

Why do Git and Debian only use a mailing list and not an issue tracker? - duggieawesome
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/191961/why-do-some-big-projects-like-git-and-debian-only-use-a-mailing-list-and-not-a

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claudius
The title is slightly misleading – neither does Debian primarily use ‘mailing
lists’ to report/manage bugs, nor does it not have an issue tracker. debbugs
is operated by email, yes, but it also has a (read-only) web interface and is
pretty much by definition an issue tracker, uploads to the Debian archive,
e.g., can be ‘tagged’ as closing particular bugs.

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rhelmer
Right, debbugs is a definitely a bug tracker.

PostgreSQL is a better example of a project that uses a mailing list rather
than a bug tracker: <http://www.postgresql.org/support/submitbug/>

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dragonwriter
"bug tracker" is a function. "mailing list" is a mechanism.

A mailing list can be a bug tracker. So can a spreadsheet. So can an RDBMS-
backed web app. So can index cards stuck to a wall.

Obviously, each of these mechanisms has strengths and weaknesses as a bug
tracker.

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jlgreco
Not mentioned: Mailing lists are idiot filters. If you can't use one, chances
are rather low that you have anything of worth to say.

Just look at the issue trackers for many other open source projects: flooded
with _"me too!"_ comments.

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_ZeD_
wait... mailing list are hard??

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jlgreco
It is indeed a low bar, so the fact that it seems so effective as a crapfilter
probably says something rather depressing...

