156437 - OS guessing code lies when it fails

Status: NEW

(Bugzilla :: Creating/Changing Bugs, defect, P2)

Description

[timeless]

What I got: Other/other and:
We've made a guess at your operating system and platform. Please check them and,
if we got it wrong, email [e-mail].

What I should have gotten:
Other/other (ignoring bug about recognizing OS/2)
We couldn't guess your operating system or platform, your useragent was FOO, if
this matches a specific platform/os please email MAINTAINER (or file a bug in
bugzilla).

Comment 1

[Joel Peshkin]

Unloved bugs targetted for 2.18 but untouched since 9-15-2003 are being
retargeted to 2.20
If you plan to act on one immediately, go ahead and pull it back to 2.18.

Comment 2

[timeless]

Attachment: per original plans

Comment 3

[timeless]

Comment on attachment 144340 [details] [diff] [review]
per original plans

there should be a <code>...</code> wrapper for the useragent field. i'll do
that when i commit.

Comment 4

[Vlad Dascalu]

Comment on attachment 144340 [details] [diff] [review]
per original plans

What should the maintainer do if he receives an email regarding an unrecognized
UA string?

If the maintainer is a coder, he might hack his local install of Bugzilla. But
I think mentioning filling a bug in Bugzilla is mentioning worthing as well.
Filling a bug in Mozilla is the right thing to do in most cases.

Also, I guess you could split that into 3 sentences:

We couldn't guess your operating system or platform. Your useragent was foo. If
this uniquely matches a specific platform/os, please fill a <!--b-->ug in
<!--B-->ugzilla.

Or something like that. My opinion, anyway :)

Comment 5

[timeless]

please <a 
href="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/query.cgi?product=Bugzilla">search</a> for a 
report about your useragent, and failing to find one, <a 
href="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Bugzilla">file a 
report</a>.

?

Comment 6

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Vlad: why would you dodge the bugword mechanism for those strings?

Gerv

Comment 7

[timeless]

gerv: what kind of silly question is that?
we're explicitly talking about filing a Bug in Bugzilla at bugzilla.mozilla.org
Note that it would be B<!> not <!--B-->

Comment 8

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

timeless: the template your patch changes is a general Bugzilla template, and
the text you are altering the wording of appears on all Bugzilla instances. So,
you would need to use the bugwords mechanism - [% terms.Bugzilla %] etc..

Gerv

Comment 9

[timeless]

gerv: wake up. pay attention. read the bug and whole comments before you comment.
in comment 4, you clearly missed this portion:

> If the maintainer is a coder, he might hack his local install of Bugzilla. But
> I think mentioning filling a bug in Bugzilla is mentioning worthing as well.
> Filling a bug in Mozilla is the right thing to do in most cases.

Comment 10

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Yeah, that phrase somewhat confused me. Never mind... let me try again.

I don't think the platform/OS guessing code is important enough that it should
be the one place in the general Bugzilla UI where we tell people to file bugs in
bugzilla.mozilla.org if something isn't working.

Also, how is an end-user supposed to judge if Bugzilla was supposed to have been
able to guess their OS and platform? ("if this matches a specific platform/os
please email...")

Gerv

Comment 11

[timeless]

Comment on attachment 144340 [details] [diff] [review]
per original plans

users are encouraged to think. if their useragent says "NeXTStep" somewhere in
it, and we don't do anything with NeXTStep, then it'd mean something to them.
If their useragent is fairly generic and their system is fairly generic, then
hopefully users will be less inclined to think it's unique.

however, if you feel that they should complain to maintainer, then have i got a
patch for you.

Comment 12

[Vlad Dascalu]

> Vlad: why would you dodge the bugword mechanism for those strings?

Because it makes little sense to complain in Openoffice's Issuezilla or you name
it... about a Bugzilla bug, doesn't it? :-)

> I don't think the platform/OS guessing code is important enough that it should
> be the one place in the general Bugzilla UI where we tell people to file bugs in
> bugzilla.mozilla.org if something isn't working.

I agree. Simply saying: "We failed to detect your OS or platform." is also ok
(without any further advice on how to proceed further).

Comment 13

[Max Kanat-Alexander]

This bug has not been touched by its owner in over six months, even though it is
targeted to 2.20, for which the freeze is 10 days away. Unsetting the target
milestone, on the assumption that nobody is actually working on it or has any
plans to soon.

If you are the owner, and you plan to work on the bug, please give it a real
target milestone. If you are the owner, and you do *not* plan to work on it,
please reassign it to [e-mail] or a .bugs component owner. If you are
*anybody*, and you get this comment, and *you* plan to work on the bug, please
reassign it to yourself if you have the ability.