From 58593ba9d058e7fdd2fbac2d45dafefcbc6bbb4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "barnboy%trilobyte.net" <> Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 00:25:24 +0000 Subject: Buncha' release updates. Moved all images to ./images so we don't have multiple copies of the same image, fixed these doc bugs (in no particular order): 94949 97070 97071 97114 96498 95970 96677 94953 96501 96679 97068 97191 97192 --- docs/html/Bugzilla-Guide.html | 2592 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------- docs/html/aboutthisguide.html | 4 +- docs/html/bzhacking.html | 231 ++++ docs/html/contributors.html | 3 +- docs/html/copyright.html | 3 +- docs/html/credits.html | 4 +- docs/html/cvs.html | 14 + docs/html/dbdoc.html | 4 +- docs/html/dbschema.html | 2 +- docs/html/dbschema.jpg | Bin 220048 -> 0 bytes docs/html/faq.html | 677 ++++++---- docs/html/future.html | 609 ++++++++- docs/html/geninstall.html | 14 +- docs/html/gfdl.html | 12 +- docs/html/gfdl_howto.html | 2 +- docs/html/glossary.html | 4 +- docs/html/granttables.html | 10 +- docs/html/how.html | 155 ++- docs/html/index.html | 167 +-- docs/html/installation.html | 45 +- docs/html/patches.html | 15 +- docs/html/programadmin.html | 130 +- docs/html/quicksearch.html | 10 +- docs/html/setperl.html | 2 +- docs/html/stepbystep.html | 65 +- docs/html/variant_sourceforge.html | 10 +- docs/html/variants.html | 10 +- docs/html/win32.html | 231 +++- docs/images/dbschema.jpg | Bin 0 -> 220048 bytes docs/images/dbschema.ps | 1733 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ docs/sgml/Bugzilla-Guide.sgml | 12 +- docs/sgml/about.sgml | 10 +- docs/sgml/administration.sgml | 97 ++ docs/sgml/database.sgml | 2 +- docs/sgml/dbschema.jpg | Bin 220048 -> 0 bytes docs/sgml/dbschema.ps | 1733 ------------------------ docs/sgml/faq.sgml | 172 +-- docs/sgml/future.sgml | 595 ++++++++- docs/sgml/installation.sgml | 160 ++- docs/sgml/integration.sgml | 8 + docs/sgml/patches.sgml | 98 ++ docs/sgml/using.sgml | 85 +- docs/txt/Bugzilla-Guide.txt | 1279 +++++++++++++++--- docs/xml/Bugzilla-Guide.xml | 12 +- docs/xml/about.xml | 10 +- docs/xml/administration.xml | 97 ++ docs/xml/database.xml | 2 +- docs/xml/faq.xml | 172 +-- docs/xml/installation.xml | 160 ++- docs/xml/integration.xml | 8 + docs/xml/patches.xml | 98 ++ docs/xml/using.xml | 85 +- 52 files changed, 8252 insertions(+), 3401 deletions(-) create mode 100644 docs/html/bzhacking.html delete mode 100644 docs/html/dbschema.jpg create mode 100644 docs/images/dbschema.jpg create mode 100644 docs/images/dbschema.ps delete mode 100644 docs/sgml/dbschema.jpg delete mode 100644 docs/sgml/dbschema.ps (limited to 'docs') diff --git a/docs/html/Bugzilla-Guide.html b/docs/html/Bugzilla-Guide.html index fc7f40771..6517baa09 100644 --- a/docs/html/Bugzilla-Guide.html +++ b/docs/html/Bugzilla-Guide.html @@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ CLASS="AFFILIATION" CLASS="ADDRESS" >

barnboy@NOSPAM.trilobyte.net

barnboy@trilobyte.net

zach@NOSPAM.zachlipton.com

zach AT zachlipton DOT com


3.2.1. Introduction
3.2.2. Installing the Prerequisites
3.2.5. DBI Perl Module
3.2.6. Data::Dumper Perl Module
3.2.7. MySQL related Perl Module Collection
3.2.8. TimeDate Perl Module Collection
3.2.9. GD Perl Module (1.8.3)
3.2.10. Chart::Base Perl Module (0.99c)
3.2.11. DB_File Perl Module
3.2.12. HTTP Server
3.2.13. Installing the Bugzilla Files
3.2.14. Setting Up the MySQL Database
3.2.15. Tweaking localconfig
3.2.16. Setting Up Maintainers Manually (Optional)
3.2.17. The Whining Cron (Optional)
3.2.18. Bug Graphs (Optional)
3.2.19. Securing MySQL
3.5.1. Modifying Your Running System
3.5.2. Upgrading From Previous Versions
3.5.6. UNIX Installation Instructions History
Additional Windows Tips
3.6.3. Bugzilla LDAP Integration
The Future of Bugzilla
7. Bugzilla Variants and Competitors
7.1. Red Hat Bugzilla
7.2. Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)
7.3. Issuezilla
7.4. Scarab
7.5. Perforce SCM
7.6. SourceForge
A. The Bugzilla FAQ
C.2.1. Bugzilla Database Basics
C.2.1.1. Bugzilla Database Tables
7. Bugzilla Variants and Competitors
7.1. Red Hat Bugzilla
7.2. Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)
7.3. Issuezilla
7.4. Scarab
7.5. Perforce SCM
7.6. SourceForge
D. Useful Patches and Utilities for BugzillaThe Quicksearch Utility
D.5. Hacking Bugzilla
2-2. Mozilla Webtools ComponentsMozilla's Bugzilla Components
3-1. Setting up bonsaitools symlink
3-2. Running checksetup.pl as the web user
3-3. Installing ActivePerl ppd Modules on Microsoft Windows
3-4. Removing encrypt() for Windows NT Bugzilla version 2.12 or earlier
4-1. Creating some Components
4-2. Common Use of Versions
4-3. A Different Use of Versions
4-4. Using SortKey with Target Milestone
4-5. When to Use Group Security
4-6. Creating a New Group
4-7. Bugzilla Groups
D-1. Using Setperl to set your perl path
1. A Sample Product
<barnboy@NOSPAM.trilobyte.netbarnboy@trilobyte.net> to correct them.

If you have any questions regarding this document, its copyright, or publishing this document in non-electronic form, - please contact Matthew P. Barnson. Remove "NOSPAM" from email address - to send. + please contact Matthew P. Barnson.

Terry Weissman - for initially converting Bugzilla from BugSplat! and writing the - README upon which this documentation is largely based. + for initially writing Bugzilla and creating the + README upon which the UNIX installation documentation is largely based.

Andrew Pearson, Spencer Smith, Eric Hanson, Kevin Brannen, Ron Teitelbaum +> Andrew Pearson, Spencer Smith, Eric Hanson, Kevin Brannen, Ron + Teitelbaum, Jacob Steenhagen, Joe Robins

scrollbox. Using the down arrow on the scrollbox, scroll down until you can see an entry - called "Webtools". Select this entry. + called "Bugzilla". Select this entry.

  • Did you notice that some of the boxes to the right changed - when you selected "Webtools"? Every Program (or Product) + when you selected "Bugzilla"? Every Program (or Product) has different Versions, Components, and Target Milestones associated with it. A "Version" is the number of a software program. @@ -2389,7 +2404,7 @@ NAME="AEN317" >

    Example 2-2. Mozilla Webtools ComponentsExample 2-2. Mozilla's Bugzilla Components

    Mozilla's "Webtools" Product is composed of several pieces (Components): +> Mozilla's "Bugzilla" Product is composed of several pieces (Components):

    post_bug.cgi, + show_bug.cgi and + process_bug.cgi. + docs/ directory and The Bugzilla Guide + (This document :) + processmail + checksetup.pl and whatever else it evolves into. + query.cgi and + buglist.cgi + reports.cgi and + duplicates.cgi + userprefs.cgi, saved queries, creating accounts, + changing passwords, logging in, etc. +
    BonsaiAdministration, + Administration of a bugzilla installation, including + editcomponents.cgi, + editgroups.cgi, + editkeywords.cgi, + editparams.cgi, + editproducts.cgi, + editusers.cgi, + editversions.cgi, and + sanitycheck.cgi. +
    Bugzilla-General, + Anything that doesn't fit in the other components, or spans + multiple components. +
    Creating/Changing Bugs, + Creating, changing, and viewing bugs. + enter_bug.cgi, - a tool to show recent changes to Mozilla
    BugzillaDocumentation, - a defect-tracking tool
    BuildEmail, - a tool to automatically compile source code - into machine-readable form
    DespotInstallation, - a program that controls access to the other Webtools
    LXRQuery/Buglist, - a utility that automatically marks up text files - to make them more readable
    MozBotReporting/Charting, - a "robot" that announces changes to Mozilla in Chat
    TestManagerUser Accounts, - a tool to help find bugs in Mozilla
    TinderboxUser Interface, - which displays reports from Build

    A different person is responsible for each of these Components. - Tara Hernandez keeps - the "Bugzilla" component up-to-date. -

  • 3.2.1. Introduction


    3.2.2. Installing the Prerequisites


    3.2.5. DBI Perl Module


    3.2.6. Data::Dumper Perl Module


    3.2.7. MySQL related Perl Module Collection


    3.2.8. TimeDate Perl Module Collection


    3.2.9. GD Perl Module (1.8.3)


    3.2.10. Chart::Base Perl Module (0.99c)


    3.2.11. DB_File Perl Module


    3.2.12. HTTP Server


    3.2.13. Installing the Bugzilla Files

    Alternately, you can simply run this perl one-liner to + change your path to perl in all the files in your Bugzilla + installation: +
    perl -pi -e 's@#!/usr/bonsaitools/bin/perl@/usr/bin/perl@' *cgi *pl Bug.pm
    +	    
    + Change the second path to perl to match your installation. +


    3.2.14. Setting Up the MySQL Database


    3.2.15. Tweaking localconfig


    3.2.16. Setting Up Maintainers Manually (Optional)


    3.2.17. The Whining Cron (Optional)


    3.2.18. Bug Graphs (Optional)


    3.2.19. Securing MySQL

    3.5.1. Modifying Your Running System


    3.5.2. Upgrading From Previous Versions


    3.5.6. UNIX Installation Instructions History

    The February 25, 1999 re-write of this page was done by Ry4an Brase <ry4an@ry4an.org>, with some edits by Terry Weissman, Bryce Nesbitt, Martin Pool, & Dan Mosedale (But - don't send bug reports to them; report them using bugzilla, at - http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi , project Webtools, - component Bugzilla). + don't send bug reports to them; report them using bugzilla, at http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Bugzilla ).

    This document was heavily modified again Wednesday, March 07 @@ -6255,7 +6396,7 @@ CLASS="COMMAND" >

  • Modify the invocation of all system() calls in all perl scripts in your Bugzilla directory. For instance, change this line in processmail: +> Modify the invocation of all system() calls in all perl + scripts in your Bugzilla directory. For instance, change + this line in processmail:
    system ("./processmail.pl",@ARGLIST);
    +> 
    +system ("./processmail.pl",@ARGLIST); 
     	    
    -to +> to
    system ("perl processmail.pl",@ARGLIST);
    +> 
    +system ("perl processmail.pl",@ARGLIST);
     	    

  • Add binmode() calls so attachments + will work (bug 62000). +

    Because Microsoft Windows based systems handle binary + files different than Unix based systems, you need to add + the following lines to + createattachment.cgi and + showattachment.cgi before the + require 'CGI.pl'; line.

  • binmode(STDIN);
    +binmode(STDOUT);
    +

    According to bug 62000, the perl documentation says that you should always use binmode() when dealing with binary files, but never when dealing with text files. That seems to suggest that rather than aribtrarily putting binmode() at the begining of the attachment files, there should be logic to determine if binmode() is needed or not. +

  • From Andrew Pearson:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters\ScriptMap +>

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters\ScriptMap
    +	      

    The keys should be called ".pl" and ".cgi", and both @@ -7273,11 +7523,12 @@ VALIGN="TOP" not necessary for Bugzilla 2.13 and - later. + later, which includes the current release, Bugzilla + 2.14.

    Replace this: +> Replace this:
     
    -SendSQL("SELECT encrypt(" . SqlQuote($enteredpwd) . ", " . SqlQuote(substr($realcryptpwd, 0, 2)) . ")"); 
    -my $enteredcryptpwd = FetchOneColumn(); 
    +>  
    +SendSQL("SELECT encrypt(" . SqlQuote($enteredpwd) . ", " . SQLQuote(substr($realcryptpwd, 0, 2)) . ")");
    +my $enteredcryptpwd = FetchOneColumn();
     	      
    - with this: +> +with this:
     
    -my $enteredcryptpwd = $enteredpwd  
    +>  
    +my $enteredcryptpwd = $enteredpwd   
     	      
    +> in cgi.pl.



