I tried to update issue2550837 which has a subject/title of:

  New option for web auth [proposed patch]

I assume this was created in the web interface so the '[proposed patch]'
wasn't flagged as a problem.

However when I tried to respond to it via email with the subject:

  "Re: [Roundup-devel] [issue2550837] New option for web auth [proposed
patch]"

I got a failed issue tracker submission email with the error:

   There were problems handling your subject line argument list:
   - not of form [arg=value,value,...;arg=value,value,...]

and the regular verbage that comes with that message.

Maybe as a pre-check before trying to parse the argument list,
the code should check to see  if the title (or any prior title)
for the issue matches the subject line. If so then it should skip 
the argument processing and just add the entry.

Oops hit enter too early. The  other way to handle this is to
prohibit the use of [ ]'ed text at the end of a title.

I claim the first alternative is better.
-- rouilj

On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 03:46:37AM +0000, John Rouillard wrote:
> 
> New submission from John Rouillard:
> 
> Maybe as a pre-check before trying to parse the argument list,
> the code should check to see  if the title (or any prior title)
> for the issue matches the subject line. If so then it should skip 
> the argument processing and just add the entry.

There are already settings for being less strict with suffix parsing,
see config-option "subject_suffix_parsing" which, by default, is set to
"strict". Our tracker probably has the default of "strict". I think
setting this to "loose" will already do what you want?

"""
# Controls the parsing of the [suffix] on subject
# lines in incoming emails. "strict" will return an
# error to the sender if the [suffix] is not recognised.
# "loose" will attempt to parse the [suffix] but just
# pass it through as part of the issue title if not
# recognised. "none" will always pass any [suffix]
# through as part of the issue title.
# Default: strict
subject_suffix_parsing = strict
"""

Ralf
-- 
Dr. Ralf Schlatterbeck                  Tel:   +43/2243/26465-16
Open Source Consulting                  www:   http://www.runtux.com
Reichergasse 131, A-3411 Weidling       email: office@runtux.com
allmenda.com member                     email: rsc@allmenda.com

Hi Ralf:

In message <20140721153638.GA8553@runtux.com> <20140721153638.GA8553@runtux.com
>,
Ralf Schlatterbeck writes:
>On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 03:46:37AM +0000, John Rouillard wrote:
>> Maybe as a pre-check before trying to parse the argument list,
>> the code should check to see  if the title (or any prior title)
>> for the issue matches the subject line. If so then it should skip 
>> the argument processing and just add the entry.
>
>There are already settings for being less strict with suffix parsing,
>Our tracker probably has the default of "strict". I think
>setting this to "loose" will already do what you want?
>
>"""
># Controls the parsing of the [suffix] on subject
># lines in incoming emails. "strict" will return an
># error to the sender if the [suffix] is not recognised.
># "loose" will attempt to parse the [suffix] but just
># pass it through as part of the issue title if not
># recognised. "none" will always pass any [suffix]
># through as part of the issue title.
># Default: strict
>subject_suffix_parsing = strict
>"""

Yeah loose gets closer to what I want, but I think I want something
closer to a "recognized" option that passes the []'ed stuff through
if:

  it already has seen it in a title for the issue (ignoring whitespace)

and bounces it if it can't find a title match. That way if an issue
has a title of:

  my title [comment my]

and an email arrives with that subject, the email is accepted. But if
the email arrrives with:

  my title [comment=my_new_comments]

when the field name should be "comments" not "comment", the email gets
bounced since the suffix failed to parse and it is not recognized as a
match for an existing title/subject for that issue.

That being said, should we change the roundup tracker's default to
loose?

Ping Ralf, do we want to change the tracker to loose parsing mode
for subject line properties?

As of 9/28/2017 parsing mode is set to loose for the tracker.

So that should help handle some of the issue.

I am closing this since the config option was changed to mitigate the 
issue.