A question I get asked every now and then is, as you might have guessed it, “Why so many annoying bots on the Resonite issue tracker?”.
If you don’t know what’s going on, allow me to present our two automated friends:
- The log bot: this one will check your bug reports for the presence of logs. If those are found, it will post a message showing some extracted information from the log (CPU, GPU, version, etc); if not, it will add the “Needs more information” label to the issue, and request logs to be added.
- The stale bot: if an issue has the dreaded “Needs more information” label and hasn’t seen any activity in 90 days, a first message will be sent to ask the author to add more information. If no updates are given within 30 days, the issue is closed. Simple as that.
Both bots are implemented using GitHub Actions and run for basically free since the repository is public. Their implementation is also completely Open-Source.
The log bot is here because adding logs is just the rule when it comes to bug reports. Everybody has to do it, including myself, so no bug report shall be excluded from it. Even if you feel your issue doesn’t needs logs attached, you MUST attach them; not only they contain some info we might need, but it also avoids the time lost going into a back and forth asking for logs. It goes without saying it’s better to have logs but not need them, than needing the logs and not having them.
The stale bot is there to clean up after the fact. If we request some info, but never hear back, we can’t work with the issue. That’s why it’s scoped to that “Needs more information” label only. Yes, this might be frustrating, but this is less time spent on managing the issue tracker and more doing actual engineering work. In any case, if you think the issue being closed was an error, you can still put a comment asking to re-open it.
Also I want to put out there a general reminder that GitHub is not a war zone, nor debate club, nor mock trial. Like any projects, we have our own set of requirements when reporting bugs that everybody has to follow. So even if you are frustrated, remember to stay civil, and focused on facts.
Likewise, another reminder that Resonite subscriptions do not carry any kind of SLA on issues or preferential treatment in general. If you really want to have a SLA on feature implementation and bug patches, please contact us to negotiate a proper business contract.
In any case, I hope this can clear up some stuff about those bots and why they are needed.