    Chapter 4. Administering Bugzilla

    Or, I just got this cool thing installed. Now what the heck do I - do with it? - 3.6.3. Bugzilla LDAP Integration

    So you followed What follows is some late-breaking information on using the + LDAP authentication options with Bugzilla. The author has not + tested these (nor even formatted this section!) so please + contribute feedback to the newsgroup. +

    Mozilla::LDAP module
    +
    +The Mozilla::LDAP module allows you to use LDAP for authentication to
    +the Bugzilla system.  This module is not required if you are not using
    +LDAP.
    +
    +Mozilla::LDAP (aka PerLDAP) is available for download from
    +http://www.mozilla.org/directory.
    +
    +NOTE: The Mozilla::LDAP module requires Netscape's Directory SDK.
    +Follow the link for "Directory SDK for C" on that same page to
    +download the SDK first.  After you have installed this SDK, then
    +install the PerLDAP module.
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +
    +Post-Installation Checklist
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +Set useLDAP to "On" **only** if you will be using an LDAP directory
    +for authentication.  Be very careful when setting up this parameter;
    +if you set LDAP authentication, but do not have a valid LDAP directory
    +set up, you will not be able to log back in to Bugzilla once you log
    +out.  (If this happens, you can get back in by manually editing the
    +data/params file, and setting useLDAP back to 0.)
    +
    +If using LDAP, you must set the three additional parameters:
    +
    +Set LDAPserver to the name (and optionally port) of your LDAP server.
    +If no port is specified, it defaults to the default port of 389.  (e.g
    +"ldap.mycompany.com" or "ldap.mycompany.com:1234")
    +
    +Set LDAPBaseDN to the base DN for searching for users in your LDAP
    +directory.  (e.g. "ou=People,o=MyCompany")  uids must be unique under
    +the DN specified here.
    +
    +Set LDAPmailattribute to the name of the attribute in your LDAP
    +directory which contains the primary email address.  On most directory
    +servers available, this is "mail", but you may need to change this.
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +
    +(Not sure where this bit should go, but it's important that it be in
    +there somewhere...)
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +Using LDAP authentication for Bugzilla:
    +
    +The existing authentication scheme for Bugzilla uses email addresses
    +as the primary user ID, and a password to authenticate that user.  All
    +places within Bugzilla where you need to deal with user ID (e.g
    +assigning a bug) use the email address.
    +
    +The LDAP authentication builds on top of this scheme, rather than
    +replacing it.  The initial log in is done with a username and password
    +for the LDAP directory.  This then fetches the email address from LDAP
    +and authenticates seamlessly in the standard Bugzilla authentication
    +scheme using this email address.  If an account for this address
    +already exists in your Bugzilla system, it will log in to that
    +account.  If no account for that email address exists, one is created
    +at the time of login.  (In this case, Bugzilla will attempt to use the
    +"displayName" or "cn" attribute to determine the user's full name.)
    +
    +After authentication, all other user-related tasks are still handled
    +by email address, not LDAP username.  You still assign bugs by email
    +address, query on users by email address, etc.
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +      


    Chapter 4. Administering Bugzilla

    Or, I just got this cool thing installed. Now what the heck do I + do with it? +

    So you followed "

    You may find this example illustrative for how bug groups work. +

    Example 4-7. Bugzilla Groups

    Bugzilla Groups example
    +-----------------------
    +
    +For this example, let us suppose we have four groups, call them
    +Group1, Group2, Group3, and Group4.
    +
    +We have 5 users, User1, User2, User3, User4, User5.
    +
    +We have 8 bugs, Bug1, ..., Bug8.
    +
    +Group membership is defined by this chart:
    +(X denotes that user is in that group.)
    +(I apologize for the nasty formatting of this table.  Try viewing
    +it in a text-based browser or something for now. -MPB)
    +
    +      G G G G
    +      r r r r
    +      o o o o
    +      u u u u
    +      p p p p
    +      1 2 3 4
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User1|X| | | |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User2| |X| | |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User3|X| |X| |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User4|X|X|X| |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User5| | | | |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +
    +Bug restrictions are defined by this chart:
    +(X denotes that bug is restricted to that group.)
    +
    +     G G G G
    +     r r r r
    +     o o o o
    +     u u u u
    +     p p p p
    +     1 2 3 4
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug1| | | | |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug2| |X| | |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug3| | |X| |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug4| | | |X|
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug5|X|X| | |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug6|X| |X| |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug7|X|X|X| |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug8|X|X|X|X|
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +
    +Who can see each bug?
    +
    +Bug1 has no group restrictions.  Therefore, Bug1 can be seen by any
    +user, whatever their group membership.  This is going to be the only
    +bug that User5 can see, because User5 isn't in any groups.
    +
    +Bug2 can be seen by anyone in Group2, that is User2 and User4.
    +
    +Bug3 can be seen by anyone in Group3, that is User3 and User4.
    +
    +Bug4 can be seen by anyone in Group4.  Nobody is in Group4, so none of
    +these users can see Bug4.
    +
    +Bug5 can be seen by anyone who is in _both_ Group1 and Group2.  This
    +is only User4.  User1 cannot see it because he is not in Group2, and
    +User2 cannot see it because she is not in Group1.
    +
    +Bug6 can be seen by anyone who is in both Group1 and Group3.  This
    +would include User3 and User4.  Similar to Bug5, User1 cannot see Bug6
    +because he is not in Group3.
    +
    +Bug7 can be seen by anyone who is in Group1, Group2, and Group3.  This
    +is only User4.  All of the others are missing at least one of those
    +group priveleges, and thus cannot see the bug.
    +
    +Bug8 can be seen by anyone who is in Group1, Group2, Group3, and
    +Group4.  There is nobody in all four of these groups, so nobody can
    +see Bug8.  It doesn't matter that User4 is in Group1, Group2, and
    +Group3, since he isn't in Group4.
    +   

    +

    There is also a project, based upon somewhat dated Bugzilla + code, to integrate CVS and Bugzilla through CVS' ability to + email. Check it out at: + http://homepages.kcbbs.gen.nz/~tonyg/, under the + "cvszilla" link. +

    The future of Bugzilla is Bugzilla 3.0. Unfortunately, I do - not have more information about it right now, and most of what - went into the "future" section is now present. That stuff was - blue-sky a year ago; MattyT should have me a new document - sometime... +> Bugzilla's future is a constantly-changing thing, as various developers + "scratch an itch" when it comes to functionality. + Thus this section is very malleable, subject to change without notice, etc. + You'll probably also notice the lack of formatting. I apologize that it's + not quite as readable as the rest of the Guide. +

