11. Triaging an Issue

This section of the devguide documents the issue tracker for users and developers.

Contributors with the Developer role on the issue tracker can triage issues directly without any assistance.

Additionally, this section provides an overview of the Python triage team.

11.1. Python triage team

The Python triage team is a group dedicated towards improving workflow efficiency through thoughtful review and triage of open issues and pull requests. This helps contributors receive timely feedback and enables core developers to focus on reviewed items which reduces their workload. The expectations of this role expand upon the “Developer” role on the issue tracker. The responsibilities listed below are primarily centered around the Python GitHub repositories. This extends beyond CPython, and, as needed, to other repos such as devguide and core-workflow.

Responsibilities include:

• PR/issue management

  • Renaming PRs

  • Reviewing PRs

  • Assisting contributors

  • Notifying appropriate core developers

• Applying appropriate labels to PRs/Issues

  • Skip news

  • Skip issue

  • Good first issue

  • Other categorizations

As triagers gain experience, they may have some intuition of when a PR should be closed. Triagers can recommend closing a PR, but the final decision must be made by a core developer. By having triagers and core developers work together, the author receives a careful consideration of their PR. This encourages future contributions, regardless of whether their PR is accepted or closed.

Triagers can make use of the invalid and stale labels to suggest that a PR may be suitable for closure. For more information, see the GitHub PR labels section.

It is also of paramount importance to treat every contributor to the Python project kindly and with respect. Regardless of whether they’re entirely new or a veteran core developer, they’re actively choosing to voluntarily donate their time towards the improvement of Python. As is the case with any member of the Python Software Foundation, always follow the PSF Code of Conduct.

11.2. Becoming a member of the Python triage team

Any Python core developers are welcome to invite a Python contributor to the Python triage team. Do note that the responsibilities of a Python triager is more elevated than a developer on bpo. For example, the Python triager has access to more repositories than just CPython. Triagers will be responsible to handle not just issues, but also pull requests, and even managing backports.

Any existing developers on b.p.o can transition into becoming a Python triager. They can request this to any core developer, and the core developer can pass the request to the Python organization admin on GitHub. The request can be made confidentially via a DM in Zulip or Discourse, or publicly by opening an issue in the core-workflow repository.

Any contributor who is not already a developer on b.p.o can also self-nominate to be a member of Python triage team. They can request this to any core developer, confidentially via DM in Zulip or Discourse, or publicly by opening an issue in core-workflow. If a core developer agrees and is willing to vouch for them, the core developer can pass the request to the GitHub administrator. They should also be added as developer on bpo.

For every new triager, it would be great to announce them in the python-committers mailing list and core-workflow category in Discourse. Example announcement.

11.2.1. GitHub Labels for PRs

An important component of triaging PRs for the CPython repo involves appropriately categorizing them through the usage of labels.

Labels for PRs include:

DO-NOT-MERGE

Used on PRs to prevent miss-islington from being able to automatically merge the pull request. This label is appropriate when a PR has a non-trivial conflict with the branch it is being merged into.

expert-asyncio

Used for PRs which involve changes to the asyncio module or other asynchronous frameworks that utilize it.

invalid

Used manually for PRs that do not meet basic requirements and automatically added by bedevere when PR authors attempt to merge maintenace branches into the main branch. During events such as the October Hacktoberfest, this label will prevent the PR from counting toward the author’s contributions.

needs backport to X.Y

Used for PRs which are appropriate to backport to branches prior to main. Generally, backports to the maintenance branches are primarily bugfixes and documentation clarifications. Backports to the security branches are strictly reserved for PRs involving security fixes, such as crashes, privilege escalation, and DoS. The use of this label will cause miss-islington to attempt to automatically merge the PR into the branches specified.

OS-X

Used for PRs involving changes which only have an effect upon a specific operating system. Current variations of the label include OS-Windows and OS-Mac.

skip issue

Used for PRs which involve trivial changes, such as typo fixes, comment changes, and section rephrases. The majority of PRs require an issue to be attached to, but if there are no code changes and the section being modified retains the same meaning, this label might be appropriate.

skip news

Similar to the skip issue label, this label is used for PRs which involve trivial changes, backports, or already have a relevant news entry in another PR. Any potentially impactful changes should have a corresponding news entry, but for trivial changes it’s commonly at the discretion of the PR author if they wish to opt-out of making one.

sprint

Used for PRs authored during an in-person sprint, such as at PyCon, EuroPython, or other official Python events. The label is used to prioritize the review of those PRs during the sprint.

stale

Used for PRs that include changes which are no longer relevant or when the author hasn’t responded to feedback in a long period of time. This label helps core developers quickly identify PRs that are candidates for closure or require a ping to the author.

type-bugfix

Used for PRs that address unintentional behavior, but do not pose significant security concerns. Generally, bugfixes will be attached to a specific issue where the unintended behavior was first reported.

type-documentation

Used for PRs that exclusively involve changes to the documentation. Documentation includes *.rst files, docstrings, and code comments.

type-enhancement

Used for PRs that provide additional functionality or capabilities beyond the existing specifications.

type-performance

Used for PRs that provide performance optimizations.

type-security

Used for PRs that involve critical security issues. Less severe security concerns can instead use the type-bugfix label.

type-tests

Used for PRs that exclusively involve changes to the tests.

