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OSS Report: grafana/grafana

Grafana Faces User Frustration with New Features and Performance Issues Amid Active Development

Grafana, an open-source platform for data visualization and monitoring, is experiencing significant user frustration due to issues with new features in version 11 and performance challenges with large datasets. Despite these hurdles, the project remains active with ongoing development efforts focusing on enhancing alerting mechanisms and improving user experience.

Recent Activity

The recent issues and pull requests (PRs) highlight recurring themes of user dissatisfaction, particularly with new features in version 11.x related to alerting and data source integration. Performance problems with large datasets, especially when using Prometheus, are frequently reported. Users are also requesting improvements in UI elements like tooltips and dropdowns for better usability across devices.

Development Team's Recent Activities

  1. renovate[bot]: Focused on updating dependencies, making 50 commits affecting 25 files.
  2. ryantxu: Made significant contributions to Kubernetes resources and alerting system improvements with 8 commits across 251 files.
  3. oshirohugo: Worked on plugin updates, contributing 5 commits over 5 files.
  4. eleijonmarck: Contributed to documentation and access control updates with 4 commits across 13 files.
  5. linoman: Improved LDAP configuration and documentation with 4 commits affecting 6 files.
  6. aangelisc: Major contributions to CI/CD improvements and alerting features with 13 commits over 374 files.
  7. soniaAguilarPeiron: Minor updates in alerting components with 3 commits across 4 files.
  8. brendamuir: Documentation updates and minor fixes in alerting features with 6 commits over 8 files.
  9. tomratcliffe: Significant work on the alerting system with 15 commits affecting 94 files.
  10. leeoniya: Minor bug fixes related to UI variables with 2 commits across 3 files.
  11. codeincarnate: Focused on table component improvements with 2 commits over 10 files.
  12. JohnnyQQQQ: Improved query handling with a single commit affecting 5 files.
  13. mdvictor: Contributed to dashboard scene management with 7 commits across 14 files.

Of Note

  1. The development team is prioritizing the enhancement of the alerting system, indicating a strategic focus on improving user notifications and monitoring capabilities.
  2. There is a consistent effort towards maintaining up-to-date dependencies, reflecting a commitment to leveraging the latest improvements from third-party libraries.
  3. User experience enhancements are evident through PRs aimed at improving UI interactions, such as hiding irrelevant information from users without data source permissions (#92886).
  4. Documentation updates are frequent, ensuring clarity and support for users navigating new features or changes within the platform (#92901).
  5. The presence of multiple draft PRs suggests active iteration on new ideas but may indicate a backlog in review processes that could delay feature finalization.

Overall, while Grafana is actively evolving, addressing user frustrations related to new features and performance will be crucial for maintaining user satisfaction and fostering continued growth of the platform.

Quantified Reports

Quantify Issues



Recent GitHub Issues Activity

Timespan Opened Closed Comments Labeled Milestones
7 Days 103 35 36 49 1
14 Days 186 67 86 77 2
30 Days 272 136 151 104 3
All Time 37059 33177 - - -

Like all software activity quantification, these numbers are imperfect but sometimes useful. Comments, Labels, and Milestones refer to those issues opened in the timespan in question.