                                   Bugzilla Blue Sky
    +
    +Customisability
    +
    +   One of the major stumbling blocks of Bugzilla has been that it is too
    +   rigid and does not adapt itself well enough to the needs of an
    +   organisation.  This has led to organisations making changes to the
    +   Bugzilla code that need to be redone each new version of Bugzilla.
    +   Bugzilla should attempt to move away from this to a world where this
    +   doesn't need to occur.
    +
    +   Most of the subsections in this section are currently explicit design
    +   goals for the "Bugzilla 3" rewrite.  This does not necessarily mean
    +   that they will not occur before them in Bugzilla 2, but most are
    +   significant undertakings.
    +
    +  Field Customisation
    +
    +   Many installations wish to customise the fields that appear on bug
    +   reports.   Current versions of Bugzilla offer limited
    +   customisability.  In particular, some fields can be turned off.
    +
    +   However, many administrators wish to add their own fields, and rename
    +   or otherwise modify existing fields.  An architecture that supports
    +   this would be extraordinarily useful.
    +
    +   Indeed, many fields work similarly and could be abstracted into "field
    +   types", so that an administrator need write little or no code to
    +   support the new fields they desire.
    +
    +   Possible field types include text (eg status whiteboard), numbers,
    +   dates (eg report time), accounts (eg reporter, qa, cc), inter-bug
    +   relationships (dependencies, duplicates), option groups (platform, os,
    +   severity, priority, target milestone, version) etc.
    +
    +   Ideally an administrator could configure their fields through a
    +   Bugzilla interface that requires no code to be added.  However, it is
    +   highly unlikely this ideal will never be met, and in a similar way
    +   that office applications have scripting languages, Bugzilla should
    +   allow new field types to be written.
    +
    +   Similarly, a common desire is for resolutions to be added or removed.
    +
    +    Allocations
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +    Option Groups
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +    Relations
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +  Database Integrity
    +
    +   Furthermore, it is desirable for administrators to be able to specify
    +   rules that must or should apply between the fields on a bug report.
    +
    +   For example, you might wish to specify that a bug with status ASSIGNED
    +   must have a target milestone field that that is not untargetted.  Or
    +   that a bug with a certain number of votes should get ASSIGNED.  Or
    +   that the QA contact must be different from the assignee.
    +
    +   "Must" relationships could be implemented by refusing to make changes
    +   that violate the relationships, or alternatively, automatically
    +   updating certain fields in order to satisfy the criteria.  Which
    +   occurs should be up to the administrator.
    +
    +   "Should" relationships could be implemented by a combination of
    +   emitting warnings on the process bug page, the same on notification
    +   mails, or emitting periodic whine mails about the situation.  Again,
    +   which occurs should be up to the administrator.
    +
    +   It should also be possible for whine mails to be emitted for "must"
    +   relationships, as they might become violated through direct database
    +   access, Bugzilla bugs, or because they were there before the
    +   relationship was enforced.
    +
    +   As well as implementing intra-bug constraints, it would be useful to
    +   create inter-bug constraints.  For example, a bug that is dependent on
    +   another bug should not have an earlier milestone or greater priority
    +   than that bug.
    +
    +  Database Adaptability
    +
    +   Often an administrator desires that fields adapt to the values of
    +   other fields.  For example, the value of a field might determine the
    +   possible values of another field or even whether it appears (whether
    +   it is "applicable").
    +
    +   Limited adaptability is present in Bugzilla 2, and only on the
    +   "Product" field:
    +     * The possible values of the target milestone, version and component
    +       fields depend on the product.
    +     * UNCONFIRMED can be turned off for specific products.
    +     * Voting can be configured differently or turned off for different
    +       products, and there is a separate user vote limits for each
    +       product.
    +
    +   It would be good if more adaptability was present, both in terms of
    +   all fields relying on the product, as well as the ability to adapt
    +   based on the value of all fields.
    +
    +   Example ???
    +
    +   General adaptability raises the issue of circular references between
    +   fields causing problems.  One possible solution to this is to place
    +   the fields in a total ordering and require a field refer only to the
    +   previous fields.
    +
    +   In Bugzilla 2, changing the product of a bug meant a second page would
    +   appear that allowed you to choose a new milestone, component and
    +   version, as those fields adapted themselves to the new product.  This
    +   page could be generalised to support all instances where:
    +     * a field value must or might be changed because the possible values
    +       have changed
    +     * is going to drop off because it it is no longer applicable, and
    +       this should be confirmed
    +     * must be specified because it is suddenly applicable, and the
    +       default value, if one exists, might not be acceptable
    +
    +  Database Independence
    +
    +   Currently Bugzilla only runs on the MySQL database.  It would be
    +   desirable for Bugzilla to run on other databases, because:
    +     * Organisations may have existing database products they use and
    +       would prefer to run a homogenous environment.
    +     * Databases each have their own shortcomings, including MySQL.  An
    +       administrator might choose a database that would work better with
    +       their Bugzilla.
    +
    +   This raises the possibility that we could use features that are only
    +   present in some databases, by appropriately falling back.  For
    +   example, in the MySQL world, we live without:
    +     * record-level locking, instead we use table-level locking
    +     * referential and record constraints, instead we checking code
    +     * subselects, instead we use multiple queries and redundant "caches"
    +
    +  Multiple Front Ends
    +
    +   Currently Bugzilla is manipulated via the Web, and notifies via
    +   E-Mail.  It would be desirable for Bugzilla to easily support various
    +   front ends.
    +
    +   There is no reason that Bugzilla could not be controlled via a whole
    +   range of front ends, including Web, E-Mail, IRC, ICQ, etc, and
    +   similarly for how it notifies.  It's also possible that we could
    +   introduce a special Bugzilla client that uses its own protocol, for
    +   maximum user productivity.
    +
    +   Indeed a request reply might be returned via a totally different
    +   transport method than was use to submit the request.
    +
    +Internationalisation
    +
    +   Bugzilla currently supports only English.  All of the field names,
    +   user instructions, etc are written in English.  It would be desirable
    +   to allow "language packs" so Bugzilla can be easily used in
    +   non-English speaking locales.
    +
    +   To a degree field customisation supports this, because administrators
    +   could specify their own fields names anyway.  However, there will
    +   always be some basic facilities not covered by this, and it is
    +   desirable that the administrator's interface also is
    +   internationalisable.
    +
    +Better Searching
    +
    +  General Summary Reports
    +
    +   Sometimes, the normal querying page leaves a lot to be desired.  There
    +   are other facilities already in place or which people have asked for:
    +
    +   Most Doomed Reports - All Bugs or All Bugs In A Product, Categorised
    +   On Assignee, Shows and Counts Number of Bugs For Each Assignee
    +   Most Voted For Bugs - All Bugs, Categorised On Product, Shows Top Ten
    +   Bugs Voters Most Want Fixed
    +   Number of Open Bugs For An Assignee - Bug List, Categorised On
    +   Developers, Counts Number of Bugs In Category
    +
    +   The important thing to realise is that people want categorised reports
    +   on all sorts of things - a general summary report.
    +
    +   In a categorised report, you choose the subset of bugs you wish to
    +   operate on (similar to how you would specify a query), and then
    +   categorise them on one or more fields.
    +
    +   For each category you display the count of the number of things in
    +   that category.  You can optionally display the bugs themselves, or
    +   leave them out, just showing the counts.  And you can optionally limit
    +   the number of things (bugs or subcategories) that display in each
    +   category.
    +
    +   Such a mechanism would let you do all of the above and more.
    +   Applications of this mechanism would only be recognised once it was
    +   implemented.
    +
    +  Related Bugs
    +
    +   It would be nice to have a field where you could enter other bugs
    +   related to the current bug.  It would be handy for navigation and
    +   possibly even finding duplicates.
    +
    +  Column Specification Support
    +
    +   Currently bug lists use the columns that you last used.  This doesn't
    +   work well for "prepackaged queries", where you followed a link.  You
    +   can probably add a column by specifying a sort column, but this is
    +   difficult and suboptimal.
    +
    +   Furthermore, I find that when I want to add a column to a bug list,
    +   it's usually a one off and I would prefer it to go away for the next
    +   query.  Hence, it would be nice to specify the columns that appear on
    +   the bug list (and general summary report) pages.  The default query
    +   mechanism should be able to let you specify your default columns.
    +
    +  Advanced Querying Redesign
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +Keywords
    +
    +   People have a need to apply tags to bugs.  In the beginning, people
    +   placed designators in the summary and status whiteboard.  However,
    +   these fields were not designed for that, and so there were many flaws
    +   with this system:
    +     * They pollute the field with information that was never intended to
    +       be present.
    +     * Removing them with a bulk change is a difficult problem that has
    +       too many pitfalls to implement.
    +     * You can easily get the capitalisation wrong.
    +
    +   Then dependencies were introduced (when?), and people realised that
    +   they could use them for "tracking bugs".  Again, dependencies were not
    +   designed for that, and so there were more flaws, albeit different
    +   ones, including:
    +     * They aren't really bugs, so it's difficult to distinguish issues
    +       from bugs.
    +     * They can pollute bugs counts, and you must somehow exclude them
    +       from queries.
    +     * There is a whole lot of useless information on them.  They have an
    +       assignee but there is nothing to fix, and that person can get
    +       whined at by Bugzilla.  They have target milestones which must be
    +       manually maintained.  And so on.
    +
    +   Finally, keywords were introduced (when?) for this purpose to remove
    +   the need for these two systems.  Unfortunately, the simple keywords
    +   implementation was itself lacking in certain features provided by the
    +   two previous systems, and has remained almost unchanged since its
    +   inception.  Furthermore, it could not be forseen that in large
    +   installations, the sheer number of keywords could become unwieldly and
    +   could lead to a movement back to the other systems.
    +
    +   The keywords system was the right idea, however, and it remains so.
    +   Fixing the keywords system is one of the most important Bugzilla
    +   issues.
    +
    +  Bringing Keywords Up To Par
    +
    +   For the most part, keywords are very good at what they do.  It is easy
    +   to add and remove them (unlike summary/whiteboard designators), we can
    +   simply see what issues are present on a bug (unlike tracking bugs),
    +   and we do not confuse bugs with issues (unlike tracking bugs).
    +
    +   However, there are still some "regressions" in the keyword system over
    +   previous systems:
    +     * Users wish to view the "dependency forest" of a keyword.  While a
    +       dependency tree is of one bug, a dependency forest is of a bug
    +       list, and consists of a dependency tree for each member of the bug
    +       list.  Users can work around this with tracking bugs by creating a
    +       tracking bug and viewing the dependency tree of that tracking bug.
    +     * Users wish to specify the keywords that initially apply to a bug,
    +       but instead they must edit the bug once it has already been
    +       submitted.  They can work around this with summary designators,
    +       since they specify the summary at reporting time.
    +     * Users wish to store or share a bug list that contains a keywords
    +       column.  Hence they wish to be able to specify what columns appear
    +       in the bug list URL, as mentioned earlier.  They can work around
    +       this using summary designators, since almost all bug lists have a
    +       summary column.
    +     * Users wish to be able to view keywords on a bug list.  However
    +       often they are only interested in a small number of keywords.
    +       Having a bug list with a keywords column means that all keywords
    +       will appear on a bug list.  This can take a substantial amount of
    +       space where a bug has a lot of keywords, since the table columns
    +       in Bugzilla adjust to the largest cell in that column.  Hence
    +       users wish to be able to specify which keywords should appear in
    +       the bug list.  In a very real sense, each keyword is a field unto
    +       itself.  Users can work around this by using summary designators,
    +       since they keywords will share the space in the summary column.
    +     * Users wish to know when bugs with a specific issue are resolved.
    +       Hence they wish to be able to receive notifications on all the
    +       bugs with a specific keyword.  The introduction a generic watching
    +       facility (also for things like watching all bugs in a component)
    +       would achieve this.  Users can work around this by using tracking
    +       bugs, as dependencies have an existing way of detecting fixes to
    +       bug a bug was blocked by.
    +
    +  Dealing With The Keyword Overload
    +
    +   At the time of writing, the mozilla.org installation has approximately
    +   100 keywords, and many more would be in use if the keywords system
    +   didn't have the problems it does.
    +
    +   Such a large number of keywords introduces logistical problems:
    +     * It must be easy for someone to learn what a keyword means.  If a
    +       keyword is buried within a lot of other keywords, it can be
    +       difficult to find.
    +     * It must be easy to see what keywords are on a bug.  If the number
    +       of keywords is large, then this can be difficult.
    +
    +   These lead some people to feel that there are "too many keywords".
    +
    +   These problems are not without solutions however.  It is harder to
    +   find a list of designators or tracking bugs than it is a list of
    +   keywords.
    +
    +   The essential problem is it needs to be easy to find the keywords
    +   we're interested in through the mass of keywords.
    +
    +    Keyword Applicability
    +
    +   As has been previously mentioned, it is desirable for fields to be
    +   able to adapt to the values of other fields.  This is certainly true
    +   for keywords.  Many keywords are simply not relevant because of the
    +   bugs product, component, etc.
    +
    +   Hence, by introducing keyword applicability, and not displaying
    +   keywords that are not relevant to the current bug, or clearly
    +   separating them, we can make the keyword overload problem less
    +   significant.
    +
    +   Currently when you click on "keywords" on a bug, you get a list of all
    +   bugs.  It would be desirable to introduce a list of keywords tailored
    +   to a specific bug, that reports, in order:
    +     * the keywords currently on the bug
    +     * the keywords not currently on the bug, but applicable to the bug
    +     * optionally, the keywords not applicable to the bug
    +
    +   This essentially orders the keywords into three groups, where each
    +   group is more important than the previous, and therefore appears
    +   closer to the top.
    +
    +    Keyword Grouping & Ordering
    +
    +   We could further enhance both the global and bug specific keyword list
    +   by grouping keywords.  We should always have a "flat" view of
    +   keywords, but other ways of viewing the keywords would be useful too.
    +
    +   If keyword applicability was implemented, we could group keywords
    +   based on their "applicability condition".  Keywords that apply to all
    +   bugs could be separated from keywords that apply to a specific
    +   product, both on the global keyword list and the keyword list of a bug
    +   that is in that product.
    +
    +   We could specify groups of our own.  For example, many keywords are in
    +   a mutually exclusive group, essentially like radio buttons in a user
    +   interface.  This creates a natural grouping, although other groupings
    +   occur (which depends on your keywords).
    +
    +   It is possible that we could use collapsing/expanding operations on
    +   "twisties" to only should the groups we are interested in.
    +
    +   And instead of grouping keywords, we could order them on some metric
    +   of usefulness, such as:
    +     * when the keyword was last added to a bug
    +     * how many bugs the keyword is on
    +     * how many open bugs the keyword is on
    +
    +    Opting Out Of Keywords
    +
    +   Not all people are going to care about all keywords.  Therefore it
    +   makes sense that you may wish to specify which keywords you are
    +   interested in, either on the bug page, or on notifications.
    +
    +   Other keywords will therefore not bother users who are not interested
    +   in them.
    +
    +  Keyword Security
    +
    +   Currently all keywords are available and editable to all people with
    +   edit bugs access.  This situation is clearly suboptimal.
    +
    +   Although relying on good behaviour for people to not do what they
    +   shouldn't works reasonably well on the mozilla.org, it is better to
    +   enforce that behaviour - it can be breached through malice, accident
    +   or ignorance.
    +
    +   And in the situation where it is desirable for the presence or absence
    +   of a keyword not to be revealed, organisations either need to be
    +   content with the divulgence, or not use keywords at all.
    +
    +   In the situation where they choose to divulge, introducing the ability
    +   to restrict who can see the keyword would also reduce keyword
    +   overload.
    +
    +  Personal Keywords
    +
    +   Keywords join together a set of bugs which would otherwise be
    +   unrelated in the bug system.
    +
    +   We allow users to store their own queries.  However we don't allow
    +   them to store their own keywords on a bug.  This reduces the
    +   usefulness of personal queries, since you cannot join a set of
    +   unrelated bugs together in a way that you wish.  Lists of bug numbers
    +   can work, by they can only be used for small lists, and it is
    +   impossible to share a list between multiple queries.
    +
    +   Personal keywords are necessary to replace personal tracking bugs, as
    +   they would not pollute the keyword space.  Indeed, on many
    +   installations this could remove some keywords out of the global
    +   keyword space.
    +
    +   In a similar vein and with similar effects, group keywords could be
    +   introduced that are only available to members of a specific group.
    +
    +  Keyword Restrictions
    +
    +   Keywords are not islands unto themselves.  Along with their potential
    +   to be involved in the inter-field relationships mentioned earlier,
    +   keywords can also be related to other keywords.
    +
    +   Essentially, there are two possibilities:
    +     * a set of keywords are mutually exclusive
    +     * the presence of a keyword implies another keyword must be present
    +
    +   Introduction of the ability to specify these restrictions would have
    +   benefits.
    +
    +   If mutually exclusive keywords were present on a bug, their removal
    +   would fix up the database, as well as reducing the number of keywords
    +   on that bug.
    +
    +   In the situation where a keyword implies another keyword, there are
    +   two possiblities as to how to handle the situation.
    +
    +   The first is automatically add the keyword.  This would fix up the
    +   database, but it would increase the number of keywords on a bug.
    +
    +   The second is to automatically remove the keyword, and alter queries
    +   so they pick up the first keyword as well as the removed keyword.
    +   This would fix up the database and reduce the number of keywords on a
    +   bug, but it might confuse users who don't see the keyword.
    +   Alternatively, the implied keywords could be listed separately.
    +
    +Notifications
    +
    +   Every time a bug gets changed notifications get sent out to people
    +   letting them know about what changes have been made.  This is a
    +   significant feature, and all sorts of questions can be raised, but
    +   they mainly boil down to when they should be sent and what they should
    +   look like.
    +
    +  Changes You're Interested In
    +
    +   As of version 2.12 users can specify what sort of changes they are
    +   interested in receiving notifications for.  However, this is still
    +   limited.  As yet there is no facility to specify which keywords you
    +   care about, and whether you care about changes to fields such as the
    +   QA contact changes.
    +   Furthermore, often an unnecessary comment will go along with a change,
    +   either because it is required, or the commenter is ignorant of how the
    +   new system works.  While explaining why you did something is useful,
    +   merely commenting on what you did is not because that information is
    +   already accessible view "Bug Activity".
    +
    +   Because of this unnecessary comment, a lot of changes that would
    +   otherwise not generate notifications for certain people do so, because
    +   few people are willing to turn off comments.  One way to deal with
    +   this problem is to allow people to specify that their comments are
    +   purely explanatory, and that anyone who is not interested in the
    +   change will not be interested in the comment.
    +
    +   Furthermore, one possible rationale for unnecessary comments is that
    +   the bug activity does not display on the normal page and hence it is
    +   difficult to cross reference comments and actions.  Hence, it would be
    +   beneficial to be able to do this.
    +
    +  Bugs You're Watching
    +
    +   Currently to receive a notification about a bug you need to have your
    +   name on it.  This is suboptimal because you need to know about a bug
    +   before you can receive notifications on it.  Often you are interested
    +   in any bug with a field set to a specific value.  For example, you
    +   might be interested in all bugs with a specific product, component or
    +   keyword.
    +
    +   If someone could automatically receive notifications about these bugs,
    +   it would make everyone's lives easier.  Currently the default assignee
    +   and QA contact for a component will automatically receive
    +   notifications for
    +
    +   Question:  This moves half way to a BCC.
    +
    +  Bulk Changes
    +
    +   A very useful feature of Bugzilla is the ability to perform an action
    +   on multiple bugs at once.  However, this means that similar
    +   notifications are currently generated for each bug modified.
    +
    +   This can result in a torrent of notifications that can annoy.
    +
    +   Furthermore, since the bugs are all changed close to each other in
    +   time, it is easy for someone to mass delete all the notifications
    +   generated by a bulk change and miss an unrelated notification in the
    +   middle.
    +
    +   These factors can lead to a tendency for people to delay bulk changes,
    +   or avoid them entirely.  This is suboptimal.
    +
    +   It would be better if a bulk change generated only one notification
    +   mail.  This would vastly reduce the annoyance factor, and prevent
    +   accidental deletion of notifications.
    +
    +   One problem with this change is that some people separate out
    +   notifications using filtering.  This means that they would no longer
    +   be match parts of a bulk change under different filtering rules.
    +
    +   One possibility to resolve this is to allow people to specify groups
    +   of bugs.  All bugs within a group would go into the same
    +   notification.  The filters could then distinguish the different bug
    +   groups.
    +
    +   In any case, it is likely there would need to be a transition period
    +   to allow people to alter their filters.
    +
    +Nominations
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +Linking Bugzilla Installations
    +
    +   The first example of linking Bugzilla installations together has is
    +   the introduction of bug moving in version 2.12.  However, it would be
    +   useful to be able to link installations in more ways.
    +     * Dependencies and other relationships between bugs in other
    +       installations.  This is difficult because dependencies are
    +       synchronised on both bugs, so the installation that changes
    +       dependencies would need to communicate the new state to the other
    +       installation.  It would also mean that relationships and
    +       notifications that refer to other bugs would need to communicate
    +       with the other installation.
    +     * References to bugs in other installations.  Currently if you type
    +       "bug XXX" or "bug #XXX" where XXX is a number, you get an
    +       automatic hyperlink to that bug.  It would be useful if you could
    +       say "YYY bug #XXX" where YYY is the name of another installation.
    +
    +Retirement
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +Whiny Reports
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +  Group Redesign
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +  Hard Wrapping Comments
    +
    +   Currently Bugzilla "hard wraps" its comments to a specific line size,
    +   similar to E-Mail.  This has various problems:
    +     * The way it currently works, wrapping is done in the browser at
    +       submission time using a non-standard HTML extension not supported
    +       by some (uncommon) browsers.  These browsers generate comments
    +       that scroll off the right side of the screen.
    +     * Because comments are of fixed width, when you expand your browser
    +       window, the comments do not expand to fit available space.
    +
    +   It would be much better to move to a world of soft wrapping, where the
    +   browser wraps the text at display time, similar to a world processor.
    +    And as in a word processor, soft wrapping does not preclude the
    +   insertion of newlines.
    +
    +   Hard wrapping is too entrenched into text E-Mail to fix, but we can
    +   fix Bugzilla without causing any problems.  The old content will still
    +   be wrapped too early, but at least new content will work.
    +   


