Hi all!
First, I couldn't find any list more suitable than this one to comment the severity levels in the bug reporting so I post it here. If this was a really bad thing to do, please tell me were to do so. Secondly, don't take this wrong, I am not here to preach, I actually think this is a serious problem. I am not drunk either. Currently. :-)
So, with regards to severity levels:
Current severity levels are perfect for server applications where everything is simply about functionality working or not working. However, the overwhelming majority of windows applications in general, and those being ported through wine in particular are GUI-based, end-user applications. When it comes to these kinds of applications, in front of which actual people sit for hours on end doing actual work, other factors come into play.
So I would like to introduce a bold new weight into the severity assessment: The user experience. Or at least the bugs' negative impact on it. The user experience(UE from here on) is really quite impossible to quantify exactly, luckily that is not usually necessary.
There are several reasons to incorporate this into the severity classification, but I'll stop at two:
1. The ones reporting the bugs will come across with how severe they think the bug is to them. Currently, there is far too much of "you've got a almost black screen or black square instead of icons running Photoshop?..hmm that's really trivial...an 'UI glitch', but OK then, I'll mark it minor to be nice to ya." To a user, even an advanced one, this must feel like talking to a condescending Martian. Frustrating, if not infuriating. Likely, they will never again take the time to make a bug report. It is even quite likely that they will give up their move away from windows.
2. Currently, fixing a "trivial" UE-bug can make way more users happy than fixing a "normal" functionality-bug. This means that bug fixing is prioritized on a basis other than catering to the users needs. And to me, that's something that really shows. Can one defend this without invalidating the wine project? It is a serious question, I might have missed something fundamental.
Anyway, I have some ideas on how to make the severity classifications better(and more intuitive for the mere user), but I won't go in to that now. I just want to know if any of you agree with me. Do I make a valid point?
//Nicklas
PS. I repost this since I didn't get any post from the server the first time. Also I expect this post to piss some off, which makes it even stranger not to get any replies at all. BTW, I also just read in a comment in a bug report that the severity flag doesn't mean much at all when it comes to how a bug is prioritized. So the only input the users have on how important a bug is to them is practically ignored? Why have that checkbox then? And why make such a big thing of it not being correctly set? DS.