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Tracking after-fix tasks

I often come across a bug report and decide that I want to do something once it's fixed:

  • Once bug X is fixed, tweet joyfully.
  • Once bug X is fixed, update some documentation.
  • Once bug X is fixed, add a feature to a fuzzer.
  • Once bug X is fixed, retest a fuzz testcase that I assumed triggered bug X but might in fact trigger a different bug.
  • Once bug X is fixed, add a regression test for bug W.
  • Once bug X is fixed, see if it also fixed bug Y.

I could CC myself to the bug, but then I'll get lots of email and might forget my reason for being CCed. I could create a dependency, but that sends everyone else confusing bugspam and gives me notifications that are easy to miss.

The after-fix tool

I created a tool called after-fix to track these bug-dependent tasks for me. I have a large after-fix config file with entries like:

# Make use of new GC APIs in DOM fuzzer bug 661469

I'll see my note the next time I run after-fix after bug 661469 is fixed.

Pruning workarounds

I've also been using after-fix to ensure workarounds don't outlive their purpose:

This entry was posted on Friday, June 10th, 2011 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Bug tracking, GTD, Mozilla. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Tracking after-fix tasks”

  1. skierpage Says:
    June 11th, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    I get a warm jsfuzzy feeling when closed bugs get updates like “New API noted in MDN documentation”, “DOM jsfuzzer uses new API”, “fix ported to SeaMonkey”, etc. It’s useful information that reminds people of the breadth of Mozilla work. But maybe not “This fix has been tweeted joyfully” ;-)

    I wonder if Bugzilla could have a “Find external” that would find loosely coupled external links, like your after-fix lists and references in wiki.mozilla.org. Google search for link:https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=637424 doesn’t work.

  2. Ted Mielczarek Says:
    June 13th, 2011 at 5:29 am

    I wonder if bugzilla could use an additional checkbox, just “email me when this bug is FIXED”? (Not that bugzilla’s UI could use an additional anything, really.) That doesn’t address your use case though, unless it can also contain a TODO item for you.

    Are you still using Things for GTD? Does it have an API you could use to make your script add TODOs for you?

  3. ian melven Says:
    July 15th, 2011 at 12:18 am

    i like ted’s idea of ’email me when this is fixed’ or perhaps ‘resolved’, with an added text box for the reminder. i think this would be useful to quite a few people across the community.