Re: Display problems with `before-string' in overlay

[Lennart Borgman (gmail)]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > From: Richard Stallman <address@hidden>
> > Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:59:10 -0400
> > Cc: address@hidden, address@hidden
> >
> > It seems that you and I define "serious" in a different way.  My
> > criterion says that a bug where an important feature does something
> > that is indisputably wrong and that causes real trouble is a serious
> > bug.
>
> While such bugs create a well-understood motivation for fixing them,
> we should always weigh that against the possibility of introducing new
> and exciting bugs into an already very stable code base, and delaying
> an already long overdue release.  When such a risk is real (as in this
> case, since we are talking about a change in the guts of a general
> purpose display code), we should, as a counter-balance, estimate the
> risk of someone tripping on the original bug.  If that latter risk is
> low (as it is in this case, as evidenced by the 2-year period passed
> since the commit of the buggy code), we should seriously consider
> leaving the bug alone until after the release.


I think this analysis could be a big deal deeper and less general. I 
think that would help to create a more meaningful discussion if we want 
that.


> Frankly, I'm astonished that I need to explain such truisms that are
> well known to anyone who has ever managed a software release, present
> company included.