Motivation for reporting PHP bugs

[Mladen Gogala]

I recently reported a bug about problem with OCI8 driver
and here is a little exchange that I had with a developer
with nickname "tony2001". Obviously, persuading people to
check the report is rather hard. Next time I encounter a bug,
I will not report it. The bug number is:36119

22 Jan 2:39am CET] gogala at sbcglobal dot net

Description:
------------
If I link PHP 5.1.2 with
--disable-pdo --with-oci8=$ORACLE_HOME

I am not able to connect. If I relink with
--with-oci8=$ORACLE_HOME --with-pdo-oci

the server starts working. Here is the error code:

href='function.ocilogon'>function.ocilogon</a>]: OCIEnvNlsCreate()
failed.
There is something wrong with your system - please check that
ORACLE_HOME
is set and points to the right directory in
/usr/local/PHP/adodb/drivers/adodb-oci8.inc.php on line 228, referer:

Reproduce code:
---------------
Any connect to ORACLE

Actual result:
--------------
[Thu Jan 12 19:26:11 2006] [notice] Apache/2.0.54 (Unix) PHP/5.1.2
configured -- resuming normal operations [Thu Jan 12 19:26:20 2006]
[error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Warning: ocilogon() [<a
href='function.ocilogon'>function.ocilogon</a>]: OCIEnvNlsCreate()
failed.
There is something wrong with your system - please check that
ORACLE_HOME
is set and points to the right directory in
/usr/local/PHP/adodb/drivers/adodb-oci8.inc.php on line 228, referer:
http://localhost/dba/dba_helper.php

[22 Jan 2:44am CET] to******@php.net

OCI8 and PDO are totally different and presence of PDO doesn't affect
OCI8 in any way.
If you get the error message you get - "there is something wrong with
your system - please check that ORACLE_HOME is set and points to the
right directory".

[22 Jan 6:08am CET] gogala at sbcglobal dot net

Tony, I have 17 years of experience as an Oracle DBA. Such a
mistake is highly unlikely for me, even if the problem wasn't reproduced
independently. Unfortunately, Andy Hassall has also
reproduced it. See the recent thread called "5.1.2 woes" on
comp.lang.php

[22 Jan 2:02pm CET] to******@php.net

Tony, I have 17 years of experience as an Oracle DBA

And you think that causes the problem?
Or why do you mention this?

I *KNOW* that PDO and OCI8 are independent modules, so this is
definitely your misconfiguration.

[22 Jan 5:03pm CET] gogala at sbcglobal dot net

Well, I know that this is a bug, but I am not going to pick
a fight. Thanks for not checking. Next time I find a bug, I will not
report it. I will publish the contents of this little
exchange on the usenet. God bless.

--
http://www.mgogala.com

[Andy Hassall]

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:08:24 GMT, Mladen Gogala <go****@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Unfortunately, Andy Hassall has also
reproduced it. See the recent thread called "5.1.2 woes" on
comp.lang.php
Hm, I've just tried it again, and now it works - if I do a clean rebuild with
the new option. Maybe something was cached or not rebuilt the last time.

root@testbox /usr/src/php-5.1.2 $ cat /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/oci8.php
<?php
echo $_ENV['ORACLE_HOME'] . "\n";
echo $_ENV['LD_LIBRARY_PATH'] . "\n";
echo $_ENV['TNS_ADMIN'] . "\n";

$conn = oci_connect('test', 'test', 'test102', 'WE8ISO8859P15');
echo "Server Version: " . oci_server_version($conn);

?>
root@testbox /usr/src/php-5.1.2 $ rm -f config.cache && make clean >/dev/null
&& \ /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl stop && \
./configure \
--prefix=/usr/local/php \
--with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs \
--with-oci8=$ORACLE_HOME \
--disable-pdo \
--enable-sigchild >>log 2>&1 && \
make >>log 2>&1 && \
make install >>log 2>&1 && \
/usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start && \
GET http://testbox.localhost/oci8.php

/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
/usr/local/apache2/lib:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/lib
/u01/app/oracle/admin
Server Version: Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 -
Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

--
Andy Hassall :: an**@andyh.co.uk :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool

[Sjoerd]

Mladen Gogala wrote:

I recently reported a bug [...] Next time I encounter a bug,
I will not report it.