Quantify commits



Quantified Commit Activity Over 30 Days

Developer Avatar Branches PRs Commits Files Changes
Andreas Christou 5 2/1/0 13 374 1498506
Jo 2 0/0/0 3 23 12157
Todd Treece 5 0/0/0 22 140 7649
Torkel Ödegaard 8 6/1/1 41 68 6064
Ryan McKinley 5 1/1/0 8 251 5328
Erik Sundell 5 1/0/0 14 105 5186
Gilles De Mey 2 0/0/0 2 60 4656
Matthew Jacobson 2 1/1/0 3 36 4253
Yuri Tseretyan 4 0/0/0 5 31 3862
Bogdan Matei 3 1/0/0 6 24 3491
Karl Persson 3 0/0/0 6 164 3251
Tom Ratcliffe 3 5/4/0 15 94 2841
grafana-delivery-bot[bot] 3 66/63/3 60 74 2506
github-actions[bot] 4 0/0/0 5 64 2044
renovate[bot] 3 23/22/1 50 25 1971
Ihor Yeromin (Develer) 5 1/0/0 6 26 1185
Pepe Cano 4 3/1/0 10 30 1095
linoman 3 1/1/0 4 6 1037
Dave Henderson (hairyhenderson) 2 1/0/0 2 65 934
Alexander Zobnin 3 1/1/0 3 9 850
Adela Almasan 4 2/1/0 16 36 840
Leonor Oliveira 4 2/0/0 8 30 809
Ashley Harrison 3 4/4/0 11 33 724
Esteban Beltran 1 3/3/0 3 3 718
antonio 1 3/3/0 5 3 686
Ivan Ortega Alba 4 3/1/0 4 4 663
maicon 1 2/2/0 3 11 654
Señor Performo - Leandro Melendez 3 0/0/0 13 12 648
Joseph Perez 2 0/0/0 3 9 647
Ieva 5 5/3/0 8 22 635
Jeff Levin 2 0/0/0 2 28 617
Andres Martinez Gotor 5 1/0/0 6 28 612
Tobias Skarhed 3 1/0/0 14 13 597
Isabel Matwawana 7 7/6/0 11 10 589
Matthias Loibl 1 0/0/0 1 5 576
Jack Baldry 4 3/2/0 6 8 560
Victor Marin 2 2/2/0 7 14 531
Eric Leijonmarck 2 1/1/0 4 13 456
Sven Grossmann 2 1/1/0 4 17 441
Charandas 1 0/0/0 2 23 413
Alexander Akhmetov 4 3/2/0 7 19 413
Brian Gann 1 0/0/0 8 7 401
Konrad Lalik 3 2/2/0 5 20 401
Alexa V 3 3/2/0 5 9 370
Kristin Laemmert 4 0/0/0 6 31 368
Kevin Putera 1 0/0/0 1 8 350
Kyle Brandt 3 1/0/0 5 20 325
Brendan O'Handley 2 0/0/0 3 9 285
Sarah Zinger 1 0/0/0 2 7 268
William Wernert 1 0/0/0 1 7 258
Marcus Andersson (mckn) 2 1/0/0 6 9 249
Matias Chomicki 3 0/0/0 4 13 241
Joao Silva 2 1/1/0 3 6 238
Kat Yang 1 0/0/0 1 13 235
Julien Duchesne 1 0/0/0 3 10 231
Kristina 1 0/0/0 1 21 227
Laura Benz 2 1/0/0 3 9 217
Andrew Hackmann 2 0/0/0 3 15 211
Carl Bergquist 2 1/1/0 2 10 207
Mihai Doarna 4 0/0/0 4 10 206
Isabella Siu 2 0/0/0 2 8 199
Larissa Wandzura 2 0/0/0 2 4 199
Lucy Chen 3 0/0/0 4 10 199
Piotr Jamróz 1 0/0/0 3 17 197
Alex Khomenko 2 1/1/0 3 15 195
Levente Balogh (leventebalogh) 1 1/0/0 7 1 184
Gábor Farkas 2 1/0/0 2 25 180
Arati R. 2 0/0/0 4 3 165
lean.dev 1 0/0/0 1 5 135
Gabriel MABILLE 2 1/0/0 2 6 131
Kyle Cunningham 2 1/1/0 2 10 127
Jean-Philippe Quéméner 1 1/1/0 1 5 116
grafana-pr-automation[bot] 2 4/3/0 4 5 115
Fayzal Ghantiwala 1 0/0/0 1 5 111
Stephanie Hingtgen 1 0/0/0 1 3 105
Haris Rozajac 1 0/0/0 1 5 95
Kawthar Alakri 1 0/0/0 1 1 94
Jack Westbrook 2 1/0/0 3 9 90
Lu Shueh Chou 1 0/0/0 1 9 88
brendamuir 4 3/2/0 6 8 87
Michael Mandrus 3 0/0/0 3 5 84
Hugo Kiyodi Oshiro 3 2/1/0 5 5 80
Sergej-Vlasov 1 1/1/0 2 13 75
Tito Lins (titolins) 1 1/0/0 4 4 65
Joey 2 0/0/0 2 2 61
Aaron Godin 3 0/0/0 3 8 55
Christian Inkster 1 0/0/0 1 1 53
Timur Olzhabayev 1 2/2/0 2 2 49
Leon Sorokin 2 2/1/0 2 3 48
Santiago 1 0/0/0 1 2 48
Drew Slobodnjak 2 0/0/0 4 6 47
Agni Bhattacharyya 1 0/0/0 1 2 41
Sonia Aguilar 2 0/0/0 3 4 40
Nathan Marrs 1 0/0/0 1 1 38
Claudiu Dragalina-Paraipan (drclau) 1 1/0/0 1 2 29
owensmallwood 1 0/0/0 1 4 29
Dzmitry Skachkou 1 0/0/0 1 2 28
Laura Fernández 1 0/0/0 2 7 28
Irene Rodriguez (irenerl24) 4 1/1/0 5 5 24
Josh Hunt 1 1/1/0 1 2 23
Serge Zaitsev 1 1/1/0 1 4 22
Andriy 1 0/0/0 1 4 20
Kevin Yu 1 0/0/0 1 4 19
Juan Cabanas 1 0/0/0 1 5 19
Tim Mulqueen 1 0/0/0 1 4 18
Russ (rdubrock) 1 1/0/0 1 1 17
Affan Amir Mir 1 0/0/0 1 1 13
Galen Kistler 1 0/0/0 1 2 13
Taewoo K. 1 0/0/0 1 4 10
Jay (JayEkin) 1 1/0/0 1 1 8
piyushfs 1 0/0/0 1 1 5
Diego Augusto Molina 1 0/0/0 1 1 4
Oscar Kilhed 2 0/0/0 2 1 4
Mehrshad Lotfi 1 0/0/0 1 1 3
Alexander Weaver 1 0/0/0 1 1 3
Kim Nylander 1 0/0/0 1 1 3
Eve Meelan 1 0/0/0 1 1 2
Eugene Apollonsky 1 1/1/0 1 1 2
Ida Štambuk 1 0/0/0 1 1 2
Agnès Toulet 1 0/0/0 1 1 2
None (dependabot[bot]) 1 1/0/0 1 1 2
Mitch Seaman 1 0/0/0 1 1 1
Abdessamad Enabih 1 0/0/0 1 1 1
None (UpBlueio) 0 1/0/1 0 0 0
Misi (mgyongyosi) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
Nicholas Kress (kressnick25) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
None (hemerfaSICKAG) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0

