[Python-Dev] Closing old bugs

[Raymond Hettinger]

> > Old age and a missing OP is not sufficient reason to close a bug.
> > 
> > But if closing a bug is an effective way of kicking things into life
> > again...
> 
> I'm seeing this effect in a lot of bugs I closed as old ones.

That means they shouldn't have been closed and that we almost lost a valid report.

Also, for the most part, "kicking to life" means getting a qualified reviewer to take time to decide an appropriate course of action.  Typically, the OP is not that person.  Usually, the only "kick to life" we need from an OP is clarification if their post was not sufficiently specific; otherwise, they usually shouldn't have to do anything.



> Take note that for closing it, first there's a warning, and if in a
> *month* (which really happens to delay into several months, my fault)
> the interested people don't take care again of that bug...

A better use of time is to BE one of the interested people and take care of the bug.  Just closing it doesn't make the problem go away.

Also, inactivity does not imply that a bug is not a recurring irritant.  We encourage posters to scan existing bug reports before filing a new one.  Likewise, we immediately close duplicates.  If the original report then disappears without having been cleared, then we've broken our promises to the othesr who did or would have posted a more current report.  The existence of an old report means the problem has been registered and is awaiting a thoughtful response.  Because of the way SF is setup, the other interested people are not likely to receive your "one month warnings".

Closing reports without analyzing their contents is not progress.  AFAICT, that has never been our policy.  Is there anyone else on python-dev who thinks it's a bad idea to automatically close reports without checking whether the issue is real?



Raymond