Comment 4 for bug 664088

Revision history for this message
Robert Collins (lifeless) wrote :

@Jarl your analysis of the impact and time use of duplicates being filed is incorrect.

Many times a different report with the same root cause will expose information the first report missed. Sometimes many reports are needed to triangulate and identify the root cause. So filing a duplicate is not /necessarily/ a waste of time.

Secondly finding duplicates is often much harder for a bug filer than a developer of the package/product - because bug filers don't know the architecture.

Lastly, particularly in complex components like the Linux kernel, developers *do not want* users to search for duplicates: there are so many symptoms that look similar, that it causes a lot of harm when user A comments on a bug filed by user B.

All you need to do to be a good bug filer is:
 - follow the bug filing wizard
 - if it offers a duplicate up, and you think its the same, click on affects me too
 - if you get asked to provide more information, do so