Re: [Mantisbt-help] Private bugs notify non-developers by email?

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Hi Mitch,

There are many things about the notifications that I want to change. I sent
Victor a list at one point. I'll see if I can find it. I think what I may do
is make the changes, and then offer it to Victor to use or not use as he
likes. It's not that I mind learning CVS, etc., but I don't have much extra
time these days, so I need to do it expediently. It basically involves a
rewrite of two modules. Here's the list I sent to Victor:

Changes to the Notification Feature
-------------------------------------------------

- There is currently no way to set up notifications so that participants
only receive messages when new text is added (new bug report or bugnote). I
set this up partially by configuring it so the Updater role gets
notifications of bug reports and bugnotes, but we are missing any bug
reports or bug notes added as part of Update or Reopen.

- The thresholds for receiving different notifications are ignored on the
Update page. I had to manually remove the Close option from the Status menu
so it wasn't available to developers. (In our installation, Close is used by
the Manager after a fix has been confirmed.)

- The manner in which notifications are configured in configi_api.php is not
fully and accurately documented. There may also be a way to make it easier -
I haven't thought that out yet.

- Not all the notification code is in email_api.php. In bug_api.php there is
a section where three notifications (update, assigned, status change) are
ALWAYS sent out, regardless of settings. All the notifications should be in
one place and controlled by the settings. I simply commented out these
notifications, but really they should be folded into email_api.php and sent
according to preferences and filters. When you turn off all notifications in
config_api.php and continue to receive email, it's frustrating and
confusing.

- User preferences don't include whether to receive the Delete notification.
Unless it's turned off in config_api.php, it will always go out. This isn't

documented - I discovered it by reading the source code.

- If multiple types of events are submitted at once, they should be sent as
a single notification rather than three notifications. This can occur on the
Update page, or when the Resolve Bug button is clicked. Extraneous
notifications are one of the big problems in Mantis. My team was flooded
with email until I figured out how to turn it off.

- Administrators should be able to configure their email preferences (should
have access to the My Accounts area).

- There should be a way to subscribe to a project for notifications (I
suggested this in the bug tracker and you accepted the idea). The
project-level notifications should be filtered by user preferences as to
which events are notified.

- The format of the notifications themselves has some problems. I received
so many complaints from my team that I had to go in and change it. It now
has a minimal header, then the bugnotes in descending order (most recent
first), then the original report, then the history list. I'm appending a
sample to the end of this message (scroll down, it's at the very bottom). It
would be good to have an option to make this ascending or descending (the
whole thing--original report on top or bottom).

- There should be an option to include "steps to reproduce" and "additional
information" in the bug reports--at least in config_api.php, perhaps also in
user preferences.

- There should be an email interface for posting new bug reports or
bugnotes.

That's a long list, but I really think the entire notification system needs
an overhaul. It's the weakest part of Mantis, which is excellent in most
other ways.

    - Sheryl

Sheryl Canter
Permutations Software
www.permutations.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mitch (WebCob)" <mi...@we...>
To: <man...@li...>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 6:21 PM
Subject: RE: [Mantisbt-help] Private bugs notify non-developers by email?

Hi Sheryl - thanks for the response - I thanked Victor as well - I had two
other questions - you've obviously been at this software longer than I - any
comment on the other two questions?

(Assuming you saw them)

What are you considering changing in message notification?

Thanks!

m/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: man...@li...
> [mailto:man...@li...]On Behalf Of Sheryl
> Canter
> Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 11:09 PM
> To: man...@li...
> Subject: Re: [Mantisbt-help] Private bugs notify non-developers by
> email?
>
>
> > Ahhh - where's that - was there a response? What's the bug
> number? 0003824
> ?
>
> Yes, that's the bug number. No response, as you can see.
>
> The dev list is mainly a working group. I don't see a lot of bug reports.
> I've occasionally gotten responses on the Mantis installation of Mantis.
> I've patched quite a bit myself - enough so that upgrading is becoming a
> pain. I've thought about submitting my changes, but this is time-consuming
> for me because I have to learn a lot of new systems. Fixing bugs in my own
> copy is more expedient, so I may just branch off on my own. Also,
> I want to
> make a major design change in how notifications are handled, and I don't
> know if the developers would want someone to come in and do a complete
> rewrite of two modules.
>
>     - Sheryl
>
> Sheryl Canter
> Permutations Software
> www.permutations.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mitch (WebCob)" <mi...@we...>
> To: <man...@li...>
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 1:36 AM
> Subject: RE: [Mantisbt-help] Private bugs notify non-developers by email?
>
>
> Ahhh - where's that - was there a response? What's the bug
> number? 0003824 ?
>
> I see that now - am I posting to the wrong list? There doesn't seem to be
> any traffic here...
>
> Should I subscribe to the dev list instead? I asked 3 questions - yours is
> the first message I've seen...
>
> Thanks!
>
> m/
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: man...@li...
> > [mailto:man...@li...]On Behalf Of Sheryl
> > Canter
> > Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 9:34 PM
> > To: man...@li...
> > Subject: Re: [Mantisbt-help] Private bugs notify non-developers by
> > email?
> >
> >
> > Yes, how's that for privacy? I posted this as a bug report in
> Mantis a few
> > weeks ago.
> >
> >     - Sheryl
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mitch (WebCob)" <mi...@we...>
> > To: <man...@li...>
> > Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 1:15 PM
> > Subject: [Mantisbt-help] Private bugs notify non-developers by email?
> >
> >
> > Have I misconfigured mail support?
> >
> > I want all users to receive emails on projects they participate
> > in (based on
> > their preferences of course) but when posting private bugs, I was
> > expecting
> > only DEVELOPER and above as defined in the config file to receive
> > notice...
> >
> > DEVELOPER and above can "see" the bugs... but all project
> members receive
> > email?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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