JBoss has a very active and involved support process.
As the support team gets a new case, it researches the issue and builds an appropriate test case. An issue is opened in JIRA, the project management tool used by JBoss.
The onus now shifts onto the Development team, where a developer is tasked with the process of fixing the issue. The developer designs and codes the fix and checks in the fix to CVS, the version control system, on the appropriate Main/Patch branch.
The JBoss QA team now validates the issue. QA first runs the build against the branch, then creates the patch by pulling together the modified jars. Instructions on how to install the patch are written and thereafter the QA team installs and tests the patch. If the behaviour is as expected, the QA team promotes the code and the how-to instructions to the Patch repository. At this point, the issue is resolved in JIRA.
The JBoss Support team then informs the customer that the issue is fixed. Once the client has validated the issue, the Support Force marks the issue closed. Customer feedback on the issue is also noted. At this point, the patch can also be made available to other customers if they are in need of a similar fix.
The following image describes the support process:
Patch Management is mostly the work of the QA team at JBoss. A patch for an issue is created by the QA team after running the build against the branch and updating the build with the modified jars. The QA team writes instructions on how-to install a patch. The created patch is then installed and tested. If the behaviour satisfies the issue requirements, the issue is marked resolved in JIRA. The patch install instructions and the patch itself is committed to the patch repository.
The following image describes the process:
JIRA is used for Project Management as well as proces monitoring. Once an issue is opened, its state is monitored until it is accepted and assigned to a developer. The developer then estimates the amount of time he / she would need to spend working on the issue, and starts working on the issue. Once implementation is complete, it is handed off to QA. QA also makes estimates on the time required to install and test the patch. Monitoring of both Development and QA estimates are done through JIRA.
The following figure illustrates the process:
