Missing update advisories

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:14:54 +0100, Bernd Bartmann wrote:
> After FC3 final has been released several updates have been pushed out
> to the mirrors and yet again we haven't seen any announcement for some
> of them. Some announcements for FC2 and even FC1 are still missing too:

as this list points out, this is a continuing process problem. The
only garunteed engineered solution to prevent this from happening is
to make filing an annoucement text a blocking requirement for
submitting an package as an update. But that will require a level of
automation and red-tape that I don't think anyone inside the fenceline
really wants to or has time to implement.

It's my understanding that the primary reason these annoucements
aren't making it out the door is that individual maintainers are
simply forgetting to create an annoucement text and submit it to the
annouce list.

As a compromise, i would like to suggest that a autobug filer script
be created that would file a bugreport against a component if an
update goes unannouced  for 3+ days in an effort to make the
individual package maintainer aware of the problem in a timely
fashion.  While the summary reports to the public lists are somewhat
useful.... finding a way to poke the individual package maintainers
more directly seems to be needed.  All the information needed should
be available from the master mirror.. maybe just parsing the
repository metadata
would be enough. 

And I realize the existance of security issues greatly complicates
when and how information is released. I'm trying to come up with
discreet solution that makes sure annoucements don't fall through the
cracks and are completely forgotten.

thoughts? is a script designed to automate filing missing update
announcement bugs a realistic and useful way forward?

-jef