small chunks.)

You don't need:
* any programming ability
* any prior experience with QA
* a deep understanding of GNOME. 

On the other hand, if you do have programming ability, it's also a great
way to get involved- after a few bug days, you can figure out what needs
help in gnome quickly and apply your talents there.

So when is this 'bug day'?
==========================

Bug day is from 9:00AM EST to 9:00PMEST tomorrow (Thursday)- that's
14:00UTC->02:00UTC.
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=5&month=2&year=2004&hour=8&min=30&sec=0&p1=179

Join us in #bugs on irc.gnome.org during that time, and we'll chill and
share the bugzilla love.

SHOW ME THE FAQ
===============

Indeed. The FAQ is here:
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/bugsquad/triage/faq.html

See you all tomorrow:
Luis