Glossary
0-9, high ascii
- .htaccess
Apache web server, and other NCSA-compliant web servers, - observe the convention of using files in directories called - .htaccess - - to restrict access to certain files. In Bugzilla, they are used - to keep secret files which would otherwise - compromise your installation - e.g. the - localconfig - file contains the password to your database. - curious.
A
- Apache
In this context, Apache is the web server most commonly used - for serving up Bugzilla - pages. Contrary to popular belief, the apache web server has nothing - to do with the ancient and noble Native American tribe, but instead - derived its name from the fact that it was - "a patchy" - version of the original - NCSA - world-wide-web server.
Useful Directives when configuring Bugzilla
- AddHandler
Tell Apache that it's OK to run CGI scripts.
- AllowOverride, Options
These directives are used to tell Apache many things about - the directory they apply to. For Bugzilla's purposes, we need - them to allow script execution and .htaccess - overrides. -
- DirectoryIndex
Used to tell Apache what files are indexes. If you can - not add index.cgi to the list of valid files, - you'll need to set $index_html to - 1 in localconfig so - ./checksetup.pl will create an - index.html that redirects to - index.cgi. -
- ScriptInterpreterSource
Used when running Apache on windows so the shebang line - doesn't have to be changed in every Bugzilla script. -
For more information about how to configure Apache for Bugzilla, - see Section 2.2.4.1. -
B
- Bug
A - "bug" - - in Bugzilla refers to an issue entered into the database which has an - associated number, assignments, comments, etc. Some also refer to a - "tickets" - or - "issues"; - in the context of Bugzilla, they are synonymous.
- Bug Number
Each Bugzilla bug is assigned a number that uniquely identifies - that bug. The bug associated with a bug number can be pulled up via a - query, or easily from the very front page by typing the number in the - "Find" box.
- Bugzilla
Bugzilla is the world-leading free software bug tracking system. -
C
- Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
CGI is an acronym for Common Gateway Interface. This is - a standard for interfacing an external application with a web server. Bugzilla - is an example of a CGI application. -
- Component
A Component is a subsection of a Product. It should be a narrow - category, tailored to your organization. All Products must contain at - least one Component (and, as a matter of fact, creating a Product - with no Components will create an error in Bugzilla).
- Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN)
CPAN - - stands for the - "Comprehensive Perl Archive Network". - CPAN maintains a large number of extremely useful - Perl - modules - encapsulated chunks of code for performing a - particular task.
- contrib
The contrib directory is - a location to put scripts that have been contributed to Bugzilla but - are not a part of the official distribution. These scripts are written - by third parties and may be in languages other than perl. For those - that are in perl, there may be additional modules or other requirements - than those of the offical distribution. -
-Scripts in the contrib - directory are not offically supported by the Bugzilla team and may - break in between versions. -
D
- daemon
A daemon is a computer program which runs in the background. In - general, most daemons are started at boot time via System V init - scripts, or through RC scripts on BSD-based systems. - mysqld, - the MySQL server, and - apache, - a web server, are generally run as daemons.
M
- Message Transport Agent (MTA)
A Message Transport Agent is used to control the flow of email - on a system. Many unix based systems use - sendmail which is what - Bugzilla expects to find by default at /usr/sbin/sendmail. - Many other MTA's will work, but they all require that the - sendmailnow param be set to on. -
- MySQL
MySQL is currently the required - RDBMS for Bugzilla. MySQL - can be downloaded from http://www.mysql.com. While you - should familiarize yourself with all of the documentation, some high - points are: -
- Backup
Methods for backing up your Bugzilla database. -
- Option Files
Information about how to configure MySQL using - my.cnf. -
- Privilege System
Much more detailed information about the suggestions in - Section 2.2.2.1. -
P
- Perl Package Manager (PPM)
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePerl/PPM/ -
- Product
A Product is a broad category of types of bugs, normally - representing a single piece of software or entity. In general, - there are several Components to a Product. A Product may define a - group (used for security) for all bugs entered into - its Components.
- Perl
First written by Larry Wall, Perl is a remarkable program - language. It has the benefits of the flexibility of an interpreted - scripting language (such as shell script), combined with the speed - and power of a compiled language, such as C. - Bugzilla - - is maintained in Perl.
Q
- QA
"QA", - "Q/A", and - "Q.A." - are short for - "Quality Assurance". - In most large software development organizations, there is a team - devoted to ensuring the product meets minimum standards before - shipping. This team will also generally want to track the progress of - bugs over their life cycle, thus the need for the - "QA Contact" - - field in a bug.
R
- Relational DataBase Managment System (RDBMS)
A relational database management system is a database system - that stores information in tables that are related to each other. -
- Regular Expression (regexp)
A regular expression is an expression used for pattern matching. - Documentation -
S
- SGML -
SGML - - stands for - "Standard Generalized Markup Language". - Created in the 1980's to provide an extensible means to maintain - documentation based upon content instead of presentation, - SGML - - has withstood the test of time as a robust, powerful language. - XML - - - is the - "baby brother" - - of SGML; any valid - XML - - document it, by definition, a valid - SGML - - document. The document you are reading is written and maintained in - SGML, - and is also valid - XML - - if you modify the Document Type Definition.
T
- Target Milestone
Target Milestones are Product goals. They are configurable on a - per-Product basis. Most software development houses have a concept of - - "milestones" - - where the people funding a project expect certain functionality on - certain dates. Bugzilla facilitates meeting these milestones by - giving you the ability to declare by which milestone a bug will be - fixed, or an enhancement will be implemented.
- Tool Command Language (TCL)
TCL is an open source scripting language available for Windows, - Macintosh, and Unix based systems. Bugzilla 1.0 was written in TCL but - never released. The first release of Bugzilla was 2.0, which was when - it was ported to perl. -
Z
- Zarro Boogs Found
This is just a goofy way of saying that there were no bugs - found matching your query. When asked to explain this message, - Terry had the following to say: -
I've been asked to explain this ... way back when, when - Netscape released version 4.0 of its browser, we had a release - party. Naturally, there had been a big push to try and fix every - known bug before the release. Naturally, that hadn't actually - happened. (This is not unique to Netscape or to 4.0; the same thing - has happened with every software project I've ever seen.) Anyway, - at the release party, T-shirts were handed out that said something - like "Netscape 4.0: Zarro Boogs". Just like the software, the - T-shirt had no known bugs. Uh-huh. -
So, when you query for a list of bugs, and it gets no results, - you can think of this as a friendly reminder. Of *course* there are - bugs matching your query, they just aren't in the bugsystem yet... -
--Terry Weissman