You are not the only one with problems regarding the bug system. I find
the people who manage the PHP bug system and reply to bug reports very
annoying. It always seems like your own fault and they do not seem to
like that you are filing bugs. Maybe its because PHP gets a lot of
false bug reports, but the experience I had with the bug system is not
pleasant at all.

[Mladen Gogala]

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 11:58:23 -0800, Sjoerd wrote:

Mladen Gogala wrote:

I recently reported a bug [...] Next time I encounter a bug,
I will not report it.

You are not the only one with problems regarding the bug system. I find
the people who manage the PHP bug system and reply to bug reports very
annoying. It always seems like your own fault and they do not seem to
like that you are filing bugs. Maybe its because PHP gets a lot of
false bug reports, but the experience I had with the bug system is not
pleasant at all.

Obviously, they don't want us to report bugs. Blaming the reporter is
easier then checking and requires much less effort. So, let's oblige
them and let's stop reporting bugs. PHP is not the only scripting
language.

--
http://www.mgogala.com

[Jerry Stuckle]

Mladen Gogala wrote:

I recently reported a bug about problem with OCI8 driver
and here is a little exchange that I had with a developer
with nickname "tony2001". Obviously, persuading people to
check the report is rather hard. Next time I encounter a bug,
I will not report it. The bug number is:36119

22 Jan 2:39am CET] gogala at sbcglobal dot net

Description:
------------
If I link PHP 5.1.2 with
--disable-pdo --with-oci8=$ORACLE_HOME

I am not able to connect. If I relink with
--with-oci8=$ORACLE_HOME --with-pdo-oci

the server starts working. Here is the error code:

href='function.ocilogon'>function.ocilogon</a>]: OCIEnvNlsCreate()
failed.
There is something wrong with your system - please check that
ORACLE_HOME
is set and points to the right directory in
/usr/local/PHP/adodb/drivers/adodb-oci8.inc.php on line 228, referer:

Reproduce code:
---------------
Any connect to ORACLE

Actual result:
--------------
[Thu Jan 12 19:26:11 2006] [notice] Apache/2.0.54 (Unix) PHP/5.1.2
configured -- resuming normal operations [Thu Jan 12 19:26:20 2006]
[error] [client 127.0.0.1] PHP Warning: ocilogon() [<a
href='function.ocilogon'>function.ocilogon</a>]: OCIEnvNlsCreate()
failed.
There is something wrong with your system - please check that
ORACLE_HOME
is set and points to the right directory in
/usr/local/PHP/adodb/drivers/adodb-oci8.inc.php on line 228, referer:
http://localhost/dba/dba_helper.php

[22 Jan 2:44am CET] to******@php.net

OCI8 and PDO are totally different and presence of PDO doesn't affect
OCI8 in any way.
If you get the error message you get - "there is something wrong with
your system - please check that ORACLE_HOME is set and points to the
right directory".

[22 Jan 6:08am CET] gogala at sbcglobal dot net

Tony, I have 17 years of experience as an Oracle DBA. Such a
mistake is highly unlikely for me, even if the problem wasn't reproduced
independently. Unfortunately, Andy Hassall has also
reproduced it. See the recent thread called "5.1.2 woes" on
comp.lang.php

[22 Jan 2:02pm CET] to******@php.net

Tony, I have 17 years of experience as an Oracle DBA

And you think that causes the problem?
Or why do you mention this?

I *KNOW* that PDO and OCI8 are independent modules, so this is
definitely your misconfiguration.

[22 Jan 5:03pm CET] gogala at sbcglobal dot net

Well, I know that this is a bug, but I am not going to pick
a fight. Thanks for not checking. Next time I find a bug, I will not
report it. I will publish the contents of this little
exchange on the usenet. God bless.

I just posted in there, also. I was able to duplicate the bug with the
information you gave me.
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attglobal.net
==================

[Chung Leong]

Sjoerd wrote:

Mladen Gogala wrote:

I recently reported a bug [...] Next time I encounter a bug,
I will not report it.