    Appendix A. The Bugzilla FAQChapter 7. Bugzilla Variants and Competitors

    I created this section to answer questions about Bugzilla + competitors and variants, then found a wonderful site which covers + an awful lot of what I wanted to discuss. Rather than quote it in + its entirety, I'll simply refer you here: http://linas.org/linux/pm.html

    1. General Questions
    A.1.1. Where can I find information about Bugzilla?
    A.1.2. What license is Bugzilla distributed under? -
    A.1.3. How do I get commercial support for Bugzilla? -
    A.1.4. What major companies or projects are currently using Bugzilla - for bug-tracking? -
    A.1.5. Who maintains Bugzilla? -

    7.1. Red Hat Bugzilla

    Red Hat Bugzilla is probably the most popular Bugzilla variant + on the planet. One of the major benefits of Red Hat Bugzilla is + the ability to work with Oracle, MySQL, and PostGreSQL databases + serving as the back-end, instead of just MySQL. Dave Lawrence + has worked very hard to keep Red Hat Bugzilla up-to-date, and + many people prefer the snappier-looking page layout of Red Hat + Bugzilla to the default Mozilla-standard formatting. +

    URL: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/


    7.2. Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)

    Fenris can be found at http://fenris.lokigames.com. It is a fork from Bugzilla.


    7.3. Issuezilla

    Issuezilla is another fork from Bugzilla, and seems nearly + as popular as the Red Hat Bugzilla fork. Some Issuezilla team + members are regular contributors to the Bugzilla mailing + list/newsgroup. Issuezilla is not the primary focus of + bug-tracking at tigris.org, however. Their Java-based + bug-tracker, Scarab, a newfangled Java-based issue tracker, is under heavy development + and looks promising!

    URL: http://issuezilla.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectHome


    7.4. Scarab

    Scarab is a promising new bug-tracking system built using + Java Serlet technology. As of this writing, no source code has + been released as a package, but you can obtain the code from + CVS. +

    URL: http://scarab.tigris.org


    7.5. Perforce SCM

    Although Perforce isn't really a bug tracker, it can be used + as such through the "jobs" functionality.

    http://www.perforce.com/perforce/technotes/note052.htmlhttp://www.perforce.com/perforce/technotes/note052.html


    7.6. SourceForge

    SourceForge is more of a way of coordinating geographically + distributed free software and open source projects over the + Internet than strictly a bug tracker, but if you're hunting for + bug-tracking for your open project, it may be just what the + software engineer ordered!

    URL: http://www.sourceforge.net


    Appendix A. The Bugzilla FAQ

    1. General Questions
    A.1.1. Where can I find information about Bugzilla?
    A.1.2. What license is Bugzilla distributed under? +
    A.1.3. How do I get commercial support for Bugzilla? +
    A.1.4. What major companies or projects are currently using Bugzilla + for bug-tracking? +
    A.1.5. Who maintains Bugzilla? +
    A.1.6. How does Bugzilla stack up against other bug-tracking databases?
    A.1.7. How do I change my user name in Bugzilla?
    A.1.8. Why doesn't Bugzilla offer this or that feature or compatability with this other tracking software?
    A.1.9. Why MySQL? I'm interested in seeing Bugzilla run on Oracle/Sybase/Msql/PostgreSQL/MSSQL?
    A.1.10. Why do the scripts say "/usr/bonsaitools/bin/perl" instead of "/usr/bin/perl" or something else?
    A.2.1. What about Red Hat Bugzilla?
    A.2.2. What are the primary benefits of Red Hat Bugzilla?
    A.2.3. What's the current status of Red Hat Bugzilla?
    A.3.1. What is Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)?
    A.4.1. Is Bugzilla web-based or do you have to have specific software or specific operating system on your machine?
    A.4.2. Has anyone you know of already done any Bugzilla integration with Perforce (SCM software)?
    A.4.3. Does Bugzilla allow the user to track multiple projects?
    A.4.4. If I am on many projects, and search for all bugs assigned to me, will Bugzilla list them for me and allow me to sort by project, severity etc?
    A.4.5. Does Bugzilla allow attachments (text, screenshots, urls etc)? If yes, are there any that are NOT allowed?
    A.4.6. Does Bugzilla allow us to define our own priorities and levels? Do we have complete freedom to change the labels of fields and format of them, and the choice of acceptable values? @@ -10043,7 +11229,7 @@ HREF="#AEN1809" >
    A.4.7. The index.html page doesn't show the footer. It's really annoying to have to go to the querypage just to check my "my bugs" link. How do I get a footer on static HTML pages? @@ -10051,35 +11237,35 @@ HREF="#AEN1814" >
    A.4.8. Does Bugzilla provide any reporting features, metrics, graphs, etc? You know, the type of stuff that management likes to see. :)
    A.4.9. Is there email notification and if so, what do you see when you get an email? Do you see bug number and title or is it only the number?
    A.4.10. Can email notification be set up to send to multiple people, some on the To List, CC List, BCC List etc?
    A.4.11. If there is email notification, do users have to have any particular type of email application?
    A.4.12. If I just wanted to track certain bugs, as they go through life, can I set it up to alert me via email whenever that bug changes, whether it be owner, status or description etc.? @@ -10087,7 +11273,7 @@ HREF="#AEN1845" >
    A.4.13. Does Bugzilla allow data to be imported and exported? If I had outsiders write up a bug report using a MS Word bug template, could that template be imported into "matching" fields? If I wanted to take the results of a query @@ -10096,75 +11282,67 @@ HREF="#AEN1850" >
    A.4.14. Does Bugzilla allow fields to be added, changed or deleted? If I want to - customize the bug submission form to meet our needs, can I do that using our - terminology? -
    A.4.15. Has anyone converted Bugzilla to another language to be used in other countries? Is it localizable?
    A.4.16. A.4.15. Can a user create and save reports? Can they do this in Word format? Excel format?
    A.4.17. A.4.16. Can a user re-run a report with a new project, same query?
    A.4.18. A.4.17. Can a user modify an existing report and then save it into another name?
    A.4.19. A.4.18. Does Bugzilla have the ability to search by word, phrase, compound search?
    A.4.20. A.4.19. Can the admin person establish separate group and individual user privileges?
    A.4.21. A.4.20. Does Bugzilla provide record locking when there is simultaneous access to the same bug? Does the second person get a notice that the bug is in use or how are they notified?
    A.4.22. A.4.21. Are there any backup features provided?
    A.4.23. A.4.22. Can users be on the system while a backup is in progress?
    A.4.24. A.4.23. What type of human resources are needed to be on staff to install and maintain Bugzilla? Specifically, what type of skills does the person need to have? I need to find out if we were to go with Bugzilla, what types of @@ -10173,8 +11351,8 @@ HREF="#AEN1909"
    A.4.25. A.4.24. What time frame are we looking at if we decide to hire people to install and maintain the Bugzilla? Is this something that takes hours or weeks to install and a couple of hours per week to maintain and customize or is this @@ -10183,8 +11361,8 @@ HREF="#AEN1916"
    A.4.26. A.4.25. Is there any licensing fee or other fees for using Bugzilla? Any out-of-pocket cost other than the bodies needed as identified above?
    A.5.1. How do I download and install Bugzilla?
    A.5.2. How do I install Bugzilla on Windows NT?
    A.5.3. Is there an easy way to change the Bugzilla cookie name?
    A.6.1. How do I completely disable MySQL security if it's giving me problems (I've followed the instructions in the installation section of this guide!)?
    A.6.2. Are there any security problems with Bugzilla?
    A.6.3. I've implemented the security fixes mentioned in Chris Yeh's security advisory of 5/10/2000 advising not to run MySQL as root, and am running into problems with MySQL no longer working correctly. @@ -10257,48 +11435,48 @@ HREF="#FAQ_EMAIL" >
    A.7.1. I have a user who doesn't want to receive any more email from Bugzilla. How do I stop it entirely for this user?
    A.7.2. I'm evaluating/testing Bugzilla, and don't want it to send email to anyone but me. How do I do it?
    A.7.3. I want whineatnews.pl to whine at something more, or other than, only new bugs. How do I do it?
    A.7.4. I don't like/want to use Procmail to hand mail off to bug_email.pl. What alternatives do I have?
    A.7.5. How do I set up the email interface to submit/change bugs via email?
    A.7.6. Email takes FOREVER to reach me from bugzilla -- it's extremely slow. What gives?
    A.7.7. How come email never reaches me from bugzilla changes?
    A.8.1. I've heard Bugzilla can be used with Oracle?
    A.8.2. Bugs are missing from queries, but exist in the database (and I can pull them up by specifying the bug ID). What's wrong?
    A.8.3. I think my database might be corrupted, or contain invalid entries. What do I do?
    A.8.4. I want to manually edit some entries in my database. How?
    A.8.5. I try to add myself as a user, but Bugzilla always tells me my password is wrong.
    A.8.6. I think I've set up MySQL permissions correctly, but bugzilla still can't connect.
    A.8.7. How do I synchronize bug information among multiple different Bugzilla databases?
    A.8.8. Why do I get bizarre errors when trying to submit data, particularly problems with "groupset"?
    A.8.9. How come even after I delete bugs, the long descriptions show up?
    A.9.1. What is the easiest way to run Bugzilla on Win32 (Win98+/NT/2K)?
    A.9.2. Is there a "Bundle::Bugzilla" equivalent for Win32?
    A.9.3. CGI's are failing with a "something.cgi is not a valid Windows NT application" error. Why?
    A.9.4. Can I have some general instructions on how to make Bugzilla on Win32 work?
    A.9.5. I'm having trouble with the perl modules for NT not being able to talk to to the database.
    A.10.1. The query page is very confusing. Isn't there a simpler way to query?
    A.10.2. I'm confused by the behavior of the "accept" button in the Show Bug form. Why doesn't it assign the bug to me when I accept it?
    A.10.3. I can't upload anything into the database via the "Create Attachment" link. What am I doing wrong?
    A.10.4. Email submissions to Bugzilla that have attachments end up asking me to save it as a "cgi" file.
    A.10.5. How do I change a keyword in Bugzilla, once some bugs are using it?
    A.11.1. What bugs are in Bugzilla right now?
    A.11.2. How can I change the default priority to a null value? For instance, have the default priority be "---" instead of "P2"?
    A.11.3. What's the best way to submit patches? What guidelines should I follow?

    A.1.1.

    A.1.2.

    A.1.3.

    A.1.4.

    A.1.5.

    A.1.6.

    A.1.7.

    A.1.8.

    A.1.9. Terry Weissman answers,

    A.1.10.

    Here's Terry Weissman's comment, for some historical context:

    A.2.1.

    Dave Lawrence, the original Red Hat Bugzilla maintainer, mentions:

    A.2.2. Dave Lawrence:

    A.2.3. Dave Lawrence:

    A.3.1.

    A.4.1.

    A.4.2.

    A.4.3.

    A.4.4.

    A.4.5.

    A.4.6.

    There is no GUI for adding fields to Bugzilla at this + time. You can follow development of this feature at + http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91037 +

    A.4.7.