PRs: created by that dev and opened/merged/closed-unmerged during the period

Detailed Reports

Report On: Fetch issues



Recent Activity Analysis

The Grafana GitHub repository currently has 3,882 open issues, indicating a high level of ongoing development and user engagement. Recent activity includes a mix of bug reports, feature requests, and discussions surrounding the platform's functionality. Notably, there are several recurring themes such as issues with new features introduced in recent versions (especially around version 11), performance concerns with large datasets, and integration problems with various data sources.

Several issues show significant user frustration, particularly regarding the handling of alerts and data queries, which may reflect broader usability challenges within the platform. Additionally, there are multiple requests for enhancements to the user interface and experience, particularly concerning the handling of tooltips and dropdowns in mobile views.

Issue Details

Most Recently Created Issues

  1. #92927: Plugins: Incorrect executable name for ReloadPlugin mage target in development environment

    • Priority: Not specified
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 0 days ago
    • Comments: User reports that the Mage watcher is looking for an incorrect process name despite proper configuration.

  2. #92908: Feature request: user/team level label suggestions API

    • Priority: Not specified
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 0 days ago
    • Comments: Suggestion for an API to provide personalized label suggestions based on user context.

  3. #92905: Product Area: Short description of bug

    • Priority: Not specified
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 0 days ago
    • Comments: User reports issues with alert aliases after upgrading to Grafana 10.4.

  4. #92897: ANSI causing background text highlights

    • Priority: Not specified
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 1 day ago
    • Comments: Log messages with ANSI encoding are causing readability issues in the UI.

  5. #92896: Dashboards: Time Series panel: Tooltip timestamp changes incorrectly

    • Priority: Bug
    • Status: Open
    • Created: 1 day ago
    • Comments: Tooltip timestamps do not correspond correctly to hovered points.

Most Recently Updated Issues

  1. #92815 (Closed): Grafana/Oncall plugin error regarding JSON response parsing.
  2. #92794 (Closed): Error reading Prometheus due to client error.
  3. #92792 (Closed): Admin unable to delete organization due to permission issues.
  4. #92787 (Closed): Slow response times in Azure Monitor metrics resource selector.
  5. #92785 (Closed): Table panel tooltip not showing all values when one option is selected.

