Re: AN IMPORTANT MESSEGE FROM SYMBOLICS SOFTWARE SUPPORT

["Robert S. Kirk" <rsk%samson.cadr.dialnet.symbolics.com@RELAY.CS.NET>]

    Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 13:39 PST
    From: rsl@MAX-FLEISCHER.ILA-SF.Dialnet.Symbolics.COM (Richard Lamson)
	Date: 30 Oct 89 20:42:51 GMT
	From: rshu@ads.com (Richard Shu)
	BTW, aside from providing feedback to the originator of the bug
	report, can we consider mechanisms to provide information to 
	other members of the Symbolics community?  Here is a strawman
	proposal for such a mechanism.

    The last company I dealt with on this kind of issue had a database
    called the trouble-report database which was accessible essentially via
    the network.  The database contained a numbered report, what state the
    report was in ("new", "read by TR manager", "sent to developer",
    "rejected", etc.), the type ("bug report" vs. "suggestion", etc.), and
    any commentary entered by the TR manager, developer(s), etc.  A fix was
    sometimes incorporated into the report (although not usually, since it
    often required recompiling parts of the system); a work-around would be
    in there somewhere when possible.  Any interested user with appropriate
    access control bits set could read the database.

    It should be possible to build such a database-reading server which
    would use any byte-stream connection and allow users to peruse the
    database.  Access control could be implemented using passwords, so
    people on Dialnet would have access.  This would reduce Symbolics' costs
    in the medium-to-long term, since multiple bug reports would often not
    be submitted concerning the same bug, and the Symbolics people would be
    able to use the same database to filter bug reports as well.

Seems like a great application for STATIS!