MDN Bug Triage Guidelines

• IRC: #mdn
• Triage meeting Vidyo: MDN VIDYO ROOM

How do we know a bug is triaged?

It has the "in-triage" keyword set

What bugs need triaging?

The last 15 days of bugs not in Code Cleanup component, not having "in-triage" keyword: https://mzl.la/2NE0zgP

Any other good guidelines?

Plenty! https://wiki.gnome.org/Bugsquad/TriageGuide#Eight_Quick_Steps_to_Triage_Nirvana

(Details below)

Action items:

Severity

Platform issues

Blocker

Broken important user-facing feature, Blocks development and/or testing work

Critical

Affecting a large number of users, or major areas of functionality

Normal

Default; Regular issue, some loss of functionality under specific circumstances

Minor

Affecting a small number of users, a problem with an easy workaround, or a cosmetic issue such as misspellings or text alignment

Usability issues

Needs a specialist's eye

Accessibility issues

Needs a specialist's eye

Priorities

P1 

"We have to fix this before we are done. We will lose substantial visitors, contributors, or money if we don't."

P2 

"We'd like to fix this before we are done. It might perturb some customers, but we don't think they'll throw out the product or move to our competitors. If we don't fix it before we are done, we either have to do something to that module or fix it in the next release."

P3 

"Minor: We'd like to fix this before we throw out this product."

Common Keywords

productwanted 

For features that need a Keep/WontFix decision from a product manager. You do not have to needinfo the PM, just use the keyword.

access 

Bugs and enhancement requests related to making Mozilla accessible to users with disabilities and special needs.

mobile For bugs which are important to mobile developmental work.

rtl 

A bug tied to or exposed by languages with a right-to-left (RTL) writing system.

meta 

A placeholder bug for tracking the progress of other bugs. Meta bugs are made dependent on other bugs so that interested parties can be kept up-to-date with status via one bug, without having to receive all the mails related to all the bugs related to the development of a particular area.

perf 

This bug is about a site performance issue: response times, page load times, etc. For SEO performance issues, use the [seo] whiteboard flag.

Whiteboard Flags

[good first bug] 

Another way to specify simple bugs that may not have a mentor.

[dev-papercut] 

Technical Debt that the engineering team would like to fix.

[might-expire] 

Bugs where the bug triager has requested feedback via needinfo and they are waiting for a response. If the response does not come in a reasonable (2-6 weeks, depending on the bug) amount of time, then the issue can be closed. Typically used for bugs more than 12 months old.

[closeme?] This tag means that people who are looking at the bug (triagers, qa people, others) are not sure if this bug can be closed.

[closeme yyyy-MM-dd] 

this tag means that the bug can be closed after the date reported. Good when used with the INCOMPLETE status after a reasonable (2-6 weeks) of time waiting for a response.

[dupeme?] This bug might be a duplicate, but the triager isn't sure - you can help by finding it for them

[needs-component] 

You've triaged a bug in General, but you're not sure where it belongs. Advanced triagers/core devs can give you a hand finding the right place.

[newlang] 

A request for a new language locale in MDN - these bugs should be refiled in the Localization component, too

[support] 

A user support request filed in our bug tracker: e.g. email missing from login, lost my email, etc.

[LOE] 

The estimated level of effort this might require, in days. [LOE:?] indicates a request for an estimate. [LOE:3] is an estimate the bug will take 3 days to complete.

DEPRECATED

[mentor=YOURNAMEHERE] 

Bugs or features that you are willing to help a community member develop. Good for small and starter bugs. DEPRECATED: use the mentor field

[performance] 

This bug is about a site performance issue. DEPRECATED: use the 'perf' keyword

[pm-wanted] The MDN Product Manager should evaluate this feature. They will remove the tag when they are done. DEPRECATED: Use the productwanted keyword

[type

feature] : We use this to track all feature requests. If a bug is obviously a feature request and this tag is missing, then please add it. (DEPRECATED in favour of Severity:enhancement)

[seo] 

This bug pertains to Search Engine Optimization on MDN (DEPRECATED: Use Component:Search Engine Optimization)

[opportunity] 

Ideas that we want to put through the experimental opportunity evaluation process. (DEPRECATED: Use the productwanted keyword)