Issue Tracking

This page describes how we track issues in the vscode repository.

Inbox tracking and Issue triage

The Inbox

The inbox consists of issues and pull requests which have no assigned owner and no assigned label.

Inbox Query

Labels

Issues are assigned a label that indicates the issue type:

• bug: incorrect behaviour of the code
• feature-request: a request for an enhancement
• question: a question from a user (these will be redirected to Stack Overflow)

Issues are assigned to a feature area/topic using a label. The feature area labels are 'greenish'.

Initial Triage

The person assigned to do the inbox tracking has the following duties.

• if the issue is a bug assign it to a person
• if the issue is a feature request add the label feature request and @mention if the someone from the team should be aware of the issue
• if the issue is a question redirect them to stack overflow (see Submitting Bugs and Suggestions
• assign the issue a feature/topic area label
• assign a P1 label if the issue is critical/blocking and mention @microsoft/vscode to make the team aware of the issue
• if the issue doesn't have enough information, comment on the issue with a link for how to file issues Submitting Bugs and Suggestions

The person assigned to do the inbox tracking does not have to (but is free to do more):

• perform a duplicate search
• analyze the issue, this is the duty of the assignee
• engage into a discussion with the author of the issue and ask for more information
• assign a P1 label as appropriate

The team rotates the initial inbox triage on a weekly basis.

2nd level Triage done by the assignee

• review the feature-request vs. bug assignment, if it is a feature request remove the assignee, add the correct label
• assign the P1 label if needed
• assign a milestone
• follow-up with the author

Fix Planning

Open bugs assigned to a milestone will be reviewed weekly at the iteration planning meeting and the milestone will be adjusted if needed.

Bug Verification

Bugs need to be verified.

• Once a bug is fixed its state is changed to closed
• If it needs verification, assign it to another team member
• Once verified, label the issue with verified

Tip: Create a personal query: current milestone, assigned to me, closed, -label:"verified ✓"

Duplicates

Duplicate bugs are closed with a comment duplicates #issue. Please try to reference an earlier issue unless a later issue is more appropriate (has more context, better scenarios, repro steps, etc.).

Moving issues to another repository

Use the issue mover tool to move bugs to another repository.

Consistent labels across vscode repositories

Visual Studio Code consists of multiple repositories and we should use consistent work flows and labels across all our repositories.

To establish consistent labels across all our repositories use the Label Manager tool.

Consistent milestones across vscode repositories

To enable planning across repositories all the vscode repositories need to define the same milestones.

Iteration Planning

We use issues for iteration plans and test plans:

• Iteration Plans have a label iteration-plan with tasks [ ] for the different items. The individual items are tracked in existing issues (bugs, feature requests). If there is no existing issue then a new issue with the label plan-item is created. Here is an example.
• Test Plans have a label test-plan example