[Sugar-devel] [Feature] Problem Reports

[Aleksey Lim]

Wade, could you prepare shell agnostic code,
it could be utilized in saccharin to report problems while
downloading/compiling, so having the same UI would be useful.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 08:47:05PM -0500, Wade Brainerd wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Here is my feature proposal for Sugar Problem Reports.  It's a quick
> way for users to provide feedback about Sugar.  Reports automatically
> bundle relevant log files, and the PHP log server some simple scraping
> for Python exceptions, logger.error() calls, etc.
> 
> The patches are all posted to http://trac.sugarlabs.org/ticket/1439,
> the wiki page which this content came from is
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Features/Problem_Reports.
> 
> Best,
> -Wade
> 
> == Summary ==
> 
> The "Report a problem" control panel provides a way for the user to
> report issues with the Sugar shell and activities.  The control panel
> uploads system information and logs, along with the user's description
> of the problem.
> 
> == Owner ==
> 
> * Name: Wade Brainerd
> * Email: wadetb at gmail.com
> 
> == Current status ==
> 
> * Targeted release: 0.88
> * Last updated: October 16th, 2009
> * Percentage of completion: 90%
> 
> == Detailed Description ==
> 
> A new control panel will be added, titled "Report a problem".  This
> panel contains a description box and an Upload report button.  When
> the button is pressed, the description and system logs are uploaded to
> a central Sugar Labs server.
> 
> The central server logs the problem reports in a database and stores a
> copy of the logs.  It also analyzes the logs for specific errors (such
> as Python Tracebacks).  When a problem report is added, the server
> sends an email out to a mailing list of developers and interested
> parties.
> 
> When a problem is detected in an Activity, such as failure to launch,
> Sugar will offer a "Report problem" button which takes the user
> directly to the control panel.
> 
> After uploading, the user is given a Report ID number (a small decimal
> number).  They can use this if they wish to follow up with the Sugar
> developers by email.
> 
> == Benefit to Sugar ==
> 
> Currently there is no mechanism for non-technical users to submit
> problem reports.  In order to inform the Sugar or Activity developers
> of a problem, a user has two options:
> 
> * Create a Trac account and enter a bug.
> * Write an email to sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org.
> 
> The first option is time consuming and requires the user to fill in
> confusing fields such as Component and Version manually.  The second
> option requires the user to have an email account, and the report is
> not logged anywhere.  Neither option is convenient or provides
> relevant details about the problem.
> 
> The new control panel offers a way for casual users to report problems
> encountered in Sugar.  It also supplies a high level of detail about
> the problem to the developers.
> 
> The reason problem reports are not added directly to Trac is that we
> don't want to spam the database with spurious reports.  Problem
> reports are intended to be triaged by subscribers to the mailing list,
> and then either bugged or noted on an existing ticket.
> 
> == Scope ==
> 
> A prototype of the control panel and server have been finished and
> posted to [http://trac.sugarlabs.org/ticket/1439 #1439] as patches.
> 
> The collection server is currently running at
> logcollect.sugarlabs.org.  Logs are emailed out to the
> sugar-reports at lists.sugarlabs.org mailing list.
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> 

-- 
Aleksey