    This was a late-breaking question for the Guide, so I just have to - quote the relevant newsgroup thread on it. -

    It's possible to get the footer on the static index page using + Server Side Includes (SSI). The trick to doing this is making + sure that your web server is set up to allow SSI and specifically, + the #exec directive. You should also rename index.html + to index.shtml. +

    > AFAIK, most sites (even if they have SSI enabled) won't have #exec cmd
    -> enabled.  Perhaps what would be better is a #include virtual and a
    -> footer.cgi the basically has the "require 'CGI.pl' and PutFooter command.
    ->
    -> Please note that under most configurations, this also requires naming
    -> the file from index.html to index.shtml (and making sure that it will
    -> still be reconized as an index).  Personally, I think this is better on
    -> a per-installation basis (perhaps add something to the FAQ that says how
    -> to do this).
    -
    -Good point.  Yeah, easy enough to do, that it shouldn't be a big deal for
    -someone to take it on if they want it.  FAQ is a good place for it.
    -
    -> Dave Miller wrote:
    ->
    ->> I did a little experimenting with getting the command menu and footer on
    ->> the end of the index page while leaving it as an HTML file...
    ->>
    ->> I was successful. :)
    ->>
    ->> I added this line:
    ->>
    ->> 
    ->>
    ->> Just before the </BODY> </HTML> at the end of the file.  And it worked.
    ->>
    ->> Thought I'd toss that out there.  Should I check this in?  For those that
    ->> have SSI disabled, it'll act like a comment, so I wouldn't think it would
    ->> break anything.
    -   

    After you've done all that, you can add the following line to + index.shtml: +
    <!--#exec cmd="/usr/bin/perl -e &quot;require 'CGI.pl'; PutFooter();&quot;" -->
    +

    This line will be replaced with the actual HTML for the footer + when the page is requested, so you should put this line where you + want the footer to appear. +

    Because this method depends on being able to use a #exec directive, + and most ISP's will not allow that, there is an alternative method. + You could have a small script (such as api.cgi) + that basically looks like: +
    #!/usr/bonsaitools/bin/perl -w
    +
    +require 'globals.pl';
    +
    +if ($::FORM{sub} eq 'PutFooter') {
    +    PutFooter();
    +} else {
    +    die 'api.cgi was incorrectly called';
    +}
    + and then put this line in index.shtml. +
    <!--#include virtual="api.cgi?sub=PutFooter"-->
    +

    This still requires being able to use Server Side Includes, if + this simply will not work for you, see bug 80183 + for a third option. +

    A.4.8.

    A.4.9.

    A.4.10.

    A.4.11.

    A.4.12.

    A.4.13.

    As for data import, any application can send data to Bugzilla through - the HTTP protocol, or through Mozilla's XML API. However, it seems - kind of silly to put another front-end in front of Bugzilla; - it makes more sense to create a simplified bug submission form in - HTML. You can find an excellent example at - http://www.mozilla.org/quality/help/bugzilla-helper.html -

    A.4.14. Does Bugzilla allow fields to be added, changed or deleted? If I want to - customize the bug submission form to meet our needs, can I do that using our - terminology? -

    Yes. -

    As for data import, any application can send data to Bugzilla through + the HTTP protocol, or through Mozilla's XML API. However, it seems + kind of silly to put another front-end in front of Bugzilla; + it makes more sense to create a simplified bug submission form in + HTML. You can find an excellent example at + http://www.mozilla.org/quality/help/bugzilla-helper.html +

    A.4.15. A.4.14. Has anyone converted Bugzilla to another language to be used in other countries? Is it localizable?

    A.4.16. A.4.15. Can a user create and save reports? Can they do this in Word format? Excel format?

    A.4.17. A.4.16. Can a user re-run a report with a new project, same query?

    A.4.18. A.4.17. Can a user modify an existing report and then save it into another name?

    A.4.19. A.4.18. Does Bugzilla have the ability to search by word, phrase, compound search?

    A.4.20. A.4.19. Can the admin person establish separate group and individual user privileges?

    A.4.21. A.4.20. Does Bugzilla provide record locking when there is simultaneous access to the same bug? Does the second person get a notice that the bug is in use or how are they notified? @@ -12002,10 +13284,10 @@ CLASS="QANDAENTRY" CLASS="QUESTION" >

    A.4.22. A.4.21. Are there any backup features provided?

    A.4.23. A.4.22. Can users be on the system while a backup is in progress?

    A.4.24. A.4.23. What type of human resources are needed to be on staff to install and maintain Bugzilla? Specifically, what type of skills does the person need to have? I need to find out if we were to go with Bugzilla, what types of @@ -12093,10 +13375,10 @@ CLASS="QANDAENTRY" CLASS="QUESTION" >

    A.4.25. A.4.24. What time frame are we looking at if we decide to hire people to install and maintain the Bugzilla? Is this something that takes hours or weeks to install and a couple of hours per week to maintain and customize or is this @@ -12124,10 +13406,10 @@ CLASS="QANDAENTRY" CLASS="QUESTION" >

    A.4.26. A.4.25. Is there any licensing fee or other fees for using Bugzilla? Any out-of-pocket cost other than the bodies needed as identified above?

    A.5.1.

    A.5.2.

    A.5.3.

    A.6.1.

    A.6.2.

    A.6.3.

    A.7.1.

    A.7.2.

    A.7.3.

    A.7.4. You can call bug_email.pl directly from your aliases file, with an entry like this:

    A.7.5.

    A.7.6. If you are using an alternate Mail Transport Agent (MTA other than sendmail), make sure the options given in the "processmail" script for all - instances of "sendmail" are correct for your MTA. If you are using Sendmail, - you may wish to delete the "-ODeliveryMode=deferred" option in the - "processmail" script for every invocation of "sendmail". (Be sure and leave - the "-t" option, though!) -

    A better alternative is to change the "-O" option to - "-ODeliveryMode=background". This prevents Sendmail from hanging your - Bugzilla Perl processes if the domain to which it must send mail - is unavailable. + instances of "sendmail" are correct for your MTA.

    This is now a configurable parameter called "sendmailnow", available - from editparams.cgi. +> If you are using Sendmail, try enabling "sendmailnow" in editparams.cgi. + If you are using Postfix, you will also need to enable "sendmailnow".

    A.7.7.

    A.8.1.

    A.8.2.

    A.8.3.

    Run the "sanity check" utility (./sanitycheck.cgi in the bugzilla_home - directory) to see! If it all comes back, you're OK. If it doesn't come back - OK (i.e. any red letters), there are certain things Bugzilla can recover - from and certain things it can't. If it can't auto-recover, I hope you're - familiar with mysqladmin commands or have installed another way to manage - your database... +> Run the "sanity check" utility + (./sanitycheck.cgi in the + Bugzilla_home directory) from your web browser to see! If + it finishes without errors, you're + probably OK. If it doesn't come back + OK (i.e. any red letters), there are certain things + Bugzilla can recover from and certain things it can't. If + it can't auto-recover, I hope you're familiar with + mysqladmin commands or have installed another way to + manage your database. Sanity Check, although it is a good + basic check on your database integrity, by no means is a + substitute for competent database administration and + avoiding deletion of data. It is not exhaustive, and was + created to do a basic check for the most common problems + in Bugzilla databases.

    A.8.4.

    A.8.5.

    A.8.6.

    A.8.7.

    A.8.8.

    A.8.9.

    Delete everything from $BUZILLA_HOME/shadow. Bugzilla creates shadow - files there, with each filename corresponding to a - bug number. Also be sure to run syncshadowdb to make sure, if you are using - a shadow database, that the shadow database is current. +> This should only happen with Bugzilla 2.14 if you are + using the "shadow database" feature, and your + shadow database is out of sync. Try running + syncshadowdb + -syncall to make sure your shadow + database is in synch with your primary database.

    A.9.1.

    A.9.2.

    A.9.3.

    Microsoft has some advice on this matter, as well:

    A.9.4.

    A.9.5.

    A.10.1.

    A.10.2.

    A.10.3.

    A.10.4.

    A.10.5.

    A.11.1. Try this link to view current bugs or requests for enhancement for Bugzilla.

    You can view bugs marked for 2.14 release +> You can view bugs marked for 2.16 release here. - This list includes bugs for the 2.14 release that have already + This list includes bugs for the 2.16 release that have already been fixed and checked into CVS. Please consult the

    A.11.2.

    A.11.3.

  • Enter a bug into bugzilla.mozilla.org for the "Webtools" product, - "Bugzilla" component. +> Enter a bug into bugzilla.mozilla.org for the "Bugzilla" + product.

  • Database Relationships


    Chapter 7. Bugzilla Variants and Competitors

    I created this section to answer questions about Bugzilla - competitors and variants, then found a wonderful site which covers - an awful lot of what I wanted to discuss. Rather than quote it in - its entirety, I'll simply refer you here: http://linas.org/linux/pm.html


    7.1. Red Hat Bugzilla

    Red Hat Bugzilla is probably the most popular Bugzilla variant - on the planet. One of the major benefits of Red Hat Bugzilla is - the ability to work with Oracle, MySQL, and PostGreSQL databases - serving as the back-end, instead of just MySQL. Dave Lawrence - has worked very hard to keep Red Hat Bugzilla up-to-date, and - many people prefer the snappier-looking page layout of Red Hat - Bugzilla to the default Mozilla-standard formatting. -

    URL: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/


    7.2. Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)

    Fenris can be found at http://fenris.lokigames.com. It is a fork from Bugzilla.


    7.3. Issuezilla

    Issuezilla is another fork from Bugzilla, and seems nearly - as popular as the Red Hat Bugzilla fork. Some Issuezilla team - members are regular contributors to the Bugzilla mailing - list/newsgroup. Issuezilla is not the primary focus of - bug-tracking at tigris.org, however. Their Java-based - bug-tracker, Scarab, a newfangled Java-based issue tracker, is under heavy development - and looks promising!

    URL: http://issuezilla.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectHome


    7.4. Scarab

    Scarab is a promising new bug-tracking system built using - Java Serlet technology. As of this writing, no source code has - been released as a package, but you can obtain the code from - CVS. -

    URL: http://scarab.tigris.org


    7.5. Perforce SCM

    Although Perforce isn't really a bug tracker, it can be used - as such through the "jobs" functionality.

    http://www.perforce.com/perforce/technotes/note052.htmlhttp://www.perforce.com/perforce/technotes/note052.html


    7.6. SourceForge

    SourceForge is more of a way of coordinating geographically - distributed free software and open source projects over the - Internet than strictly a bug tracker, but if you're hunting for - bug-tracking for your open project, it may be just what the - software engineer ordered!

    URL: http://www.sourceforge.net


    has details.


    D.5. Hacking Bugzilla

    What follows are some general guidelines for changing Bugzilla, and adhering to good coding practice while doing so. We've had some checkins in the past which ruined Bugzilla installations because of disregard for these conventions. Sorry for the lack of formatting; I got this info into the Guide on the day of 2.14 release and haven't formatted it yet. +


    +The following is a guide for reviewers when checking code into Bugzilla's
    +CVS repostory at mozilla.org.  If you wish to submit patches to Bugzilla,
    +you should follow the rules and style conventions below.  Any code that
    +does not adhere to these basic rules will not be added to Bugzilla's
    +codebase.
    +
    + 1. Usage of variables in Regular Expressions
    +
    +    It is very important that you don't use a variable in a regular
    +    expression unless that variable is supposed to contain an expression.
    +    This especially applies when using grep.  You should use:
    +
    +    grep ($_ eq $value, @array);
    +
    +    - NOT -
    +
    +    grep (/$value/, @array);
    +
    +    If you need to use a non-expression variable inside of an expression, be
    +    sure to quote it properly (using \Q..\E).
    +
    +Coding Style for Bugzilla
    +-------------------------
    +
    +While it's true that not all of the code currently in Bugzilla adheres to
    +this styleguide, it is something that is being worked toward.  Therefore,
    +we ask that all new code (submitted patches and new files) follow this guide
    +as closely as possible (if you're only changing 1 or 2 lines, you don't have
    +to reformat the entire file :).
    +
    + 1. Whitespace
    +
    +    Bugzilla's prefered indentation is 4 spaces (no tabs, please).
    +
    + 2. Curly braces.
    +
    +    The opening brace of a block should be on the same line as the statement
    +    that is causing the block and the closing brace should be at the same
    +    indentation level as that statement, for example:
    +
    +    if ($var) {
    +        print "The variable is true";
    +    } else {
    +        print "Try again";
    +    }
    +
    +    - NOT -
    +
    +    if ($var)
    +    {
    +        print "The variable is true";
    +    }
    +    else
    +    {
    +        print "Try again";
    +    }
    +
    + 3. File Names
    +
    +    File names for bugzilla code and support documention should be legal across
    +    multiple platforms.  \ / : * ? " < > and | are all illegal characters for
    +    filenames on various platforms.  Also, file names should not have spaces in
    +    them as they can cause confusion in CVS and other mozilla.org utilities.
    +
    + 4. Variable Names
    +
    +    If a variable is scoped globally ($::variable) its name should be descriptive
    +    of what it contains.  Local variables can be named a bit looser, provided the
    +    context makes their content obvious.  For example, $ret could be used as a
    +    staging variable for a routine's return value as the line |return $ret;| will
    +    make it blatently obvious what the variable holds and most likely be shown
    +    on the same screen as |my $ret = "";|.
    +
    + 5. Cross Database Compatability
    +
    +    Bugzilla was originally written to work with MySQL and therefore took advantage
    +    of some of its features that aren't contained in other RDBMS software.  These
    +    should be avoided in all new code.  Examples of these features are enums and
    +    encrypt().
    +
    + 6. Cross Platform Compatability
    +
    +    While Bugzilla was written to be used on Unix based systems (and Unix/Linux is
    +    still the only officially supported platform) there are many who desire/need to
    +    run Bugzilla on Microsoft Windows boxes.  Whenever possible, we should strive
    +    not to make the lives of these people any more complicated and avoid doing things
    +    that break Bugzilla's ability to run on multiple operating systems.
    +
    +    

    Version 1.1, March 2000

    0-9, high ascii

    Hacking Bugzilla
    The Bugzilla Guide
    PrevAppendix D. Useful Patches and Utilities for BugzillaNext


    PrevHomeNext
    The Quicksearch UtilityUpGNU Free Documentation License

    Can a user create and save reports? Can they do this in Word format? Excel format?

