Rant: Reporting bugs that you can't reproduce

[Monkey]

I was in the #radeon IRC channel on Freenode, which is for the open source 'ati'/'radeon' driver. Here is part of my conversation:

<Monkey_arma> I am guessing it is a bug in the 'radeon' driver.
<Monkey_arma> If not then my second guess would be in Mesa.
<MrCooper> Could the problem be reproduced again?
<Monkey_arma> No, I've tried
<MrCooper> If it isn't reproducible, a bug report probably isn't too useful
<Monkey_arma> So we just sweep it under the carpet?
<MrCooper> What do you suggest we do about something that isn't reproducible?
<Monkey_arma> Well *I* would log it incase of future occurances on other peoples'computers so that common denominators can be found
<MrCooper> Monkey_arma: Of course you're free to report it if you understand that it'll probably just sit there until someone can reproduce it more easily
<Monkey_arma> MrCooper: obviously
<MrCooper> Hah, if all bug reporters had realistic expectations...
<Monkey_arma> MrCooper: IMO bug reporters' expectations are irrevelant. Bugs should *always* be reported, even if they cannot be reproduced.

That makes me MAD.

Please vote on the poll and also post to say why you voted that way.

[epsy]

yes but only upstream pl0x

[kyle]

ya they should be reported