Debian Bug report logs - #401212
gramps: Children shouldn't be older than their parents.

Toggle useless messages

Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "A. Costa" <agcosta@gis.net>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: gramps: Children shouldn't be older than their parents.

Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 14:26:36 -0500

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Package: gramps
Version: 2.2.2-1
Severity: normal


Attached is an impossible family I invented with 'gramps'.  The bug 
should be self-explanatory -- the child was born over 200 years before their
6 year old parent.  

The suggested fix would be for 'gramps' to check for obvious contradictions
in input, then inform the user.

(All that assumes, of course, that 'gramps' is not designed to allow
for time-travel or long term cryogenic suspension.  Perhaps it would be
a useful feature for authors of science fiction epics, but allowing for
such wacky stuff should be optional, not the default.)

Hope this helps...

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.16-2-686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968) (ignored: LC_ALL set to C)

Versions of packages gramps depends on:
ii  gconf2                        2.16.0-2   GNOME configuration database syste
ii  python-central                0.5.10     register and build utility for Pyt
ii  python-glade2                 2.8.6-6    GTK+ bindings: Glade support
ii  python-gnome2                 2.12.4-5   Python bindings for the GNOME desk
ii  scrollkeeper                  0.3.14-11  A free electronic cataloging syste
ii  yelp                          2.14.3-1   Help browser for GNOME 2

Versions of packages gramps recommends:
ii  graphviz                   2.8-2.3       rich set of graph drawing tools
ii  python-gnome2-desktop      2.14.0-3      Python bindings for the GNOME desk
ii  python-gnome2-extras       2.14.2-1+b1   Python bindings for the GNOME desk
ii  python-reportlab           2.0dfsg-1     ReportLab library to create PDF do
ii  ttf-freefont               20060501cvs-9 Freefont Serif, Sans and Mono True

-- no debconf information

[Impossible Family.grdb.gz (application/octet-stream, attachment)]

Message #10 received at 401212@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Alex Roitman <shura@gramps-project.org>

To: "A. Costa" <agcosta@gis.net>, 401212@bugs.debian.org, control@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#401212: gramps: Children shouldn't be older than their parents.

Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:20:11 -0800

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

severity 401212 wishlist
tags 401212 + upstream
thanks

On Fri, 2006-12-01 at 14:26 -0500, A. Costa wrote:
> 
> Attached is an impossible family I invented with 'gramps'.

A minor point: if you would like to send/attach a testcase,
please export into XML format. The file you attached is not
protable: it does not open outside the environment and that
only exists on your user account on your machine.

The XML exports are compressed with gzip and are completely portable.

>   The bug 
> should be self-explanatory -- the child was born over 200 years before their
> 6 year old parent.

I don't think this is a bug, although I see your point.
This is an error during data entry. We could add a feature
checking for things like this.

> The suggested fix would be for 'gramps' to check for obvious contradictions
> in input, then inform the user.

Yes. Not the fix though, but rather the feature. Gramps did exactly
what you asked it to do. If you misspell the words in your email
client, you would not call it bugs of your email client. You would
call them typos. The spell-checking is a useful feature that may or
may not be added.

-- 
Alexander Roitman   http://www.gramps-project.org

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #19 received at 401212@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "A. Costa" <agcosta@gis.net>

To: Alex Roitman <shura@gramps-project.org>

Cc: 401212@bugs.debian.org, control@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#401212: gramps: Children shouldn't be older than their parents.

Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 17:10:47 -0500

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:20:11 -0800
Alex Roitman <shura@gramps-project.org> wrote:

> A minor point: if you would like to send/attach a testcase,
> please export into XML format. The file you attached is not
> protable: it does not open outside the environment and that
> only exists on your user account on your machine.

Sorry about that, I wasn't sure whether 'gramps' default format was
portable or not, or why.  If it helps, attached is an XML export of the
same database.

> >   The bug 
> > should be self-explanatory -- the child was born over 200 years
> > before their 6 year old parent.
> 
> I don't think this is a bug, although I see your point.
> This is an error during data entry. We could add a feature
> checking for things like this.
> 
> > The suggested fix would be for 'gramps' to check for obvious
> > contradictions in input, then inform the user.
> 
> Yes. Not the fix though, but rather the feature. Gramps did exactly
> what you asked it to do. If you misspell the words in your email
> client, you would not call it bugs of your email client. You would
> call them typos. The spell-checking is a useful feature that may or
> may not be added.

You're absolutely right, given that definition; it's a usage question.
Debian uses the term 'bug' to encompass a broad (maybe too broad) range
of software "issues".  The ordinary usage of 'bug' is just as you say,
a program not acting as intended due to some subtle design or coding
error.  Yet in Debian, a bug might be a wishlist feature, a typo, a
design critique, you name it.  Usage aside, I hadn't intended to imply
that 'gramps' failed to meet its design or coding goals.

The new 'wishlist' tag is unobjectionable, but I'd picked 'normal' as,
IMHO, software should observe certain ranges of norms for input parsing
and error checking, depending on how high-level the application is.
System level software is often pretty rough, and "Garbage In, Garbage
Out" is the rule, but I feel that a good GUI interface should strive to
save users from themselves.  Where to draw the line between user
friendly interface design and GIGO is an open and developing topic on
which reasonable people can disagree.

BTW, I have noticed before that this broad usage of "bug" may irritate
some Debian developers, who tend to have the same reactions. "The
program works as designed, therefore if it doesn't work as a user
expects, don't blame (or en-bug) my program."  Other DD's feel it's a
question of maintainer education -- DDs who don't know what a Debian
"bug" means ought to know better.  Still, perhaps Debian might be
better served by a more narrow definition, in which case the broad
definition would itself become a BTS bug/design flaw.  Either way
(indoctrination or reform) would be fine with me.

[Impossible Family.xml (application/xml, attachment)]

Message #24 received at 401212-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Ross Gammon <rossgammon@mail.dk>

To: 401212-done@bugs.debian.org

Subject: gramps: Children shouldn't be older than their parents.

Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 19:22:41 +0200

Version: 3.4.1

Hi,

This feature is now present in Tools>Utilities>Vefify The Data. Just
confirmed it in V3.4.1.

Ross

Send a report that this bug log contains spam.