    A.4.17. A.4.16. Can a user re-run a report with a new project, same query?

    A.4.18. A.4.17. Can a user modify an existing report and then save it into another name?

    A.4.19. A.4.18. Does Bugzilla have the ability to search by word, phrase, compound search?

    A.4.20. A.4.19. Can the admin person establish separate group and individual user privileges?

    A.4.21. A.4.20. Does Bugzilla provide record locking when there is simultaneous access to the same bug? Does the second person get a notice that the bug is in use or how are they notified? @@ -2196,10 +2292,10 @@ CLASS="QANDAENTRY" CLASS="QUESTION" >

    A.4.22. A.4.21. Are there any backup features provided?

    A.4.23. A.4.22. Can users be on the system while a backup is in progress?

    A.4.24. A.4.23. What type of human resources are needed to be on staff to install and maintain Bugzilla? Specifically, what type of skills does the person need to have? I need to find out if we were to go with Bugzilla, what types of @@ -2287,10 +2383,10 @@ CLASS="QANDAENTRY" CLASS="QUESTION" >

    A.4.25. A.4.24. What time frame are we looking at if we decide to hire people to install and maintain the Bugzilla? Is this something that takes hours or weeks to install and a couple of hours per week to maintain and customize or is this @@ -2318,10 +2414,10 @@ CLASS="QANDAENTRY" CLASS="QUESTION" >

    A.4.26. A.4.25. Is there any licensing fee or other fees for using Bugzilla? Any out-of-pocket cost other than the bodies needed as identified above?

    A.5.1.

    A.5.2.

    A.5.3.

    A.6.1.

    A.6.2.

    A.6.3.

    A.7.1.

    A.7.2.

    A.7.3.

    A.7.4. You can call bug_email.pl directly from your aliases file, with an entry like this:

    A.7.5.

    A.7.6. If you are using an alternate Mail Transport Agent (MTA other than sendmail), make sure the options given in the "processmail" script for all - instances of "sendmail" are correct for your MTA. If you are using Sendmail, - you may wish to delete the "-ODeliveryMode=deferred" option in the - "processmail" script for every invocation of "sendmail". (Be sure and leave - the "-t" option, though!) -

    A better alternative is to change the "-O" option to - "-ODeliveryMode=background". This prevents Sendmail from hanging your - Bugzilla Perl processes if the domain to which it must send mail - is unavailable. + instances of "sendmail" are correct for your MTA.

    This is now a configurable parameter called "sendmailnow", available - from editparams.cgi. +> If you are using Sendmail, try enabling "sendmailnow" in editparams.cgi. + If you are using Postfix, you will also need to enable "sendmailnow".

    A.7.7.

    A.8.1.

    A.8.2.

    A.8.3.

    Run the "sanity check" utility (./sanitycheck.cgi in the bugzilla_home - directory) to see! If it all comes back, you're OK. If it doesn't come back - OK (i.e. any red letters), there are certain things Bugzilla can recover - from and certain things it can't. If it can't auto-recover, I hope you're - familiar with mysqladmin commands or have installed another way to manage - your database... +> Run the "sanity check" utility + (./sanitycheck.cgi in the + Bugzilla_home directory) from your web browser to see! If + it finishes without errors, you're + probably OK. If it doesn't come back + OK (i.e. any red letters), there are certain things + Bugzilla can recover from and certain things it can't. If + it can't auto-recover, I hope you're familiar with + mysqladmin commands or have installed another way to + manage your database. Sanity Check, although it is a good + basic check on your database integrity, by no means is a + substitute for competent database administration and + avoiding deletion of data. It is not exhaustive, and was + created to do a basic check for the most common problems + in Bugzilla databases.

    A.8.4.

    A.8.5.

    A.8.6.

    A.8.7.

    A.8.8.

    A.8.9.

    Delete everything from $BUZILLA_HOME/shadow. Bugzilla creates shadow - files there, with each filename corresponding to a - bug number. Also be sure to run syncshadowdb to make sure, if you are using - a shadow database, that the shadow database is current. +> This should only happen with Bugzilla 2.14 if you are + using the "shadow database" feature, and your + shadow database is out of sync. Try running + syncshadowdb + -syncall to make sure your shadow + database is in synch with your primary database.

    A.9.1.

    A.9.2.

    A.9.3.

    Microsoft has some advice on this matter, as well:

    A.9.4.

    A.9.5.

    A.10.1.

    A.10.2.

    A.10.3.

    A.10.4.

    A.10.5.

    A.11.1. Try this link to view current bugs or requests for enhancement for Bugzilla.

    You can view bugs marked for 2.14 release +> You can view bugs marked for 2.16 release here. - This list includes bugs for the 2.14 release that have already + This list includes bugs for the 2.16 release that have already been fixed and checked into CVS. Please consult the

    A.11.2.

    A.11.3.

  • Enter a bug into bugzilla.mozilla.org for the "Webtools" product, - "Bugzilla" component. +> Enter a bug into bugzilla.mozilla.org for the "Bugzilla" + product.

  • PrevThe Future of BugzillaSourceForgeNext

    The future of Bugzilla is Bugzilla 3.0. Unfortunately, I do - not have more information about it right now, and most of what - went into the "future" section is now present. That stuff was - blue-sky a year ago; MattyT should have me a new document - sometime... +> Bugzilla's future is a constantly-changing thing, as various developers + "scratch an itch" when it comes to functionality. + Thus this section is very malleable, subject to change without notice, etc. + You'll probably also notice the lack of formatting. I apologize that it's + not quite as readable as the rest of the Guide. +

