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Comment by jmngomes | Hacker News Reader

This reply "This report applies to a mobile Google application or service, and the issue tracker where you reported it specializes in issues within the Open Source source code of the Android platform." is a bit off, IMO.

The developer reported a bug found on Android to the Android forum. The reply he gets sounds like a dismissal, which is quite strange given that the problem is not only related to Android but also with a Google product.

A few days ago I submitted an Android bug verified on a Samsung phone. The reply was something in the line of "that's Samsung's problem, talk to them".

I'd say this isn't the right way for Google to handle a severe issue such as this, i.e. simply rejecting accountability. It's like having a team say "go talk to some other team" when they're actually all aboard the same ship. Is big company bureaucracy / turf wars getting to Google? Hope not...

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This.

I recently found the same irksome behaviour by Goog on another important issue: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=56803

From what I can tell, JBQ is right and the maps folks are not understanding the issue you have. :)

The Location Services API is not part of AOSP (or at least, this implementation isn't) IIRC

You should rephrase the bug report to make clear you are talking about the google play services location API.

As for the complaint on that bug report that google should file and track these issues for folks, AOSP is an open source project, and like most open source projects, prefers folks file upstream/downstream issues directly.

What was the bug you submitted?

The thing about AOSP is exactly what JBQ said: It's meant for reports about open source parts of Android, not reports about Samsung's skin on top of it, etc.

Most of the bugs submitted are not AOSP bugs (I know it's hard to believe, but i've done triage on it). They are bugs in some vendor's patches or changes to AOSP, which, for the most part, Google can do nothing about.

It would be worse if these bugs were left open, giving people the false hope that Google can solve their problem, or that the bug got to the right place.

If this bug/feature is somewhere in the AOSP code, great, reopen the bug and point it out.

I submitted a bug stating that the OS' facilities for managing audio (i.e. AudioManager et al) weren't working according to the spec/docs, some classes would report an incorrect volume during a call. I only tested it on a Samsung phone, I didn't bother testing with other brands because breaking on Samsung would be bad enough for my/any Android app.

I understand what you say, but if it was the other way around my reply would have been something in the lines of "1) please confirm it by testing on another phone brand; 2) if it's specific to Samsung, here's the link to file the bug"

1. Sure, but it's entirely that brand's drivers would also not have been in AOSP. 2. You must realize there are hundreds of devices, and manufacturers change their support links all the time :(

I too found the replies to be somewhat dismissive. You would think this sort of report would be dealt with much more urgency or, in the very least, some concern.

It's an important problem, and the feeling I get from that thread is that they are more concerned where the bug should be filled. I appreciate organization as much as anyone, but the proper response should be frantic running around and hair pulling.

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