General Perl Module ettiquette question...

GAVollink on 2005-02-22T23:23:23

Assuming I entered a bug in rt.cpan.org, and assuming that the POD within the module specifies that bugs should be reported to rt.cpan.org.

How long should I let that bug sit, marked as 'new' before sending the Author a friendly Email, assuming that author's Email is also available?

Now let's assume that no bugs have been filed against that module before (I even clicked 'Show resolved').

Are we talking weeks, or months?

---

Is it my module?

cwest on 2005-02-23T00:02:56

If it is and the problem is important to you then I'd want a reminder today. :-)

It depends

brian_d_foy on 2005-02-23T00:27:12

The author should have already received a notice from RT.

Beyond that, it varies. Some authors don't want people to talk to them directly, and some like personal correspondence. Bug reports with patches are much more useful, too.

I'd look at the author's history. Is he responding to other things in RT? Is he active in any online things? If so, send a reminder. If not, maybe the author has disappeared.

Is it me? :) If so, just nag me in personal email :)

Re:It depends

GAVollink on 2005-02-23T03:20:39

I will check out the activity - thanks for the idea.

Oh, and...

GAVollink on 2005-02-23T03:40:05

Really, the problem I ran into isn't very important (a one line change in the Makefile.PL -- missing a dependancy).

The author is still active, so because this one isn't that big a deal - I'm going to ignore it for now.

My only concern is that is someone runs into this - they might not pick-out the missing dependancy error message during the 'test'. I'd almost bet several people have run into it, and simply worked around it without bothering to file a report.

Re:It depends

cog on 2005-02-24T11:20:19

And don't forget, he might be on vacation! :-)

I say go for it

samtregar on 2005-02-23T02:45:14

Go ahead and email him (me?). At worst you're risking a rude reply but the chances are good he'll appreciate the reminder. I know I would if it was me...

-sam

Re:I say go for it

cog on 2005-02-24T11:22:13

the chances are good he'll appreciate the reminder. I know I would if it was me...

Likewise.

Most people like bug reports, because it means somebody actually used one of his/her modules :-) I know I do :-)

So, I wrote him an Email (we'll see what happens).

GAVollink on 2005-03-07T19:52:51

Hi,

Sorry for interrupting. I'm just sending you a friendly reminder about a tiny issue that I submitted against module. It was reported two weeks ago to rt.cpan.org, and is still marked as new.

Sorry to be a bother,
Gary Allen Vollink
use.perl.org/user/GAVollink