                                   Bugzilla Blue Sky
    +
    +Customisability
    +
    +   One of the major stumbling blocks of Bugzilla has been that it is too
    +   rigid and does not adapt itself well enough to the needs of an
    +   organisation.  This has led to organisations making changes to the
    +   Bugzilla code that need to be redone each new version of Bugzilla.
    +   Bugzilla should attempt to move away from this to a world where this
    +   doesn't need to occur.
    +
    +   Most of the subsections in this section are currently explicit design
    +   goals for the "Bugzilla 3" rewrite.  This does not necessarily mean
    +   that they will not occur before them in Bugzilla 2, but most are
    +   significant undertakings.
    +
    +  Field Customisation
    +
    +   Many installations wish to customise the fields that appear on bug
    +   reports.   Current versions of Bugzilla offer limited
    +   customisability.  In particular, some fields can be turned off.
    +
    +   However, many administrators wish to add their own fields, and rename
    +   or otherwise modify existing fields.  An architecture that supports
    +   this would be extraordinarily useful.
    +
    +   Indeed, many fields work similarly and could be abstracted into "field
    +   types", so that an administrator need write little or no code to
    +   support the new fields they desire.
    +
    +   Possible field types include text (eg status whiteboard), numbers,
    +   dates (eg report time), accounts (eg reporter, qa, cc), inter-bug
    +   relationships (dependencies, duplicates), option groups (platform, os,
    +   severity, priority, target milestone, version) etc.
    +
    +   Ideally an administrator could configure their fields through a
    +   Bugzilla interface that requires no code to be added.  However, it is
    +   highly unlikely this ideal will never be met, and in a similar way
    +   that office applications have scripting languages, Bugzilla should
    +   allow new field types to be written.
    +
    +   Similarly, a common desire is for resolutions to be added or removed.
    +
    +    Allocations
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +    Option Groups
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +    Relations
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +  Database Integrity
    +
    +   Furthermore, it is desirable for administrators to be able to specify
    +   rules that must or should apply between the fields on a bug report.
    +
    +   For example, you might wish to specify that a bug with status ASSIGNED
    +   must have a target milestone field that that is not untargetted.  Or
    +   that a bug with a certain number of votes should get ASSIGNED.  Or
    +   that the QA contact must be different from the assignee.
    +
    +   "Must" relationships could be implemented by refusing to make changes
    +   that violate the relationships, or alternatively, automatically
    +   updating certain fields in order to satisfy the criteria.  Which
    +   occurs should be up to the administrator.
    +
    +   "Should" relationships could be implemented by a combination of
    +   emitting warnings on the process bug page, the same on notification
    +   mails, or emitting periodic whine mails about the situation.  Again,
    +   which occurs should be up to the administrator.
    +
    +   It should also be possible for whine mails to be emitted for "must"
    +   relationships, as they might become violated through direct database
    +   access, Bugzilla bugs, or because they were there before the
    +   relationship was enforced.
    +
    +   As well as implementing intra-bug constraints, it would be useful to
    +   create inter-bug constraints.  For example, a bug that is dependent on
    +   another bug should not have an earlier milestone or greater priority
    +   than that bug.
    +
    +  Database Adaptability
    +
    +   Often an administrator desires that fields adapt to the values of
    +   other fields.  For example, the value of a field might determine the
    +   possible values of another field or even whether it appears (whether
    +   it is "applicable").
    +
    +   Limited adaptability is present in Bugzilla 2, and only on the
    +   "Product" field:
    +     * The possible values of the target milestone, version and component
    +       fields depend on the product.
    +     * UNCONFIRMED can be turned off for specific products.
    +     * Voting can be configured differently or turned off for different
    +       products, and there is a separate user vote limits for each
    +       product.
    +
    +   It would be good if more adaptability was present, both in terms of
    +   all fields relying on the product, as well as the ability to adapt
    +   based on the value of all fields.
    +
    +   Example ???
    +
    +   General adaptability raises the issue of circular references between
    +   fields causing problems.  One possible solution to this is to place
    +   the fields in a total ordering and require a field refer only to the
    +   previous fields.
    +
    +   In Bugzilla 2, changing the product of a bug meant a second page would
    +   appear that allowed you to choose a new milestone, component and
    +   version, as those fields adapted themselves to the new product.  This
    +   page could be generalised to support all instances where:
    +     * a field value must or might be changed because the possible values
    +       have changed
    +     * is going to drop off because it it is no longer applicable, and
    +       this should be confirmed
    +     * must be specified because it is suddenly applicable, and the
    +       default value, if one exists, might not be acceptable
    +
    +  Database Independence
    +
    +   Currently Bugzilla only runs on the MySQL database.  It would be
    +   desirable for Bugzilla to run on other databases, because:
    +     * Organisations may have existing database products they use and
    +       would prefer to run a homogenous environment.
    +     * Databases each have their own shortcomings, including MySQL.  An
    +       administrator might choose a database that would work better with
    +       their Bugzilla.
    +
    +   This raises the possibility that we could use features that are only
    +   present in some databases, by appropriately falling back.  For
    +   example, in the MySQL world, we live without:
    +     * record-level locking, instead we use table-level locking
    +     * referential and record constraints, instead we checking code
    +     * subselects, instead we use multiple queries and redundant "caches"
    +
    +  Multiple Front Ends
    +
    +   Currently Bugzilla is manipulated via the Web, and notifies via
    +   E-Mail.  It would be desirable for Bugzilla to easily support various
    +   front ends.
    +
    +   There is no reason that Bugzilla could not be controlled via a whole
    +   range of front ends, including Web, E-Mail, IRC, ICQ, etc, and
    +   similarly for how it notifies.  It's also possible that we could
    +   introduce a special Bugzilla client that uses its own protocol, for
    +   maximum user productivity.
    +
    +   Indeed a request reply might be returned via a totally different
    +   transport method than was use to submit the request.
    +
    +Internationalisation
    +
    +   Bugzilla currently supports only English.  All of the field names,
    +   user instructions, etc are written in English.  It would be desirable
    +   to allow "language packs" so Bugzilla can be easily used in
    +   non-English speaking locales.
    +
    +   To a degree field customisation supports this, because administrators
    +   could specify their own fields names anyway.  However, there will
    +   always be some basic facilities not covered by this, and it is
    +   desirable that the administrator's interface also is
    +   internationalisable.
    +
    +Better Searching
    +
    +  General Summary Reports
    +
    +   Sometimes, the normal querying page leaves a lot to be desired.  There
    +   are other facilities already in place or which people have asked for:
    +
    +   Most Doomed Reports - All Bugs or All Bugs In A Product, Categorised
    +   On Assignee, Shows and Counts Number of Bugs For Each Assignee
    +   Most Voted For Bugs - All Bugs, Categorised On Product, Shows Top Ten
    +   Bugs Voters Most Want Fixed
    +   Number of Open Bugs For An Assignee - Bug List, Categorised On
    +   Developers, Counts Number of Bugs In Category
    +
    +   The important thing to realise is that people want categorised reports
    +   on all sorts of things - a general summary report.
    +
    +   In a categorised report, you choose the subset of bugs you wish to
    +   operate on (similar to how you would specify a query), and then
    +   categorise them on one or more fields.
    +
    +   For each category you display the count of the number of things in
    +   that category.  You can optionally display the bugs themselves, or
    +   leave them out, just showing the counts.  And you can optionally limit
    +   the number of things (bugs or subcategories) that display in each
    +   category.
    +
    +   Such a mechanism would let you do all of the above and more.
    +   Applications of this mechanism would only be recognised once it was
    +   implemented.
    +
    +  Related Bugs
    +
    +   It would be nice to have a field where you could enter other bugs
    +   related to the current bug.  It would be handy for navigation and
    +   possibly even finding duplicates.
    +
    +  Column Specification Support
    +
    +   Currently bug lists use the columns that you last used.  This doesn't
    +   work well for "prepackaged queries", where you followed a link.  You
    +   can probably add a column by specifying a sort column, but this is
    +   difficult and suboptimal.
    +
    +   Furthermore, I find that when I want to add a column to a bug list,
    +   it's usually a one off and I would prefer it to go away for the next
    +   query.  Hence, it would be nice to specify the columns that appear on
    +   the bug list (and general summary report) pages.  The default query
    +   mechanism should be able to let you specify your default columns.
    +
    +  Advanced Querying Redesign
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +Keywords
    +
    +   People have a need to apply tags to bugs.  In the beginning, people
    +   placed designators in the summary and status whiteboard.  However,
    +   these fields were not designed for that, and so there were many flaws
    +   with this system:
    +     * They pollute the field with information that was never intended to
    +       be present.
    +     * Removing them with a bulk change is a difficult problem that has
    +       too many pitfalls to implement.
    +     * You can easily get the capitalisation wrong.
    +
    +   Then dependencies were introduced (when?), and people realised that
    +   they could use them for "tracking bugs".  Again, dependencies were not
    +   designed for that, and so there were more flaws, albeit different
    +   ones, including:
    +     * They aren't really bugs, so it's difficult to distinguish issues
    +       from bugs.
    +     * They can pollute bugs counts, and you must somehow exclude them
    +       from queries.
    +     * There is a whole lot of useless information on them.  They have an
    +       assignee but there is nothing to fix, and that person can get
    +       whined at by Bugzilla.  They have target milestones which must be
    +       manually maintained.  And so on.
    +
    +   Finally, keywords were introduced (when?) for this purpose to remove
    +   the need for these two systems.  Unfortunately, the simple keywords
    +   implementation was itself lacking in certain features provided by the
    +   two previous systems, and has remained almost unchanged since its
    +   inception.  Furthermore, it could not be forseen that in large
    +   installations, the sheer number of keywords could become unwieldly and
    +   could lead to a movement back to the other systems.
    +
    +   The keywords system was the right idea, however, and it remains so.
    +   Fixing the keywords system is one of the most important Bugzilla
    +   issues.
    +
    +  Bringing Keywords Up To Par
    +
    +   For the most part, keywords are very good at what they do.  It is easy
    +   to add and remove them (unlike summary/whiteboard designators), we can
    +   simply see what issues are present on a bug (unlike tracking bugs),
    +   and we do not confuse bugs with issues (unlike tracking bugs).
    +
    +   However, there are still some "regressions" in the keyword system over
    +   previous systems:
    +     * Users wish to view the "dependency forest" of a keyword.  While a
    +       dependency tree is of one bug, a dependency forest is of a bug
    +       list, and consists of a dependency tree for each member of the bug
    +       list.  Users can work around this with tracking bugs by creating a
    +       tracking bug and viewing the dependency tree of that tracking bug.
    +     * Users wish to specify the keywords that initially apply to a bug,
    +       but instead they must edit the bug once it has already been
    +       submitted.  They can work around this with summary designators,
    +       since they specify the summary at reporting time.
    +     * Users wish to store or share a bug list that contains a keywords
    +       column.  Hence they wish to be able to specify what columns appear
    +       in the bug list URL, as mentioned earlier.  They can work around
    +       this using summary designators, since almost all bug lists have a
    +       summary column.
    +     * Users wish to be able to view keywords on a bug list.  However
    +       often they are only interested in a small number of keywords.
    +       Having a bug list with a keywords column means that all keywords
    +       will appear on a bug list.  This can take a substantial amount of
    +       space where a bug has a lot of keywords, since the table columns
    +       in Bugzilla adjust to the largest cell in that column.  Hence
    +       users wish to be able to specify which keywords should appear in
    +       the bug list.  In a very real sense, each keyword is a field unto
    +       itself.  Users can work around this by using summary designators,
    +       since they keywords will share the space in the summary column.
    +     * Users wish to know when bugs with a specific issue are resolved.
    +       Hence they wish to be able to receive notifications on all the
    +       bugs with a specific keyword.  The introduction a generic watching
    +       facility (also for things like watching all bugs in a component)
    +       would achieve this.  Users can work around this by using tracking
    +       bugs, as dependencies have an existing way of detecting fixes to
    +       bug a bug was blocked by.
    +
    +  Dealing With The Keyword Overload
    +
    +   At the time of writing, the mozilla.org installation has approximately
    +   100 keywords, and many more would be in use if the keywords system
    +   didn't have the problems it does.
    +
    +   Such a large number of keywords introduces logistical problems:
    +     * It must be easy for someone to learn what a keyword means.  If a
    +       keyword is buried within a lot of other keywords, it can be
    +       difficult to find.
    +     * It must be easy to see what keywords are on a bug.  If the number
    +       of keywords is large, then this can be difficult.
    +
    +   These lead some people to feel that there are "too many keywords".
    +
    +   These problems are not without solutions however.  It is harder to
    +   find a list of designators or tracking bugs than it is a list of
    +   keywords.
    +
    +   The essential problem is it needs to be easy to find the keywords
    +   we're interested in through the mass of keywords.
    +
    +    Keyword Applicability
    +
    +   As has been previously mentioned, it is desirable for fields to be
    +   able to adapt to the values of other fields.  This is certainly true
    +   for keywords.  Many keywords are simply not relevant because of the
    +   bugs product, component, etc.
    +
    +   Hence, by introducing keyword applicability, and not displaying
    +   keywords that are not relevant to the current bug, or clearly
    +   separating them, we can make the keyword overload problem less
    +   significant.
    +
    +   Currently when you click on "keywords" on a bug, you get a list of all
    +   bugs.  It would be desirable to introduce a list of keywords tailored
    +   to a specific bug, that reports, in order:
    +     * the keywords currently on the bug
    +     * the keywords not currently on the bug, but applicable to the bug
    +     * optionally, the keywords not applicable to the bug
    +
    +   This essentially orders the keywords into three groups, where each
    +   group is more important than the previous, and therefore appears
    +   closer to the top.
    +
    +    Keyword Grouping & Ordering
    +
    +   We could further enhance both the global and bug specific keyword list
    +   by grouping keywords.  We should always have a "flat" view of
    +   keywords, but other ways of viewing the keywords would be useful too.
    +
    +   If keyword applicability was implemented, we could group keywords
    +   based on their "applicability condition".  Keywords that apply to all
    +   bugs could be separated from keywords that apply to a specific
    +   product, both on the global keyword list and the keyword list of a bug
    +   that is in that product.
    +
    +   We could specify groups of our own.  For example, many keywords are in
    +   a mutually exclusive group, essentially like radio buttons in a user
    +   interface.  This creates a natural grouping, although other groupings
    +   occur (which depends on your keywords).
    +
    +   It is possible that we could use collapsing/expanding operations on
    +   "twisties" to only should the groups we are interested in.
    +
    +   And instead of grouping keywords, we could order them on some metric
    +   of usefulness, such as:
    +     * when the keyword was last added to a bug
    +     * how many bugs the keyword is on
    +     * how many open bugs the keyword is on
    +
    +    Opting Out Of Keywords
    +
    +   Not all people are going to care about all keywords.  Therefore it
    +   makes sense that you may wish to specify which keywords you are
    +   interested in, either on the bug page, or on notifications.
    +
    +   Other keywords will therefore not bother users who are not interested
    +   in them.
    +
    +  Keyword Security
    +
    +   Currently all keywords are available and editable to all people with
    +   edit bugs access.  This situation is clearly suboptimal.
    +
    +   Although relying on good behaviour for people to not do what they
    +   shouldn't works reasonably well on the mozilla.org, it is better to
    +   enforce that behaviour - it can be breached through malice, accident
    +   or ignorance.
    +
    +   And in the situation where it is desirable for the presence or absence
    +   of a keyword not to be revealed, organisations either need to be
    +   content with the divulgence, or not use keywords at all.
    +
    +   In the situation where they choose to divulge, introducing the ability
    +   to restrict who can see the keyword would also reduce keyword
    +   overload.
    +
    +  Personal Keywords
    +
    +   Keywords join together a set of bugs which would otherwise be
    +   unrelated in the bug system.
    +
    +   We allow users to store their own queries.  However we don't allow
    +   them to store their own keywords on a bug.  This reduces the
    +   usefulness of personal queries, since you cannot join a set of
    +   unrelated bugs together in a way that you wish.  Lists of bug numbers
    +   can work, by they can only be used for small lists, and it is
    +   impossible to share a list between multiple queries.
    +
    +   Personal keywords are necessary to replace personal tracking bugs, as
    +   they would not pollute the keyword space.  Indeed, on many
    +   installations this could remove some keywords out of the global
    +   keyword space.
    +
    +   In a similar vein and with similar effects, group keywords could be
    +   introduced that are only available to members of a specific group.
    +
    +  Keyword Restrictions
    +
    +   Keywords are not islands unto themselves.  Along with their potential
    +   to be involved in the inter-field relationships mentioned earlier,
    +   keywords can also be related to other keywords.
    +
    +   Essentially, there are two possibilities:
    +     * a set of keywords are mutually exclusive
    +     * the presence of a keyword implies another keyword must be present
    +
    +   Introduction of the ability to specify these restrictions would have
    +   benefits.
    +
    +   If mutually exclusive keywords were present on a bug, their removal
    +   would fix up the database, as well as reducing the number of keywords
    +   on that bug.
    +
    +   In the situation where a keyword implies another keyword, there are
    +   two possiblities as to how to handle the situation.
    +
    +   The first is automatically add the keyword.  This would fix up the
    +   database, but it would increase the number of keywords on a bug.
    +
    +   The second is to automatically remove the keyword, and alter queries
    +   so they pick up the first keyword as well as the removed keyword.
    +   This would fix up the database and reduce the number of keywords on a
    +   bug, but it might confuse users who don't see the keyword.
    +   Alternatively, the implied keywords could be listed separately.
    +
    +Notifications
    +
    +   Every time a bug gets changed notifications get sent out to people
    +   letting them know about what changes have been made.  This is a
    +   significant feature, and all sorts of questions can be raised, but
    +   they mainly boil down to when they should be sent and what they should
    +   look like.
    +
    +  Changes You're Interested In
    +
    +   As of version 2.12 users can specify what sort of changes they are
    +   interested in receiving notifications for.  However, this is still
    +   limited.  As yet there is no facility to specify which keywords you
    +   care about, and whether you care about changes to fields such as the
    +   QA contact changes.
    +   Furthermore, often an unnecessary comment will go along with a change,
    +   either because it is required, or the commenter is ignorant of how the
    +   new system works.  While explaining why you did something is useful,
    +   merely commenting on what you did is not because that information is
    +   already accessible view "Bug Activity".
    +
    +   Because of this unnecessary comment, a lot of changes that would
    +   otherwise not generate notifications for certain people do so, because
    +   few people are willing to turn off comments.  One way to deal with
    +   this problem is to allow people to specify that their comments are
    +   purely explanatory, and that anyone who is not interested in the
    +   change will not be interested in the comment.
    +
    +   Furthermore, one possible rationale for unnecessary comments is that
    +   the bug activity does not display on the normal page and hence it is
    +   difficult to cross reference comments and actions.  Hence, it would be
    +   beneficial to be able to do this.
    +
    +  Bugs You're Watching
    +
    +   Currently to receive a notification about a bug you need to have your
    +   name on it.  This is suboptimal because you need to know about a bug
    +   before you can receive notifications on it.  Often you are interested
    +   in any bug with a field set to a specific value.  For example, you
    +   might be interested in all bugs with a specific product, component or
    +   keyword.
    +
    +   If someone could automatically receive notifications about these bugs,
    +   it would make everyone's lives easier.  Currently the default assignee
    +   and QA contact for a component will automatically receive
    +   notifications for
    +
    +   Question:  This moves half way to a BCC.
    +
    +  Bulk Changes
    +
    +   A very useful feature of Bugzilla is the ability to perform an action
    +   on multiple bugs at once.  However, this means that similar
    +   notifications are currently generated for each bug modified.
    +
    +   This can result in a torrent of notifications that can annoy.
    +
    +   Furthermore, since the bugs are all changed close to each other in
    +   time, it is easy for someone to mass delete all the notifications
    +   generated by a bulk change and miss an unrelated notification in the
    +   middle.
    +
    +   These factors can lead to a tendency for people to delay bulk changes,
    +   or avoid them entirely.  This is suboptimal.
    +
    +   It would be better if a bulk change generated only one notification
    +   mail.  This would vastly reduce the annoyance factor, and prevent
    +   accidental deletion of notifications.
    +
    +   One problem with this change is that some people separate out
    +   notifications using filtering.  This means that they would no longer
    +   be match parts of a bulk change under different filtering rules.
    +
    +   One possibility to resolve this is to allow people to specify groups
    +   of bugs.  All bugs within a group would go into the same
    +   notification.  The filters could then distinguish the different bug
    +   groups.
    +
    +   In any case, it is likely there would need to be a transition period
    +   to allow people to alter their filters.
    +
    +Nominations
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +Linking Bugzilla Installations
    +
    +   The first example of linking Bugzilla installations together has is
    +   the introduction of bug moving in version 2.12.  However, it would be
    +   useful to be able to link installations in more ways.
    +     * Dependencies and other relationships between bugs in other
    +       installations.  This is difficult because dependencies are
    +       synchronised on both bugs, so the installation that changes
    +       dependencies would need to communicate the new state to the other
    +       installation.  It would also mean that relationships and
    +       notifications that refer to other bugs would need to communicate
    +       with the other installation.
    +     * References to bugs in other installations.  Currently if you type
    +       "bug XXX" or "bug #XXX" where XXX is a number, you get an
    +       automatic hyperlink to that bug.  It would be useful if you could
    +       say "YYY bug #XXX" where YYY is the name of another installation.
    +
    +Retirement
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +Whiny Reports
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +  Group Redesign
    +
    +   ?
    +
    +  Hard Wrapping Comments
    +
    +   Currently Bugzilla "hard wraps" its comments to a specific line size,
    +   similar to E-Mail.  This has various problems:
    +     * The way it currently works, wrapping is done in the browser at
    +       submission time using a non-standard HTML extension not supported
    +       by some (uncommon) browsers.  These browsers generate comments
    +       that scroll off the right side of the screen.
    +     * Because comments are of fixed width, when you expand your browser
    +       window, the comments do not expand to fit available space.
    +
    +   It would be much better to move to a world of soft wrapping, where the
    +   browser wraps the text at display time, similar to a world processor.
    +    And as in a word processor, soft wrapping does not preclude the
    +   insertion of newlines.
    +
    +   Hard wrapping is too entrenched into text E-Mail to fix, but we can
    +   fix Bugzilla without causing any problems.  The old content will still
    +   be wrapped too early, but at least new content will work.
    +   

