Thunderbird:Bugdays
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Welcome to the Thunderbird Bug Day wiki! [edit]
With help from the Thunderbird / Mozilla Messaging team, join us to improve the bug reports in Thunderbird's bug database. We also invite you to join us in Planning for bugdays, and scan other Thunderbird wiki pages for information about the state of Thunderbird, planning, version 3, and ways you can help and provide feedback.
Who [edit]
You
No coding, (almost*) no experience required, no heartache. Take a break from your boring everyday routine as you contribute to improving Thunderbird's quality and rub elbows with experienced contributors. If this is your first step into our amazing open source community the information below will help you get started. Anyone can participate and be a valuable contributor. And there are people available to assist you. * It will help if you have used Thunderbird for 2-3 months.
Why [edit]
Bug days are about cleaning up bugs that are already in the bug database. Currently there are lots (LOTS!) of bugs, but some are in a state that makes them hard to fix. Some might not be real bugs, and need confirmation. Some are poorly worded, etc. Bug days are designed to help newcomers join us (experienced people) in cleaning up the database and drive down the line in this chart.
Schedule [edit]
Multiple staffed sessions allow you to participate during the evening or during daytime at any location in the world. You may attend any or all sessions as they wish. If you can't attend a scheduled session please drop in between sessions - someone might be hanging out who can help you. If you can't participate in today's bugday, we invite you to participate in a future bugday. Or, work on any bug any day or time - see Where about getting help.
Click in a UTC link below to get the session start time for your point on the globe.
NOTE: SESSION 2 WILL BE THE ONLY STAFFED SESSION ON 2008-05-15 AND 05-22
| Sessions | |||
| Timezone | Session 1 13h-15h UTC |
Session 2 19h-21h UTC |
Session 3 02h-05h UTC |
| Los Angeles, USA (PDT=UTC-8+1) | Thu 06h-08h | Thu 12h-14h | Thu 19h-22h |
| New York, USA (EDT=UTC-5+1) | Thu 09h-11h | Thu 15h-17h | Thu 22h-01h |
| São Paulo, Brazil (UTC-4+1) | Thu 10h-12h | Thu 16h-18h | Thu 23h-02h |
| UK (BST) | Thu 14h-16h | Thu 20h-22h | Fri 03h-06h |
| Berlin, Germany (CEST=UTC+1+1) | Thu 15h-17h | Thu 21h-23h | Fri 04h-07h |
| Moscow, Russia (UTC+3+1) | Thu 17h-19h | Thu 23h-01h | Fri 06h-09h |
| Beijing, China (UTC+8) | Thu 21h-23h | Fri 03h-04h | Fri 10h-13h |
Where [edit]
Get help in IRC channel #bugday. Prior to bug day you can get help to prepare for bug day or ask questions at #QA. (To work on bugs on non-bug days visit #QA or #maildev.)
- Get an IRC client:
- Connect to irc.mozilla.org
- Join the channel #bugday
How [edit]
If at any point you have a question, encounter a problem, or are not familiar with our bug tracking system (bugzilla) post a note in the IRC channel.
If you are new to bugzilla you won't be able to change most bug fields, but you can add a comment to a bug detailing what should be changed and why. You can also make your comments known in the #bugday channel and someone will assist you.
(optional) See Bug triage about how to get upgraded privileges to change bug fields.
- Get an account - easily created at bugzilla account.
- Get a build - "Trunk" refers to builds of Thunderbird 3 (currently in heavy development) -- it's where most bugs will get fixed and where we normally attempt to reproduce bugs that people have reported. See "Versions to test" below for details.
- Pick bugs - current bugday "Focus" offers suggestions about which bugs to work on.
- Protect - Bbackup your data and consider using a test profile if bugs might cause dataloss.
- Work bugs - For UNCONFIRMED bugs, you should attempt to replicate the problem specified in the bug report, and mark as "confirmed" if you are able to replicate and the steps to reproduce are well documented and easily followed and the problem exists in trunk build. If you are not running trunk but can replicate with current release, please comment but do not confirm. If you are running trunk and cannot replicate, you might close it dupe, WFM, INVALID, or perhaps the issue is not easily reproduced.
Other helpful steps include:
- Clarify bug reports without distorting or changing the original problem.
- Change the summary to be more accurate to the problem being reported, and if appropriate remove words so summary is less chatty.
- Close bug reports as WORKSFORME, INVALID, or INCOMPLETE when it's appropriate to do so (see status descriptions to find out what is appropriate)].
- Ask bug reporter in a bug comment to provide missing information that will help to replicate and ultimately fix the bugs they report.
- Remember to cite what version(s) of Thunderbird you are using.
- Give feedback (see feedback heading below)
Please check these for more helpful information:
- Thunderbird Bug triage - expert tips, extensions, reference documents
- Bug Writing Guidelines describes writing of effective bug reports that lead to bug fixes.
Versions to test: If you can, please test with Nightly Trunk Builds. If you are not permitted to use trunk, then use the latest update of Thunderbird version 2. You can install a trunk build or any release of Thunderbird, and not disturb your production setup by a) using custom install to specify a directory of your choosing, and b) using profile manager to create a test profile.
Give us feedback [edit]
Please post a note in #bugday or #maildev about your experience: problems, questions, ideas to improve documentation, number of bugs touched, where you learned about bugday, and overall thoughts about Thunderbird. We really appreciate your help today and your feedback is very valuable.
