Jan de Groot wrote:
I see a lot of bugs getting closed with "Upstream" lately because they're not packaging bugs. This is not the way to solve bugs. The only bugs that should be closed upstream are the ones in binary modules like flashplugin or nvidia binary drivers. Opensource software can be fixed or debugged, so we should do that instead of using this bogus closure option.
I agree if a package is actually broken then the bug report should remain open with a link to the upstream bug report so that a patch can be pulled when this is fixed upstream.
Just an example of when to not close something as upstream. I have a bug assigned to me, with a patch available, for a project that isn't very actively maintained. Someone closed the bug as 'upstream'. This, doesn't really work well, because new releases are unlikely/uncommon, and a patch is available. The other case where closing bugs as upstream is bad, is when the bug is not upstream. I have at least once had a packaging error closed as upstream. If anyone is to close a bug as upstream, I suggest it should be the maintainer of the package as they are most likely to appreciate the situation best. A broad policy on upstream packages is unlikely to work due to the variations in each case - rather maintainer intuition is best. James