Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 22:33:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.org> To: Francisco Reyes <fran@reyes.somos.net> Cc: "freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG" <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: Handling of PRs Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0009122217550.29479-100000@freefall.freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <200009130501.BAA32808@sanson.reyes.somos.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, Francisco Reyes wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Sep 2000 21:59:36 -0700 (PDT), Kris Kennaway wrote:
>
> >Moreover, checking PR 20939, to which I assume you refer, I think sheldon
> >was justified in closing it, because there's nothing which anyone can
> >realistically do based on the information you provided there ("it doesnt
> >boot").
>
> I really wish someone could tell me what else I could have given
> so I can do better next time.
> The solution to my problem cost me $259. I had to buy a CDrom
> (ok so I could have bought a cheap one, but opted for a CD-RW).
>
> FreeBSD simply would not boot of the floppy. All I can think
> that can be given in a situation like this is:
> -Brand of floppy drive
> -OS version
> -Whether the machine boots of some other OS
Floppy drives suck. In this case the most likely explanation seems to me
to be "hardware problem, buy a new floppy drive".
> -Did the FreeBSD boot floppies boot on a different machine
You didn't even include this fact - for all the PR said they could have
been bad floppies. I don't want to speak for Sheldon or the few other guys
who are basically maintaining the PR database on their own, but if it was
me the effort involved in trying to extract real details from this
near-empty PR which was probably (statistically speaking) just another one
of the truly content free PRs about installation failures would be
outweighed by working on one which has a higher chance of actually being
true.
> When a PR is closed by saying "you didn't give enough info" this
> doesn't teach the user what info he/she should have sent and
> more importantly does NOTHING to help the user.
Well, that wasn't what was said:
Audit-Trail
State-Changed-From-To: open->closed
State-Changed-By: sheldonh
State-Changed-When: Wed Aug 30 03:44:53 PDT 2000
State-Changed-Why:
This doesn't describe a problem with FreeBSD. It also
doesn't provide any information that anyone wanting to help
might be able to use.
Consider providing a much more detailed description (including
the details of what you actually see) in an e-mail message
to <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>.
Take the lesson and realise your PR gave the developers nothing to work
on, move on, and think harder about what you include in the next one so
that someone has a chance of solving it (or don't mind if it's closed as
undecidable).
> If we help/teach our users how to send better PRs we all
> benefit. We could even write a standard request for info sheet
> or put it somewhere on the FAQ/Handbook so people know what they
> need to provide.
I guess "we" could, but it's not going to appear out of thin air..
Kris
--
In God we Trust -- all others must submit an X.509 certificate.
-- Charles Forsythe <forsythe@alum.mit.edu>
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.21.0009122217550.29479-100000>