Themes and Commonalities

  • There is a clear trend of users experiencing difficulties with new features introduced in version 11.x, particularly around alerting mechanisms and data source integrations.
  • Performance issues are frequently reported when handling large datasets, especially with Prometheus as a data source.
  • Users are requesting more intuitive UI elements and better handling of tooltips across different devices.
  • Several issues relate to inconsistencies in how variables and filters behave, particularly when switching between different data sources or dashboard configurations.

This analysis indicates that while Grafana continues to evolve with new features, there are significant areas for improvement in user experience and system performance that need addressing to enhance overall satisfaction among its user base.

Report On: Fetch pull requests



Overview

The analysis of the recent pull requests (PRs) for the Grafana project reveals a total of 238 open PRs, with a diverse range of contributions focusing on bug fixes, feature enhancements, documentation updates, and dependency management. The PRs reflect ongoing efforts to improve user experience, enhance functionality, and maintain code quality.

Summary of Pull Requests

  1. PR #92929: K8s/IAM: Move identity.grafana.app to iam.grafana.app

    • State: Open
    • Significance: This PR aims to clarify the naming convention for the identity and access management app, aligning it with its intended functionality.
    • Notable Aspects: Newly created; no reviews requested yet.

  2. PR #92928: Signer: Fix typo

    • State: Open
    • Significance: A minor fix addressing a typographical error in the codebase.
    • Notable Aspects: Highlights the importance of maintaining code quality even in small changes.

  3. PR #92925: logging: log plugin request start

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Adds logging for when a plugin request starts, improving debugging capabilities.
    • Notable Aspects: Related to an earlier PR that added completion logs.

  4. PR #92909: Draft: Expose query /convert

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Introduces a new API endpoint for converting queries, though still in draft status.
    • Notable Aspects: Discussion around endpoint structure indicates ongoing architectural considerations.

  5. PR #92904: Add link to row for dashboards

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Aims to enhance dashboard navigation by allowing users to link directly to specific rows within dashboards.
    • Notable Aspects: Work in progress; seeks feedback on implementation challenges.

  6. PR #92901: Alerting docs: adds note on templating email subject for external Alertmanagers

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Updates documentation to clarify how to template email subjects when using external Alertmanagers.
    • Notable Aspects: Engages with community feedback on documentation clarity.

  7. PR #92895: Bump peter-evans/create-pull-request from 5 to 7

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Dependency update that introduces new features and improvements in the GitHub action for creating pull requests.
    • Notable Aspects: Reflects ongoing maintenance of CI/CD tools.

  8. PR #92890: IAM Docs: replace relref with refs links to enable IAM docs in Grafana Cloud docs

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Updates IAM documentation links to improve discoverability in Grafana Cloud.
    • Notable Aspects: Indicates a focus on enhancing user experience through better documentation practices.

  9. PR #92886: Data sources: Hide the datasource redirection banner for users who can't interact with data sources

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Improves UI by hiding irrelevant information from users without data source permissions.
    • Notable Aspects: Addresses user interface clutter and enhances usability.

  10. PR #92884: Update playlist.md to align with Grafana 11

    • State: Open
    • Significance: Documentation update reflecting changes in playlist item types in Grafana version 11.
    • Notable Aspects: Ensures that documentation remains current with software updates.

Analysis of Pull Requests

Themes and Commonalities

The recent PRs showcase several recurring themes:

  1. Documentation Improvements: A significant number of PRs focus on enhancing documentation clarity and accuracy (e.g., PRs #92901, #92890, #92884). This reflects a commitment to ensuring that users have access to clear guidance and support as they navigate the platform's features.

  2. User Experience Enhancements: Many contributions aim at improving user interactions with the software (e.g., PRs #92904, #92886). These changes often stem from user feedback or observed usability issues, indicating a responsive development approach that values user input.

  3. Feature Additions and Enhancements: Several PRs introduce new features or enhance existing functionalities (e.g., PRs #92909, #92925). This demonstrates an active effort to expand Grafana's capabilities and maintain its competitive edge in observability tools.

  4. Dependency Management: Regular updates to dependencies (e.g., PRs #92895, #92917) show an ongoing commitment to maintaining code quality and leveraging improvements from third-party libraries.

