Debugging the mechanism of sending feedback on GPLv3

I am subscribed to the GPLv3 Information mailing list. About two weeks ago, the new draft of GPLv3 was announced. I reviewed it and had four comments.

I tried to submit the comments via the provided E-mail address. The system requires you to associate your comment with a fragment from the GPLv3 draft. I associated my comments with fragments as requested.

All four E-mail messages bounced back to me – the fragments were not found in the draft.

I sent a bug report (gnu.org #333022). I was told that I found a bug in the comments handling system, and that now the bug has been fixed. I was asked to resubmit my comments. I resubmitted all four comments.

I got messages about delayed local delivery of my E-mail messages, but no confirmations of receipt of my comments arrived.

Another bug report was sent (gnu.org #333429). Again, apology for the problem with the E-mail system. The problem was fixed, and I was asked to resubmit my comments, which I did today.

This time, confirmation messages arrived after less than 5 minutes (Comment #2930, Comment #2931, Comment #2932, Comment #2933). The status of the above comments can be tracked by surfing to the appropriate link. For example, Comment #2930 can be tracked by browsing http://gplv3.fsf.org/comments/rt/readsay.html?id=2930.

I feel proud of myself. Not only did I make some comments, but I also cleared the way for other people to contribute to this very important review of the GPLv3.

Author: Omer Zak

I am deaf since birth. I played with big computers which eat punched cards and spew out printouts since age 12. Ever since they became available, I work and play with desktop size computers which eat keyboard keypresses and spew out display pixels. Among other things, I developed software which helped the deaf in Israel use the telephone network, by means of home computers equipped with modems. Several years later, I developed Hebrew localizations for some cellular phones, which helped the deaf in Israel utilize the cellular phone networks. I am interested in entrepreneurship, Science Fiction and making the world more accessible to people with disabilities.

One thought on “Debugging the mechanism of sending feedback on GPLv3”

  1. I noticed the arrival of some w1 comments that appeared to manifest via some new and strange mechanism. 🙂

    I had thought at first that someone was also trialling a long overdue option to subcribe to particular comments, i.e. to be notified by mail when another note was added to the comment.

    And also to be notified when a new comment was submitted.

    It seems that there are now so many comments that it disincentivises anyone to comment further.

    (http://livejournal.com/users/crosbie)

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