Admin bug that causes data loss need attention

[Fred Cox]

#11313 documents  a data-loss causing problem that was introduced in 1.1 and still exists in 1.7.

When can https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/11313 get some attention?

At the very least, warnings should be added to the docs.  I provided a doc patch for 1.5 that was ignored at that time.

Multiple organizations have had their data corrupted by this bug.

Fred

On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 4:10:12 PM UTC-8, Fred Cox wrote:

Please consider incorporating a doc patch (attached to #11313) for this release, and backpatching it to previous docs (1.1 - 1.4).

The current implementation of list_editable in the Django admin is fundamentally broken in the face of possible changes to the data while the list page is up in the browser.  It has caused data destruction in our organization, and others.

When I get my head above water, I would be glad to help out actually fixing the bug, but I find it unconscionable that a known critical bug like this be allowed to continue to trap new users.  It should never have been marked as a new feature. The doc patch is simple and to the point, and was requested by otheres twice 13 months ago and 3 years ago, when there was activity on this bug in the past.

Thanks,

Fred Cox

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Django <nor...@djangoproject.com>
To: 
Cc: django-updates@googlegroups.com 
Sent: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 1:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Django] #11313: list_editable fields don't support 'save' in multiuser environment

#11313: list_editable fields don't support 'save' in multiuser environment
--------------------------------+--------------------------------------
    Reporter:  margieroginski  |                    Owner:  nobody
        Type:  Bug            |                  Status:  reopened
    Component:  contrib.admin  |                  Version:  1.1-beta-1
    Severity:  Normal          |              Resolution:
    Keywords:                  |            Triage Stage:  Accepted
    Has patch:  1              |      Needs documentation:  1
  Needs tests:  0              |  Patch needs improvement:  0
Easy pickings:  0              |                    UI/UX:  0
--------------------------------+--------------------------------------
Changes (by aaugustin):

* severity:  Release blocker => Normal


Comment:

1.5 beta has been released. At this stage, only tickets that must be fixed
for RC1 can be release blockers.

Please don't abuse Trac's flags to push your personal agenda at the
expense of everyone else who's waiting for 1.5 final.

If you want to drive more attention to this issue, please write to the
django-developers mailing list.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/11313#comment:18>
Django <https://code.djangoproject.com/>
The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.

[Josh Smeaton]

I don't think a doc patch is sufficient to address the problem, and I highly doubt that a warning would be heard by the vast majority. The attention this bug needs is someone to write a patch to fix the code. Looking at the ticket, 4 weeks ago someone suggested some code that *may* fix the problem. If you were to test the change by modifying your local django and validating that the fix works, I'd think that someone would be more likely to step up and make it committable.

Fixing bugs like this takes a lot of work. Someone needs to identify the issue, verify the problem, write a test case to prove it, track down the issue in code, figure out how it might be corrected, test that it works, perhaps write another test, run the test suite, add release notes, and get it reviewed. Every bug in trac competes for this time. If you're able to effectively halve the time needed, that issue becomes a lot more attractive to 'finish'.

I'll even put my hand up to try to fix it if you verify that the patch in the ticket from 4 weeks ago works. I don't (yet) have much experience with the admin, but if there is a straight forward fix available, that'll be a good introduction for me.

Regards,

Josh