On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 01:31:49PM +0000, Artem S. Tashkinov wrote: > > > On 9/29/22 13:04, Konstantin Ryabitsev wrote: > > On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 12:22:35PM +0000, Artem S. Tashkinov wrote: > > > AFAIK, the kernel bugzilla is a Linux Foundation project and the > > > organization receives funding from its very rich members including > > > Google, Meta, Intel, and even Microsoft. The fact that no one is > > > seriously working on it looks shameful and sad. We are not talking about > > > a minor odd library with a dozen users we are talking about the kernel. > > > > The bugzilla as a software platform is a Mozilla product, not Linux > > Foundation. Unfortunately, it's pretty much dead: > > > > 1. all development has stopped years ago > > 2. it doesn't even work with recent MySQL servers > > 3. it is written in perl5 and can only pretty much run with mod_perl > > > > We're committed to running it as far as we can, but we all must also admit > > that the platform is near-death and probably will become an ever-increasing > > burden to keep it operating. Heck, one of our IT staff is currently trying to > > convert bugzilla.kernel.org to use Postgres just so we can keep operating it > > past the end of 2022. > > > > The Linux Foundation IT is in charge of running infrastructure -- we're not a > > development shop. All of our software projects are pretty much "skunkworks" > > efforts (and yes, this includes b4). > > > > We do have ability to fund development efforts -- LF has been the primary > > sponsor behind public-inbox.org over the past 3 years. However, there must be > > a clear, strong, and well-articulated mandate from the community. From what I > > heard, the vast majority of maintainers simply want a web form that would > > allow someone to: > > > > 1. clearly state what kernel version they are using > > 2. clearly describe what they were trying to do > > 3. explain what they expected vs. what they got > > 4. attach any files > > 5. give this bug report a unique identifier > > > > Then a designated person would look through the bug report and either: > > > > a. quick-close it (with the usual "talk to your distro" or "don't use a > > tainted kernel" etc) > > b. identify the responsible maintainers and notify them > > > > The hard part is not technical -- the hard part is that "designated person." > > Being a bugmaster is a thankless job that leads to burnout, regardless of how > > well you are paid. Everyone is constantly irate at you from both ends -- the > > users are annoyed because their stuff doesn't work, and the maintainers are > > annoyed because you keep yanking them to work on dull problems that require a > > ton of back-and-forth with people who aren't capable of applying patches and > > booting custom kernels. > > > > Before we try to fix/replace bugzilla, we really need to figure out the entire > > process and pinpoint who is going to be the one in charge of bug reports. If > > you think that LF should establish a fund for a position like that, then you > > should probably approach LF fellows (Greg KH, Shuah Khan), who can then talk > > to LF management. The IT team will be happy to support you with the tooling, > > but tooling should come second to that -- otherwise we'll just be replacing an > > old and rusty dumpster on fire with a new and shiny dumpster on fire. > > > > -K > > To me it sounds like the best way to keep moving forward is simply > convert git.kernel.org + patchwork.kernel.org + bugzilla to > gitlab.kernel.org and that will solve all the issues immediately. That > will require of course a ton of work but: For loads of reasons that have been stated before, we aren't going to move everything to gitlab, sorry. That's a non-starter for a wide range of reasons, not the least being you are trying to solve a "we have no one who wants to wrangle bugs in bugzilla" problem with "move all of our code hosting infrastructure to a totally different thing that can't even provide the basic things that we have today". Sorry, not going to happen, gitlab is not the solution here. greg k-h
