[dist-bugs] RFC: buginfo microformat (divergent states)

[Joey Hess]

Wherein it gets a bit more interesting again.


## divergent states

The sigs and refs are used to thread up buginfos in order, so that the
current state of a bug can be calculated. But refs don't just form lines,
they can also form tree structures. So a bug's state can diverge and
over time. One project might have the bug with one state, while
another has it with another state.

This example starts with a buginfo pointing at a bug, which is present
in project A.

	\[[buginfo X state=open sig="gpg-A-1"]]

When B discovers it also has the bug, it records that on a page of its own,
including a buginfo of its own. Note that this buginfo does *not* refer to 
A's buginfo, because A and B have two unconnected states for the same bug.

	\[[buginfo X state=open sig="gpg-B-1"]]

Now the bug is fixed in distro B. The buginfo includes a ref to the sig
of the previous buginfo that opened it on B:

	\[[buginfo X state=closed ref="gpg-B-1" sig="gpg-B-2"]]

At this point, the bug has two divergent states. It is still open on A,
and is now closed on B.

A third party C can comment on A's or B's state of the bug, by referring
to any of A's or B's sigs. Or, leave of the ref, and comment on the bug
without tieing the comment to a given state. As long as their buginfo
does not change any state fields, it does not cause a diverging state:

	\[[buginfo X ref="gpg-A-1" sig="gpg-C-1"]]
	\[[buginfo X ref="gog-B-1" sig="gpg-C-1"]]
	\[[buginfo X sig="gpg-C-1"]]

Finally, A can fix the bug as follows:

	\[[buginfo X state=closed ref="gpg-A-1" sig="gpg-A-2"]]

If D also has the bug, and has not yet fixed it, it can still issue a buginfo
noting that it's still open in D.
	
	\[[buginfo X state=open sig="gpg-C-1"]]

-- 
see shy jo
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