Growl on Launchpad

[Zearin]

I noticed that Growl is registered on Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/growl

Personally, I love Launchpad, and I'm glad to see that Growl is already on board!

However, Growl is currently only using Launchpad's Bugs feature. I was wondering if you'd consider using their Blueprints and Answers features, too?

Answers especially is useful, because when you ask a question, Launchpad automatically searches for similar questions and presents them first, reducing duplicate questions. Also, if a question discovers a bug or presents a cool idea for a new feature, the Question can be linked to a corresponding entry in Bugs or Blueprints (respectively).

The reason I ask is this:

I use a lot of open source software, and I love that most open source projects are very willing to receive feedback. So I try to give as much as possible! The problem is, with the amount of programs I use, this means that I often have to register on tons of different forums and/or e-mail lists. (E-mail lists often have great dialogues, but I *hate* using e-mail for this!)

SourceForge has been around for a long time and hosts a lot of great projects, but its interface is pretty crappy. I like Google Code well enough, but you need a Google account. And while I do already have a Google Account, Launchpad allows you to sign up with any e-mail address you want.

For the skeptics:

I don't work for Launchpad! I'm just really impressed by their work, and I want my favorite open source projects to keep up their great work, and to help get everyone using their great tools, and also as part of the same system so that I can provide feedback on my growing list of open source apps from one place.

So um, any plans to use Answers or Blueprints?

[The_Tick]

Answers sounds kind of neat, but how does Blueprints work (I ask without assuming based on the name, and without looking)


Also, the email account thing is part of why we chose google groups for the mailing list. This allows you to sign up with your email as the account.

[Zearin]

Blueprints is basically a combination of "Feature Requests", "Enhancements", as well as more complicated stuff like Roadmaps. It's basically for anything to do with a project's future that does not include Bugs.

Most Bug Trackers have these all mixed together. In Launchpad Bugs get their own category, and everything else goes in Blueprints.

[The_Tick]

So it's more like trac's roadmap on steroids?

[Zearin]

I'm not entirely sure. I've never really used Trac.

I loved Trac "on paper"—that is, I loved reading about its design, goals, and so on. But in practice I wasn't crazy about its interface. I think it's definitely better than, say, Bugzilla (powerful, but hideous). But for whatever reason, it just didn't "click" with me. I have a hard time defining why, because the little I've seen does seem to be a decent system.

Still, my suggestion stands.

[The_Tick]

Take a gander:

http://trac.adiumx.com/roadmap

Anyhow, we're moving ticketing to launchpad, we'll use what we can there. This stuff sounds interesting, just no time this week to look at it.