Notice: This Wiki is now read only and edits are no longer possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.
WTP/Conventions of bug priority and severity
This document is to expand on the meanings of Priority and Severity in bugzilla, as those fields are used in WTP, by convention.
These fields are important to "get right" for many reasons. For one, it helps make sure important bugs are not "lost" in the chaos of a release. Also, for people who open bugs, it is important to be accurate so their reputation of "providing good bug reports" is untarnished. Let's be honest ... someone who repeatedly opens bugs as critical which are not critical (by our conventions) begins to be treated as The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
As stated in the Bug Reporting FAQ
- Severity is assigned by a user and describes the level of impact the bug is having on them. Priority is assigned by the developer and describes the importance a developer places on fixing the bug. P1 is the highest priority, P5 is the lowest.
Bugzilla's own documentation gives a general definitions of priority and severity which is pretty much what we follow in WTP. But below is additional information that will hopefully provide guidance for more consistent use.