Notable Anomalies

  • The presence of multiple draft PRs (e.g., PRs #92909, #92876) suggests that developers are iterating on ideas before finalizing them for review, which is a healthy practice but may indicate a backlog in review processes.
  • Some discussions within PR comments reveal potential disagreements or differing opinions on implementation approaches (e.g., PR #92909), which could lead to delays if not managed effectively.

Old Pull Requests

While most recent activity appears focused on immediate enhancements and fixes, older PRs that remain unmerged could indicate areas where consensus has not been reached or where additional work is required before they can be integrated into the main branch.

Lack of Recent Merge Activity

The overall merge activity seems consistent; however, any stagnation in merging could lead to fragmentation within the codebase if not addressed promptly.

Conclusion

The current state of pull requests within the Grafana project reflects a vibrant development environment focused on continuous improvement and responsiveness to user needs. The balance between feature development, documentation enhancement, and dependency management indicates a well-rounded approach to maintaining software quality and user satisfaction. However, attention should be given to resolving any lingering discussions or unmerged older PRs to ensure that progress remains steady and cohesive across the project.

Report On: Fetch commits



Repo Commits Analysis

Development Team and Recent Activity

Team Members and Their Recent Activities

  1. renovate[bot]

    • Commits: 50
    • Changes: 1971 across 25 files
    • Recent Work: Focused on updating dependencies, including major version upgrades for various packages.

  2. ryantxu

    • Commits: 8
    • Changes: 5328 across 251 files
    • Recent Work: Significant contributions to the codebase, including updates to Kubernetes resources and improvements in the alerting system.

  3. oshirohugo

    • Commits: 5
    • Changes: 80 across 5 files
    • Recent Work: Worked on plugin updates and improvements, including adding features related to plugin instrumentation.

  4. eleijonmarck

    • Commits: 4
    • Changes: 456 across 13 files
    • Recent Work: Contributed to documentation and minor code updates related to access control.

  5. linoman

    • Commits: 4
    • Changes: 1037 across 6 files
    • Recent Work: Focused on LDAP configuration improvements and documentation updates.

  6. aangelisc

    • Commits: 13
    • Changes: 1498506 across 374 files
    • Recent Work: Major contributions including CI/CD improvements and feature enhancements in the alerting system.

  7. soniaAguilarPeiron

    • Commits: 3
    • Changes: 40 across 4 files
    • Recent Work: Minor updates related to alerting components.

  8. brendamuir

    • Commits: 6
    • Changes: 87 across 8 files
    • Recent Work: Documentation updates and minor fixes in alerting features.

  9. tomratcliffe

    • Commits: 15
    • Changes: 2841 across 94 files
    • Recent Work: Significant contributions to the alerting system, including bug fixes and feature enhancements.

  10. leeoniya

    • Commits: 2
    • Changes: 48 across 3 files
    • Recent Work: Minor updates and bug fixes related to variables in the UI.

  11. codeincarnate

    • Commits: 2
    • Changes: 127 across 10 files
    • Recent Work: Focused on table component improvements.

  12. JohnnyQQQQ

    • Commits: 1
    • Changes: 116 across 5 files
    • Recent Work: Contributed to query handling improvements.

  13. mdvictor

    • Commits: 7
    • Changes: 531 across 14 files
    • Recent Work: Contributions mainly focused on dashboard scene management.

  14. Other contributors such as Kyle Brandt, Alexander Zobnin, Ivan Ortega Alba, Ashley Harrison, etc., have also made various contributions ranging from bug fixes to feature implementations, particularly around alerting, dashboards, and data sources.

Patterns and Themes

  • The majority of recent commits are focused on dependency updates, indicating an ongoing effort to keep the project up-to-date with the latest libraries and frameworks.
  • Significant work is being done in the alerting system, which suggests that this area is a priority for the team.
  • There is a consistent effort towards improving documentation alongside code changes, reflecting a commitment to maintain clarity for future contributors.
  • Collaboration among team members is evident through co-authored commits, particularly in complex areas like access control and alerting.
  • The presence of multiple branches indicates ongoing feature development and experimentation without disrupting the main codebase.

Conclusion

The development team is actively engaged in enhancing Grafana's functionality while ensuring that dependencies are current. The focus on alerting features suggests a strategic direction towards improving user notifications and monitoring capabilities. Additionally, collaborative efforts among team members highlight a strong community dynamic within the project.