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Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

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Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#31

Post by oefrha »

tyingq wrote: post #16

Great article, though he's benefitting from a specific slice of Linux users that are great to work with. On the other end of the spectrum, try releasing a php plugin for Wordpress, OpenCart, Magento, etc. I released a mildly popular, open-source, free add on in this space. The Linux users there are decidedly less technical, but still doing it themselves. What I got for "bug reports" was mostly terrible, few details/l…

In addition, in my experience maintaining a developer tool, an outsized source of bug reports is Linux users reporting already fixed issues in their outdated distro packages, or even problems introduced by their packager (e.g. flatpak/snap permission problems). And they typically won’t identify the version despite clear instructions in the issue template asking for the debug output containing everything I need, including the version.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#32

Post by simion314 »

atomicnumber3 wrote: post #19
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #6

Glad to see that it was a positive view of the Linux bug reporters, rather than "Bah, I spend all my time fixing packaging issues from entitled Linux users who scream at me that the game doesn't work with their obscure, home-spun distro."

In a similar vein, I think the biggest value-add that Arch has over other distros is that it turns out having the filter of "can follow well written instructions through mildly tricky commands well enough to result in a bootable system" results in a community with a base level of competence, care, and patience that puts it at least two standard deviations above the other distros and at least four (I know how small th…

>In a similar vein, I think the biggest value-add that Arch has over other distros is that it turns out having the filter of "can follow well written instructions through mildly tricky commands

What is the value of "is competent enough to copy paste commands from a wiki?". Honestly I think the best bug reports might be because some Linux users probably understand C/C++ and can understand crash reports and error messages because they understand the system.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#33

Post by michaelpb »

FastEatSlow wrote: post #5
Procedural wrote: post #3

There is no such OS as Linux, Linux is the kernel. Support Linux-based OSs you want to support and no other OSs you don't support.

The point is that people who choose an OS other than Windows or Mac tend to choose something based on Linux, and are usually technically skilled and submit much higher quality bug reports, more often. Linux users just care more about the experience of using a computer, otherwise most wouldn't have jumped ship.

Also, technical skill aside, Linux users are used to dev consumer relationship being more symmetrical and more of a "two way street". The few non-coder Linux users I know prefer it for this aspect --- similar to why people might shop at a local neighborhood co-op instead of Walmart/Target/Microsoft/Apple

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#34

Post by JeremyNT »

cs702 wrote: post #21

Notably, of those bug reports, fewer than 1% (only 3 bugs) were specific to the Linux version of the game. That is, over 99% of the bugs reported by Linux gamers also affected players in other platforms. Moreover (quoting from the OP): > The report quality [from Linux users] is stellar. I mean we have all seen bug reports like: “it crashes for me after a few hours”. Do you know what a developer can do with such a rep…

Indeed, although my kneejerk reaction to the subject line was to expect another sad article about how it's not worth it to support Linux, this author seems very happy with the decision to do so.

> Worth it? Oh, yes - at least for me. Not for the extra sales - although it’s nice. It’s worth it to get the massive feedback boost and free, hundred-people strong QA team on your side. An invaluable asset for an independent game studio.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#35

Post by wheels »

For an audio app that I work on, it's similar, but different: around 1% of the users are on Linux, and around a third of the bugs / complaints come from Linux, but they're virtually all Linux specific.

We're having to seriously consider dropping Linux support because the support / maintenance load is so high. (This comes significantly from the libraries we're using having worse Linux support, and a lot from the Linux audio ecosystem in general not being very mature; and then a whole bunch of it is people wanting packages for dozens of different systems.)

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#36

Post by leeoniya »

cs702 wrote: post #21

Notably, of those bug reports, fewer than 1% (only 3 bugs) were specific to the Linux version of the game. That is, over 99% of the bugs reported by Linux gamers also affected players in other platforms. Moreover (quoting from the OP): > The report quality [from Linux users] is stellar. I mean we have all seen bug reports like: “it crashes for me after a few hours”. Do you know what a developer can do with such a rep…

more likely s/linux/developers, which i suspect represents the majority of linux users

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#37

Post by dotancohen »

simion314 wrote: post #32
atomicnumber3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a similar vein, I think the biggest value-add that Arch has over other distros is that it turns out having the filter of "can follow well written instructions through mildly tricky commands well enough to result in a bootable system" results in a community with a base level of competence, care, and patience that puts it at least two standard deviations above the other distros and at least four (I know how small th…

>In a similar vein, I think the biggest value-add that Arch has over other distros is that it turns out having the filter of "can follow well written instructions through mildly tricky commands What is the value of "is competent enough to copy paste commands from a wiki?". Honestly I think the best bug reports might be because some Linux users probably understand C/C++ and can understand crash reports and error messa…

  > What is the value of "is competent enough to copy paste commands from a wiki?".
Because without that filter you are getting feedback from, at best, people who cannot even copy paste commands from a wiki.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#38

Post by drdrey »

elliekelly wrote: post #25
cs702 wrote: post #21

Notably, of those bug reports, fewer than 1% (only 3 bugs) were specific to the Linux version of the game. That is, over 99% of the bugs reported by Linux gamers also affected players in other platforms. Moreover (quoting from the OP): > The report quality [from Linux users] is stellar. I mean we have all seen bug reports like: “it crashes for me after a few hours”. Do you know what a developer can do with such a rep…

Are there any good articles on writing helpful bug reports? Whenever I submit a bug I try to give as much detail and be as specific as possible but I always imagine some dev somewhere reading it rolling their eyes at the unnecessary paragraphs I’ve submitted.

Use this template:

1. When I do this

2. Here is what I expect to happen

3. But instead, this happens

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#39

Post by rubyist5eva »

tyingq wrote: post #26
atomicnumber3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a similar vein, I think the biggest value-add that Arch has over other distros is that it turns out having the filter of "can follow well written instructions through mildly tricky commands well enough to result in a bootable system" results in a community with a base level of competence, care, and patience that puts it at least two standard deviations above the other distros and at least four (I know how small th…

WSL is somewhat similar in that installing it was harder than installing most other things on Windows. They've made it easier in Windows 11, and will probably continue that direction. I wonder if MS knows where that leads for them.

You can literally just do `wsl.exe --install` on the newest builds of Windows 10 and it enables the hypervisor feature and downloads Ubuntu in one command. AFAIK it's the same in Windows 11 (I'm still on 10 and don't plan on upgrading for a few years at least).

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#40

Post by elliekelly »

ArloL wrote: post #30
elliekelly wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any good articles on writing helpful bug reports? Whenever I submit a bug I try to give as much detail and be as specific as possible but I always imagine some dev somewhere reading it rolling their eyes at the unnecessary paragraphs I’ve submitted.

I can recommend https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html

Thank you! I’m definitely guilty of mongoose-ing and diagnosing in my bug reports so this is very helpful!
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