QA/Obsolete Version Suppression

The Problem
Because of the rather high frequency of new releases the number of versions in the Bugzilla Version picker increases quickly, our 2 years old project already shows 73 Versions in the Bugzilla Version Selector. That's very confusing for novices.

The Plan
Since latest updates Bugzilla offers a feature to make existing Versions inactive. That means they will be shown in the Version Selector for existing bugs, but not in the Version Selector for Bug Reports. Using that feature can make the Selector more clear for Bug Reports (especially by novices), but it will still be possible to select the most early LibO version where the bug appeared with the usual accuracy.

Bug submission Assistant
We will have to check how the BSA gains information what Versions are allowed for a new Bug Report. There will be no problem if BSA only recognizes LibO Versions what are allowed for new Bugzilla Bug Reports. But If all existing LibO versions listed in Bugzilla will be recognized, a report might be rejected by Bugzilla, and BSA version recognition algorithm will have to be adapted.

Automatic Versions Recognition
For test affairs LibO 3.3.0 Beta3 has been marked as inactive before the BSA update for new Version 3.6.2.2 rc, we will see how it works after update. Unfortunately Bug BUGZILLAASSISTANT: Impossible to submit a Bug does not ease tests ... .
 * 2012-09-29: BSA has been updated and now shows new LibO Version 3.6.2.2, but unfortunately the inactive Version LibO 3.3.0 Beta3 still is shown.
 * For the version recognition problem we have Bug - BUGZILLAASSISTANT: Exclude inactive versions from version selector
 * Also for the planned "Automatic Version Recognition" (if reporter uses the "Bug Report" link in LibO help menu) will have to consider that a Version might not be available for Report of new Bugs.
 * Currently it's not a problem to have Versions in the BSA Version Picker what are suppressed in the Bugzilla picker, Bugs with such suppressed Versions will be submitted without any problems. I tested that with . So it would not be a problem for Auto-Version-Recognition if the recognized Version is suppressd for new reports in Bugzilla. -- Rainer Bielefeld 2012-10-04T13:54:38 (CEST)