11.3. Fields in the Issue Tracker

The major elements found in an issue report include:

• Classification (including Title) - These fields categorize the issue. The fields include Title, Type, Stage, Components, and Version.

• Process - These fields indicate the state of the issue and its progress toward resolution. The fields are Status, Resolution, Dependencies, Superseder, Assigned To, Nosy List, Priority, Keywords, Comment, File, File Description, Remote hg repo, GitHub PR.

• Messages

• History

11.3.1. Title

A brief description of the issue. Review whether the title is too generic or specifies an incorrect term or library.

(Optional) Add a prefix at the start of the title to indicate the module, e.g. IDLE, doc, or asyncio.

11.3.2. Type

Describes the type of issue. If an issue does not fit within any specific type, please do not set a type.

11.3.3. Stage

A needed next action to advance the issue. The stage needn’t be set until it is clear that the issue has been initially triaged and determined work will be needed.

11.3.4. Components

The area or Python library affected by the issue. This is a multi-select field.

Choosing certain components, such as Documentation, may cause the issue to be auto-assigned, i.e. the issue tracker may automatically fill in the Assigned To field after you press Submit changes.

One or more components may be selected for an issue:

11.3.5. Versions

The known versions of Python that the issue affects and should be fixed for.

Thus if an issue for a new feature is assigned for e.g., Python 3.8 but is not applied before Python 3.8.0 is released, this field should be updated to say Python 3.9 as the version and drop Python 3.8.

11.3.6. Priority

What is the severity and urgency?

As a guideline, critical and above are usually reserved for crashes, serious regressions or breakage of very important APIs. Whether a bug is a release blocker for the current release schedule is decided by the release manager. Triagers may recommend this priority and should add the release manager to the nosy list. If needed, consult the release schedule and the release’s associated PEP for the release manager’s name.

11.3.7. Keywords

Various informational flags about the issue. Multiple values are possible.

11.3.8. Nosy List

A list of people who may be interested in an issue.

It is acceptable to add someone to the nosy list if you think the issue should be brought to their attention. Use the Experts Index to know who wants to be added to the nosy list for issues targeting specific areas.

If you are logged in and have JavaScript enabled, you can use the [+] button to add yourself to the nosy list (remember to click on “Submit Changes” afterwards). Note that you are added to the nosy automatically when you submit a message.

The nosy list also has an autocomplete that lets you search from the lists of developers and Experts Index. The search is case-insensitive and works for real names, modules, interest areas, etc., and only adds the username(s) to the nosy once an entry is selected.

11.3.9. Assigned To

Who is expected to take the next step in resolving the issue.

It is acceptable to assign an issue to someone if the issue cannot move forward without their help, e.g., they need to make a technical decision to allow the issue to move forward. Also consult the Experts Index as certain stdlib modules should always be assigned to a specific person.

Note that in order to assign an issue to someone, that person must have the Developer role on the issue tracker.

11.3.10. Dependencies

The issue requires the listed issue(s) to be resolved first before it can move forward.

11.3.11. Superseder

The issue is a duplicate of the listed issue(s).

11.3.12. Status

11.3.13. Resolution

Why the issue is in its current state. This is not usually used for issues with the “open” status.

11.3.14. Mercurial Repository

HTTP link to a Mercurial repository that contains a patch for the issue. A Create Patch button will appear that computes a diff for the head revision of the remote branch and attaches it to the issue. The button supports only CPython patches.

If you don’t indicate a remote branch, default is used. You can indicate a remote branch by adding #BRANCH to the end of the URL.

11.4. Generating Special Links in a Comment

Using the following abbreviations in a comment will automatically generate a link to relevant web pages.

11.5. Checklist for Triaging

• Read the issue comment(s).

• Review and set classification fields

  • Title: should be concise with specifics which are helpful to someone scanning a list of issue titles. (Optional, if possible) Add a prefix at the start of the title to indicate the module, e.g. IDLE, doc, or async.

  • Type

  • Stage

  • Components: multiple items may be set

  • Versions: set if known, leave blank if unsure. Multiple items may be set.

• Review and set process fields

  • Status

  • Resolution

  • Superseder

  • Assigned To

  • Nosy List

  • Priority

  • Keywords

• (Optional) Leave a brief comment about the proposed next action needed. If there is a long message list, a summary can be very helpful.