• IssuesProcess

Process for SWD Issues

This page: http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/wiki/IssuesProcess

1. Issue Process

1.1. STATUS Vocabulary

1.2. The SWD Issues Tracker

• The SWD Issues Tracker [1] is based on a program called Tracker.

• When an issue is created, Tracker creates an issue page with a URI such as http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/track/issues/26.

• Tracker scans the subject lines and message bodies of postings to public-swd-wg@w3.org for references to issues and creates a link to the relevant mailing-list posting from the issue page.

  • To ensure that a mailing-list posting is picked up by Tracker, working-group members should put the string "ISSUE-xx" in the subject line (with a hyphen, replacing xx with the number of the issue).

• References to all issues Raised, Open, or Closed can be found "by topic" or "by person" by following the links on the SWD Issues Tracker, http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/track/.

  • All SWD issues are summarized on an SWD issues summary page, http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/track/issues.

  • SKOS issues -- just the open ones -- are summarized on a SKOS issues summary page, http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/track/products/3.

  • Resolutions are (in theory) summarized on a resolutions summary page, http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/track/.

1.3. Life cycle of issues

• Issues can be suggested by any member of the community by posting mail to the Working Group as described below.

• Issues are raised or otherwise edited using the Web interface of the SWD Issues Tracker [1]. "If it's not in the tracker, it's not an issue!"

  • Note that as of 2007-05-29, old SKOS issues were being moved from a SKOS Issues Sandbox.)

  • As of 2007-05-29, SKOS issues must be raised this way; RDFa participants are encouraged to adopt this method.

  • Note that one does not create or propose an issue: issues are only raised.

• A WG chair may mark a raised issue as open (accepted) or rejected (closed with a note) and will normally assign an owner to each open issue.

• The issue list is reviewed periodically. Normally, discussion is only in order for open issues. At times the chair may deem that a review is in order to attempt to resolve, merge, close, postpone and otherwise clean up the list.
  • The Issues Watcher for SKOS is currently Antoine (2007-05-29).

• Resolutions are proposed to Raised Issues by posting alternative Resolutions to the list.

  • Alternative resolutions are colloquially referred to as Proposals and do not get tracked separately in Tracker.

  • The Subject line should contain the word Resolution along with the Issue Number (e.g., "ISSUE-33").

• Separate Wiki pages may be created for Raised Issues -- i.e., in addition to the default Issue Page -- if the issue is complex and/or there are multiple resolution proposals.

  • A link from a separate Wiki page to the default Issue Page should be created by posting a mail message with an appropriate keyword or by putting a reference to the wiki page in the description of the issue (see ISSUE-33 for an example).

• Issues are closed by decision of the WG.

  • The chair determines when the WG is ready to decide, usually in response to a proposal from the issue owner, and the resolution is recorded in the tracker notes field.

  • The chair assigns an action to notify the original issue raiser of the resolution and invite them to respond to the resolution.

  • The issue raiser is notified as soon as practical if an issue is rejected, giving a reason for the rejection and this notification is included in the notes section of the tracker entry.

  • A test case should be cited in the notes whenever possible.

1.4. "Issues" regarding the issues list

• RalphS has taken untracked action items to make the open issues page include raised issues and to point from the link box in SWD Issues Tracker to this document (2007-05-29)

• RalphS notes that each W3C WG decides how to use tracker -- the distinction between "Raised" and "Open" is unique to SWD (2007-05-29).

• Alistair has proposed that documents be edited in distinct sections in the wiki, each section having its own wiki page, and including the latest draft of each section in the master page (using the "include" feature of MoinMoin). The master draft of page would always be up-to-date, making it easier to propose/review new drafts of individual document sections in large documents and to track changes in the wiki. Example: SKOS/Semantics and SKOS/Semantics/Concepts (2007-05-29).

2. Raising issues

2.1. SWD Working Group Participants

Working Group participants must use Tracker's Create a new issue form to raise an issue. This form requests the following fields:

2.2. Reviewers Who Are Not Participants in SWD WG

Non-SWD participants may send issues via email to <public-swd-wg@w3.org>. In the subject line, tag them as follows for possible inclusion in the issue tracker:

Components of the message should follow the format below, using the tags indicated.

2.3. Format For Issue Submission

An example submission is show below.

TITLE: All tags should be green 
DESCRIPTION: The reason for this is simple.
<quotation>Green is my favorite color</quotation>.
Enough said.
RAISED BY: M. Smith, email of 4/23/02.

The possible fields are documented below. Required fields have a • in the first column.

Please do not put multiple issues in a single email; it is inconvenient later to have to refer to portions of an email. It will be clearer in the archive and the tracker if separate messages are used for different issues.