[MPlayer-dev-eng] bugzilla states

[The Wanderer]

Diego Biurrun wrote:

> Jan Knutar writes:
> 
>>> http://bugzilla.mplayerhq.hu/bug_status.html
>> 
>> I think "Verified" is very confusing and non-intuitive in this
>> definition.
>> 
>> If verified is to be used as "Someone checked the fix and it's ok",
>> couldn't it be named something different?
>> 
>> Intuitively to me, "VERIFIED" has the oposite meaning of
>> "UNCONFIRMED", and would be the next natural step in the bug's
>> lifecycle from unconfirmed.
> 
> The opposite of UNCONFIRMED is confirmed, plain and simple.  It's
> just a matter of getting used to the semantics of the different words
> in the Bugzilla context.  If somebody acknowledges that a bug is real
> it is CONFIRMED, if somebody checks a resolution and agrees, then the
> resolution is VERIFIED.

Here, I think, is precisely the confusion - UNCONFIRMED is saying that
the bug is unconfirmed, while VERIFIED is saying that the *resolution*
has been verified. Put another way, UNCONFIRMED (like all of the other
state names) refers to the bug, while VERIFIED refers to the resolution.
To be intuitive, I think, all such adjectives should refer to the same
thing, and I think it makes the most sense for that thing to be the bug.

Now, am I saying that the system as it stands is not usable? That it
would not be possible to learn and adjust to the current syntax, to the
point that it seems quite natural? In both cases, no. All I'm saying is
that the current terminology is not intuitive to someone coming in from
the outside, and that this is IMO suboptimal.

I wrote most of the above without having read the MPlayer Bugzilla "bug
status" page you referred to; having read it now, I still stand by my
statements, because in my opinion the terms should be intuitively
understandable on at least a general level even to someone who has *not*
read such an explanation.

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

A government exists to serve its citizens, not to control them.