Issues
GitHub Issues are a convenient way to communicate with RST developers about future changes to the RST. Issue are not just for bug reporting. They can also be used to:
- Notify others that a new feature is being planned
- Ask for help or advice on using/installing RST
- Initiate open discussions about an RST-related topic
When opening a new issue on the RST Github page, you will be prompted to use a template to describe your issue. These templates are designed to help you provide enough detail for other developers to respond.
Other Working Group Issues
Please only open issues related to the RST. Questions on the following topics should be directed elsewhere:
- Corrupt or missing RAWACF files: Data Distribution Working Group (DDWG)
- Radar data formats, hardware files and other metadata: Data Standards Working Group (DSWG)
- Radar control programs and operating schedules: Scheduling Working Group (SWG)
- General questions for the Data Analysis Working Group (DAWG) that are not specifically about the RST: open an issue on the internal DAWG Github repo (requires access rights) or email the DAWG mailing list
Submit an Issue
To open a new issue, follow these steps from the RST repository
- Click the issues tab on the top left side of the page
- Check whether there is already an open issue on your topic. You can use the search bar to find similar issues.
- If there are no similar issues, click the New issue button (top right)
- Choose an issue template, or select open a blank issue at the bottom of the page if none of the templates seem appropriate
- Fill out the template information, and add a descriptive title
- Fill out the side bar information:
- Assignees: Assign yourself to the issue if you are planning to work on it yourself. Leave blank if you are not planning to work on it.
- Labels: these are used to categorize and filter issues (examples below). You can have multiple labels.
- Projects: Indicate if this issue is part of a project
- Milestone: Please leave this blank. The DAWG chairs will fill in this information later when a timeline emerges (e.g. working towards a new release)
- Linked Pull Request: Leave this blank for now. This can be filled out when a pull request that solves this issue is created (see pull requests)
- Click Submit new issue. At this point, everyone who is subscribed to the RST repository will receieve an email. Depending on your notification settings, you may receive emails when others comment on the issue. Check your user settings to subscribe or unsubscripe to email notifications.
Following The Issue
Please follow the ongoing conversation about your issue, especially if other developers request more information. If you do not respond for a while, the issue will go stale and may be closed. DAWG tries to keep issues open and contact users if their issues have gone stale.
Please keep in mind that DAWG members have priorities other than the RST, and they live in many different time zones, so be patient while waiting for a response. If nobody has responded in 1-2 weeks, it's fine to ask again.
Closing Issues
Issues should be closed when:
- A pull request that addresses the issue is merged
- The original question raised in an issue has been answered
If new issues emerge during a discussion, open a new issue and discuss it there. This is to avoid scope creep.
Stale Issues
If an issue goes stale (no progress for over 3 months), the DAWG may follow this procedure:
- Ask about the issue's status in the conversation
- Email the user who opened the issue
- Request that we discuss the issue in the next DAWG meeting (add label telecon), or place it in a project to be re-opened later
- Label the issue stale until progress can be made on it again
- Request to close the issue if none of the above steps elicit any information to keep it open
- DAWG chairs can close stale issues
Assignees
The Assignees section is used to indicate who (if anyone) is actively working on each issue. This helps to avoid duplicated work, and to identify issues that nobody is currently working on (if you are looking for something to do!) If you would like to offer assistance on an issue that someone else is assigned to, please ask them first. If you agree to take over the issue from them, assign yourself to it.
Labels
RST supports the following labels:
| Label | Definition |
|---|---|
| bug | Issue is about a potential bug |
| discussion | Issue requires a discussion |
| documentation | Issue pertains to documentation |
| DSWG | This is DSWG issue |
| duplicate | There is already another issue about the same problem |
| enhancement | Issue pertains about enhancing RST |
| Error/Warning Checks | Issue is purposing an new error or warning check for RST |
| help wanted | Issue is looking for some help on the problem |
| high priority | Issue needs to be looked at over others |
| invalid | Issue about something being invalid |
| low priority | Issue is not very important at the time |
| PI input | Issue requires PI input |
| Programmer needed | Issue needs programmers help |
| question | Issue regards to a question |
| Scientist input | Issue needs Scientist help |
| telecon | Issue needs to be discussed in a telecon |
| wontfix | Issue could not be fixed |
| workaround | Issue was fixed with a workaround |
Creating A New Label
To create a new label got RST labels and click on New label
Give a concise name for the label and provide a description. A color can be randomly generated or chosen based on the hex value. Please avoid similar colors to other labels if possible.
Then click on Create Label.
Avoid creating new labels when creating a new issue: this can delete the issue being created!
Open-ended Issues
Sometimes Issues can be open-ended, especially discussion issues. Here are some steps to make progress on the issue and prevent it going stale: - Label it with telecon if needs to be further discussed in a telecon with DAWG members - Once a general idea is established, close the issue and create a project to break it into a defined tasks. Open the first task as an issue, see projects.