Re: [Gnumed-devel] talkback client

[Tim Churches]

Sebastian Hilbert wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> More and more issues creep to light and I start to loose track of them all :-)
> I have started to use some issue managing software.
> 
> Anyway. In Aug 2002 there was a post on the list regarding a talkback module.
> Can anyone elaborate on this. How does it work ?
> 
> How does it send Mail ? Does it work on Windows, linux, Mac ? 
> Can it be hacked to start a users e-mail client ? Is this even necessary ?
> 
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/gnumed-devel/2002-08/msg00146.html

In NetEpi, we have an installation configuration option which will cause
 the system to send an email message to designated email addresses
whenever a Python exception occurs. The message shows who the user was
and what their email address and other contact info is, as well as the
text of the Python traceback. It is quite useful. However, it would be
more useful if it sent information about the content of the context
variables at the time of the traceback (since NetEpi is a Web app which
has to retain state in a context namespace) - but we haven't enabled
that because that would leak potentially sensitive data in an
unencrypted email to us, the developers, who are not necessarily
authorised to see those confidential data. The point is that you need to
ensure that your "talkback" sytem does not become a security or
confidentiality hole which inadvertantly leaks confdential data to the
developers.

> Another one is bugtracking. Hopefully we will get feedback from our first 
> release. How are we going to handle this ? Bugzilla ? Does savannah provide 
> facilities ? Could someone please investigate for me ? I have to stop working 
> for today. 

For bug and issue tracking, could I suggest Roundup? It is written in
Python, is not too complex, but handles both email and Web interaction
nicely, implements a nifty idea of "nosey lists", uses PostgreSQL as its
back-end, and is actively maintained by a guy called Richard Jones (see
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/ ) in Melbourne, who works for a company
whcih actively uses it to organise conferences and other things (as well
as to bug-track their own software). See http://roundup.sourceforge.net/

You could use it to manage talkback emails as well.

We plan to use Roundup to handle NetEpi issues - we have tried it on our
intranet and it works well. Just waiting for a new Web server before
setting it up.

Tim C