Papercuts: Litmus test

The One Hundred Papercuts project has been running for three cycles now and we, as a community, have fixed 295 bugs so far. During the Maverick cycle alone we fixed a whopping 117 bugs. The project has been receiving accolades and several Ubuntu reviews have attributed the project to helping improve Ubuntu’s user experience.

Every cycle we set a target of hundred bugs and try to reach the goal. However, for Natty cycle we are going to be doing things a little different.

Rather than setting the same old target of hundred bugs, as we do for each cycle, for the Natty Cycle our target is : ‘As many bugs as we can fix, As a community‘. The Papercuts project is a community project and not many seem to have noticed this. This cycle we would like to increase community awareness and participation in the project.

Be an Ubuntu Developer!

Irrespective of your expertise, Papercuts project is an easy way for everyone to get involved and to be a part of Ubuntu development.

All that is required is your willingness to be the change you want to see!

There are several ways to get involved, each of the following is an essential step in improving Ubuntu’s usability:

• Reviewing applications for potential Papercut bugs. Identifying a papercut is as important as getting one fixed. If the bug has already been filed, nominate it as a papercut.
• Reporting papercut bugs. Without bugs there is no easy way of getting a papercut fixed. First, make sure it’s not a feature request and check whether the bug has already been filed. 😉
• Confirming if the new bugs reported everyday are truly papercuts. Papercuts project gets a steady flow of new bugs filed everyday. Most often the bugs filed are not papercuts but rather requests for new feature additions. We need to make sure that fixing the bug will improve user experience and are not just adding a new feature.
  
• Providing suggestions for fixing a papercut. Several papercuts have not been fixed just because they do not have an acceptable suggestion. Have a look at the confirmed bugs awaiting a suggestion. It may vary from writing a better package description to suggesting a good solution for the bug.
• Fixing papercut bugs. We need someone to do this, don’t we? 😉 Have a look at the list of triaged Papercut bugs. Find any bug you feel like fixing ? Assign it to yourself, submit a patch and help make Ubuntu better. Or subscribe to the Papercuts Ninja team mailing list, get notified each time a new bug is accepted as a papercut and wait for a bug you would be interested in fixing
• Reminding developers a patch exists for the bug. Often developers are busy and might miss a patch or a branch which fixes the bug. Drop by their IRC channel and politely request a review for the patch. Remember, timezones play a role in getting their attention.
• Generating the buzz and getting people involved in papercuts. As with every project, we’re always in need of more hands and we’re always looking for more contributors. When you notice someone interested in getting involved in Ubuntu development introduce them to the project. If you have a blog, blog about the papercuts you’re affected by or tweet that your annoying papercut is yet to be fixed. Remember, to tweet using the #ubuntu and #papercuts tags. Once fixed, don’t forget to blog/tweet again and thank the person who fixed it. 😉

Papercuts Focus during Natty Cycle

In order to ensure there is something for everyone to be excited about, this cycle we’ve expanded the scope of the Papercuts Project. A highlight of the themes we will be focusing during Natty cycle:

• Banshee : The new kid on the block. With Banshee replacing Rhythmbox as the default media player we need to make sure that the Music experience on Ubuntu 11.04 is awesome! Nominate existing bugs/usability problems as papercuts or identify and file new bugs!
• Featured Applications : While traditionally papercuts dealt only with default applications, folks have been requesting to extend the scope of the Papercuts project and we’re running out of truly simple papercuts in the default applications! So this cycle we are including all the applications in Ubuntu Software Center’s Featured Section. This includes applications like Liferea, GIMP image editor, GNOME Do, Getting things GNOME!,etc.
• Leave my Grip alone : More on this later on.
• Ayatana Family : Bugs related to notify-osd, sound menu, session menu and the Ayatana projects.
• Software Center Package Descriptions : Debian had started the Smith Review Project but had lost momentum due to lack of volunteers. In a continued effort to improve package descriptions in Software Center, we will be collaborating with Debian to get more descriptions in better shape for Natty.
• We will also be a continuing our focus on Nautilus, Empathy, Gwibber, Shotwell, Evolution, Kubuntu and help refine them as much as possible.

We have a lot of ways to contribute to the project, fresh new applications to review and we have the new Papercuts Ninja team. Let’s get as many people as we can involved in the project, fix as many bugs as we can and let’s make this cycle a huge success.

Be a part of the phenomenon! Natty papercuts cycle’s success depends wholly on the community, you!

For more detailed information about Papercuts Project and getting involved, continue reading here.