You are not the only one with problems regarding the bug system. I find
the people who manage the PHP bug system and reply to bug reports very
annoying. It always seems like your own fault and they do not seem to
like that you are filing bugs. Maybe its because PHP gets a lot of
false bug reports, but the experience I had with the bug system is not
pleasant at all.

I know. The least they could do is to create a separate duplicate
status. Marking reports as bogus is misleading--and not to mention
insulting--when the same bug can manifest in very different scenarios.
Take the recent fiasco with 4.4.1. It was bad enough that they broke a
key function. For them to basically tell people to take a hike is
rubbing salt into a sore wound.

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Mladen Gogala wrote:

I recently reported a bug about problem with OCI8 driver
and here is a little exchange that I had with a developer
with nickname "tony2001". Obviously, persuading people to
check the report is rather hard. Next time I encounter a bug,
I will not report it. The bug number is:36119

<snip>

Here is my 2 paise... IMHO, people with C/C++ are bit harsh and also
if we take PHP, the saint culture is here in c.l.php only. So, it's
always better to have little patience when dealing with such people.

For me, I have reported couple of bugs and many of them got fixed
extremely fast and though few of them are bogus, they fixed the manual
with the reasons. I also, think, it is better to be very very precise
and brief when reporting bugs; probably when the developers ask for
more info you may provide more info. If you're good in C, it's also
better to look at the source and give little technical info to the
developers so that they can feel at ease.

Tony, I have 17 years of experience as an Oracle DBA

And you think that causes the problem?
Or why do you mention this?

<snip>

This could be the reason for your frustration? I side with Tony in
this regard 'coz his reasons look quite rational. IMHO, It's better to
win the discussion being rational than by quoting the experience;
nobody wants our number of experience, all they want is our reasons.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com/

[Mladen Gogala]

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 21:07:18 -0800, R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah wrote:

This could be the reason for your frustration? I side with Tony in
this regard 'coz his reasons look quite rational. IMHO, It's better to
win the discussion being rational than by quoting the experience;
nobody wants our number of experience, all they want is our reasons.

I didn't misdefine ORACLE_HOME, period. If I did, it wouldn't be
working after that, either. Accusing me of improperly defining
ORACLE_HOME, without even checking my statement about the problem is
irresponsible. My statement about experience serves only one purpose:
to show the gentleman in question that I am not a beginner. Here is
all the checking that he did do, as taken from the bug:

php -r 'var_dump(oci_connect("system", "system", "HP")); var_dump(new
PDO("oci:dbase=hp", "system", "system"));'
In other words, he didn't take time to re-link and check the statement,
he executed one one-liner, concluded that he can connect and that was it.
I don't know whether he's being paid for what he does or is he just a
volunteer, but in my opinion, "to******@php.net" is a rude and lazy idiot
who does more harm then good. At the end of the day, the problem remains,
regardless of his ramblings about incorrectly defined ORACLE_HOME. I don't
foresee bright future for PHP with technical support staffed by
belligerent teenage idiots.

--
http://www.mgogala.com

[joshbeall]

I've had my own problems with the bug system as well. There's a bug
(never resolved AFAIK) with the WDDX serialization that causes
numerically indexed arrays that do not start at 0 being broken (you
can't access contents at numeric indexes) after deserialization.

The response I got after posting reproduce code was to grab the latest
version from CVS, just in case it happened to have been fixed in the
last week or so.

I don't have time to download another version of PHP for them, I was
reporting this bug because I wanted to help them out. Instead they
refused to address the bug because I wouldn't attempt my reproduce code
again with the CVS version (which they could have done by simply
copy/pasting my reproduce code themselves, and presumably they already
have the CVS version installed that they want to test it on)...

I love PHP as a language but the people that man the bug report system
seem to be a little less than courteous.

JFYI here's the reproduce code if you'd like to try it yourself:

$data = array(1=>"First value",2=>"Second Value",3=>"Third Value");

$wddxPacket = wddx_serialize_value($data);
$deserialized = wddx_deserialize($wddxPacket);

echo gettype($deserialized[1])." {$deserialized[1]}\n";
var_dump($deserialized);

// Note that $deserialized[1] turns out to be a NULL value
// When it should be "First value"