What is "our engineers are aware of the issue and will continue to track it"

Originator:andyfinnell
Number:rdar://10777677 Date Originated:30-Jan-2012 02:52 PM
Status:Open Resolved:
Product:Bugreporter Product Version:
Classification:Other Reproducible:Sometimes
 
Summary:

Bugs are being closed as "We are closing this bug since our engineers are aware of the issue and will continue to track it" which is a somewhat nonsensical sentence. Bug databases, such as Radar, are supposed to track issues that are known about. The problem is I don't know what that sentence means in terms of the bug.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Write up a Radar, such as rdar://problem/9749716, that breaks a shipping application. This takes some effort since Apple is very strict about what bug reports it will accept.
2. Wait
3. Get a response from the Developer Bug Reporting team.

Expected Results:

One of the following:
1. We could not reproduce the issue. Please provide more information.
2. The stated behavior is the expected behavior, therefore it will not be fixed.
3. A fix has been made in build XXXX, please verify.
4. The bug is a duplicate of XXXX.
5. While a valid bug, we do not think it is worth fixing at this point in time. The bug will not be fixed.

Actual Results:

"We are closing this bug since our engineers are aware of the issue and will continue to track it." Does that mean the bug won't be fixed? Or it will be fixed, just later? If they aren't tracking the bug in Radar, how is being tracked? I thought bug tracking was the point of Radar. The response just doesn't make any sense. If you don't want to fix the bug, just say "Bug will not be fixed."

Regression:

Didn't happen until this year (2012).

Notes:

Just tell me what you intended to do with the bug. There's no reason to be coy about it.

Comments

It's Apple-speak for "will not fix".

By sean.mcbride42 at Feb. 18, 2012, 5:12 a.m. (reply...)

Additional explanations

Example 1: http://stackoverflow.com/q/3670078/38108 a response that is more explanatory. As responses from Apple are typically confidential, we may find few such examples in public.

Example 2: http://discussions.apple.com/message/11857780#11857780 should reveal a quote from Engineering on page twelve of a topic. If bugs in Apple Support Communities cause the wrong page to appear, then try http://discussions.apple.com/thread/2250690?start=165&tstart=0. Confidential or not, this quote is extraordinarily useful to me.

Andy, did Apple's response to you consist of nothing more than ""We are closing this bug since our engineers are aware of the issue and will continue to track it."?

By grahamperrin at Feb. 5, 2012, 6:53 a.m. (reply...)

So, if I submit a duplicate rdar for this, will the response be "This bug is a duplicate of 10777677" or will it be "We are closing this bug since our engineers are aware of the issue and will continue to track it."?

Thinking about it makes my head hurt.

By mge.temp at Jan. 31, 2012, 6:21 p.m. (reply...)

Please note: Reports posted here will not necessarily be seen by Apple. All problems should be submitted at bugreport.apple.com before they are posted here. Please only post information for Radars that you have filed yourself, and please do not include Apple confidential information in your posts. Thank you!