Now that the first Core 4 alpha artifacts are out, we're excited to hear everyone's feedback. Specifically, I am challenging you guys to bury the developers in bugs. As all of you know, this is the first major Core release in more than 12 months, so we really need everyone's help to hammer out the new release. We all want this to become the best and most stable release of Core ever, that's why we're having a bug hunt.
As prizes we're giving away the most exciting stuff we've ever had. We're flying the top three participants to Austin, for an all expense paid "Zenoss Mastery Class". This will be an exclusive opportunity to receive training from the best (Chet, Eric, Ian, etc.), an offer that has never been available to anyone before.
In order to make this hunt effective, fair and possible, we've come up with the following processes/guidelines/rules (legal fineprint):
- All participants that submit at least one valid/confirmed bug will receive a limited edition T-shirt.
- All participants that submit anything (even if unconfirmed) will receive a limited edition sticker.
- We will make new builds available on a daily basis. As developers work on fixing bugs, you guys will always have access to the latest ready-to-install artifacts, so you can be assured that a bug you're finding is unfixed (as long as you're using a fairly recent build). This means the artifacts will not be available from the usual download site, but from Sourceforge instead.
- In order to receive points, a participant has to create bugs using his/her own JIRA account (signup here) and then start filling away (http://jira.zenoss.com). The created bugs should follow these guidelines (see example screenshot below):
- Bugs shall be classified as Priority 1, 2 or 3 (detials see below)
- Bugs shall carry "[bughunt]" in the title
- Bugs shall have the reporters email address as the Cc
- Bugs shall use the default ticketing template (build number, reproduction steps, etc.) wherever possible
- During the twice weekly defect review meeting, a team of people from development and support (including myself) will review all submitted bugs. During this review process, we will check for duplicates, make sure the guidelines in 2 have been followed and the bug isn't a duplicate. If all checks out, we will assign points accordingly.
- The Bug Hunt will end upon the relase of the first release candiadate (RC) of Core 4, which is planned for mid-March.
- In order to qualify for one of the main prizes (the Zenoss Mastery Class) a participant must at least have 16 points.
Priorities and Bug Hunt Points
| Priority | Bug Hunt Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | System crash, loss of data, loss of monitoring. This bug will take top priority with development and stop the release of the software until fixed. |
| 2 | 4 | A Feature is not functioning and no workaround exists. Next highest priority for development; will not hold up release. |
| 3 | 2 | A Feature is not functioning a workaround exists. |
| 4 | 1 | Lowest severity, minor issues, cosmetic issues. |
Example Ticket
Image Credit: Gunther Swanh