    NextThe Bugzilla FAQBugzilla Variants and Competitors

    3.5.1. Modifying Your Running System

    3.5.2. Upgrading From Previous Versions

    3.5.6. UNIX Installation Instructions History

    The February 25, 1999 re-write of this page was done by Ry4an Brase <ry4an@ry4an.org>, with some edits by Terry Weissman, Bryce Nesbitt, Martin Pool, & Dan Mosedale (But - don't send bug reports to them; report them using bugzilla, at - http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi , project Webtools, - component Bugzilla). + don't send bug reports to them; report them using bugzilla, at http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Bugzilla ).

    This document was heavily modified again Wednesday, March 07 diff --git a/docs/html/gfdl.html b/docs/html/gfdl.html index 966c2b9d1..dfb5c69da 100644 --- a/docs/html/gfdl.html +++ b/docs/html/gfdl.html @@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ REL="HOME" TITLE="The Bugzilla Guide" HREF="index.html">Prev

    Version 1.1, March 2000

    PrevThe Quicksearch UtilityHacking Bugzilla

    0-9, high ascii

    NextNextBugzilla Variants and CompetitorsUseful Patches and Utilities for Bugzilla

    scrollbox. Using the down arrow on the scrollbox, scroll down until you can see an entry - called "Webtools". Select this entry. + called "Bugzilla". Select this entry.

  • Did you notice that some of the boxes to the right changed - when you selected "Webtools"? Every Program (or Product) + when you selected "Bugzilla"? Every Program (or Product) has different Versions, Components, and Target Milestones associated with it. A "Version" is the number of a software program. @@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ NAME="AEN317" >

    Example 2-2. Mozilla Webtools ComponentsExample 2-2. Mozilla's Bugzilla Components

    Mozilla's "Webtools" Product is composed of several pieces (Components): +> Mozilla's "Bugzilla" Product is composed of several pieces (Components):

    editcomponents.cgi, + editgroups.cgi, + editkeywords.cgi, + editparams.cgi, + editproducts.cgi, + editusers.cgi, + editversions.cgi, and + sanitycheck.cgi. + show_bug.cgi and + process_bug.cgi. + docs/ directory and The Bugzilla Guide + (This document :) + processmail + checksetup.pl and whatever else it evolves into. + query.cgi and + buglist.cgi + reports.cgi and + duplicates.cgi +
    BonsaiAdministration, - a tool to show recent changes to Mozilla
    BugzillaBugzilla-General, - a defect-tracking tool
    BuildCreating/Changing Bugs, + Creating, changing, and viewing bugs. + enter_bug.cgi, + post_bug.cgi, - a tool to automatically compile source code - into machine-readable form
    DespotDocumentation, - a program that controls access to the other Webtools
    LXREmail, - a utility that automatically marks up text files - to make them more readable
    MozBotInstallation, - a "robot" that announces changes to Mozilla in Chat
    TestManagerQuery/Buglist, - a tool to help find bugs in Mozilla
    TinderboxReporting/Charting, - which displays reports from Build
    User Accounts, + Anything about managing a user account from the user's perspective. + userprefs.cgi, saved queries, creating accounts, + changing passwords, logging in, etc. +
    User Interface, + General issues having to do with the user interface cosmetics (not + functionality) including cosmetic issues, HTML templates, etc. +

    A different person is responsible for each of these Components. - Tara Hernandez keeps - the "Bugzilla" component up-to-date. -

    barnboy@NOSPAM.trilobyte.net

    barnboy@trilobyte.net

    zach@NOSPAM.zachlipton.com

    zach AT zachlipton DOT com


    3.2.1. Introduction
    3.2.2. Installing the Prerequisites
    3.2.5. DBI Perl Module
    3.2.6. Data::Dumper Perl Module
    3.2.7. MySQL related Perl Module Collection
    3.2.8. TimeDate Perl Module Collection
    3.2.9. GD Perl Module (1.8.3)
    3.2.10. Chart::Base Perl Module (0.99c)
    3.2.11. DB_File Perl Module
    3.2.12. HTTP Server
    3.2.13. Installing the Bugzilla Files
    3.2.14. Setting Up the MySQL Database
    3.2.15. Tweaking localconfig
    3.2.16. Setting Up Maintainers Manually (Optional)
    3.2.17. The Whining Cron (Optional)
    3.2.18. Bug Graphs (Optional)
    3.2.19. Securing MySQL
    3.5.1. Modifying Your Running System
    3.5.2. Upgrading From Previous Versions
    3.5.6. UNIX Installation Instructions History
    Additional Windows Tips
    3.6.3. Bugzilla LDAP Integration
    The Future of Bugzilla
    7. Bugzilla Variants and Competitors
    7.1. Red Hat Bugzilla
    7.2. Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)
    7.3. Issuezilla
    7.4. Scarab
    7.5. Perforce SCM
    7.6. SourceForge
    A. The Bugzilla FAQ
    C.2.1. Bugzilla Database Basics
    C.2.1.1. Bugzilla Database Tables
    7. Bugzilla Variants and Competitors
    7.1. Red Hat Bugzilla
    7.2. Loki Bugzilla (Fenris)
    7.3. Issuezilla
    7.4. Scarab
    7.5. Perforce SCM
    7.6. SourceForge
    D. Useful Patches and Utilities for BugzillaThe Quicksearch Utility
    D.5. Hacking Bugzilla
    2-2. Mozilla Webtools ComponentsMozilla's Bugzilla Components
    3-1. Setting up bonsaitools symlink
    3-2. Running checksetup.pl as the web user
    3-3. Installing ActivePerl ppd Modules on Microsoft Windows
    3-4. Removing encrypt() for Windows NT Bugzilla version 2.12 or earlier
    4-1. Creating some Components
    4-2. Common Use of Versions
    4-3. A Different Use of Versions
    4-4. Using SortKey with Target Milestone
    4-5. When to Use Group Security
    4-6. Creating a New Group
    4-7. Bugzilla Groups
    D-1. Using Setperl to set your perl path
    1. A Sample Product
    3.2.1. Introduction
    3.2.2. Installing the Prerequisites
    3.2.5. DBI Perl Module
    3.2.6. Data::Dumper Perl Module
    3.2.7. MySQL related Perl Module Collection
    3.2.8. TimeDate Perl Module Collection
    3.2.9. GD Perl Module (1.8.3)
    3.2.10. Chart::Base Perl Module (0.99c)
    3.2.11. DB_File Perl Module
    3.2.12. HTTP Server
    3.2.13. Installing the Bugzilla Files
    3.2.14. Setting Up the MySQL Database
    3.2.15. Tweaking localconfig
    3.2.16. Setting Up Maintainers Manually (Optional)
    3.2.17. The Whining Cron (Optional)
    3.2.18. Bug Graphs (Optional)
    3.2.19. Securing MySQL
    3.5.1. Modifying Your Running System
    3.5.2. Upgrading From Previous Versions
    3.5.6. UNIX Installation Instructions History
    Additional Windows Tips
    3.6.3. Bugzilla LDAP Integration
    PrevThe Quicksearch Utility
    D.5. Hacking Bugzilla

    PrevSourceForgeMySQL Permissions & Grant Tables

  • You may find this example illustrative for how bug groups work. +

    Example 4-7. Bugzilla Groups

    Bugzilla Groups example
    +-----------------------
    +
    +For this example, let us suppose we have four groups, call them
    +Group1, Group2, Group3, and Group4.
    +
    +We have 5 users, User1, User2, User3, User4, User5.
    +
    +We have 8 bugs, Bug1, ..., Bug8.
    +
    +Group membership is defined by this chart:
    +(X denotes that user is in that group.)
    +(I apologize for the nasty formatting of this table.  Try viewing
    +it in a text-based browser or something for now. -MPB)
    +
    +      G G G G
    +      r r r r
    +      o o o o
    +      u u u u
    +      p p p p
    +      1 2 3 4
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User1|X| | | |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User2| |X| | |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User3|X| |X| |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User4|X|X|X| |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +User5| | | | |
    +     +-+-+-+-+
    +
    +Bug restrictions are defined by this chart:
    +(X denotes that bug is restricted to that group.)
    +
    +     G G G G
    +     r r r r
    +     o o o o
    +     u u u u
    +     p p p p
    +     1 2 3 4
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug1| | | | |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug2| |X| | |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug3| | |X| |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug4| | | |X|
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug5|X|X| | |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug6|X| |X| |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug7|X|X|X| |
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +Bug8|X|X|X|X|
    +    +-+-+-+-+
    +
    +Who can see each bug?
    +
    +Bug1 has no group restrictions.  Therefore, Bug1 can be seen by any
    +user, whatever their group membership.  This is going to be the only
    +bug that User5 can see, because User5 isn't in any groups.
    +
    +Bug2 can be seen by anyone in Group2, that is User2 and User4.
    +
    +Bug3 can be seen by anyone in Group3, that is User3 and User4.
    +
    +Bug4 can be seen by anyone in Group4.  Nobody is in Group4, so none of
    +these users can see Bug4.
    +
    +Bug5 can be seen by anyone who is in _both_ Group1 and Group2.  This
    +is only User4.  User1 cannot see it because he is not in Group2, and
    +User2 cannot see it because she is not in Group1.
    +
    +Bug6 can be seen by anyone who is in both Group1 and Group3.  This
    +would include User3 and User4.  Similar to Bug5, User1 cannot see Bug6
    +because he is not in Group3.
    +
    +Bug7 can be seen by anyone who is in Group1, Group2, and Group3.  This
    +is only User4.  All of the others are missing at least one of those
    +group priveleges, and thus cannot see the bug.
    +
    +Bug8 can be seen by anyone who is in Group1, Group2, Group3, and
    +Group4.  There is nobody in all four of these groups, so nobody can
    +see Bug8.  It doesn't matter that User4 is in Group1, Group2, and
    +Group3, since he isn't in Group4.
    +   

    +

    NextNextGNU Free Documentation LicenseHacking Bugzilla

    3.2.1. Introduction

    3.2.2. Installing the Prerequisites

    3.2.5. DBI Perl Module

    3.2.6. Data::Dumper Perl Module

    3.2.7. MySQL related Perl Module Collection

    3.2.8. TimeDate Perl Module Collection

    3.2.9. GD Perl Module (1.8.3)

    3.2.10. Chart::Base Perl Module (0.99c)

    3.2.11. DB_File Perl Module

    3.2.12. HTTP Server

    3.2.13. Installing the Bugzilla Files

    Alternately, you can simply run this perl one-liner to + change your path to perl in all the files in your Bugzilla + installation: +
    perl -pi -e 's@#!/usr/bonsaitools/bin/perl@/usr/bin/perl@' *cgi *pl Bug.pm
    +	    
    + Change the second path to perl to match your installation. +

    PrevPrevMySQL Permissions & Grant TablesThe Future of Bugzilla

  • Modify the invocation of all system() calls in all perl scripts in your Bugzilla directory. For instance, change this line in processmail: +> Modify the invocation of all system() calls in all perl + scripts in your Bugzilla directory. For instance, change + this line in processmail:
    system ("./processmail.pl",@ARGLIST);
    +> 
    +system ("./processmail.pl",@ARGLIST); 
     	    
    -to +> to
    system ("perl processmail.pl",@ARGLIST);
    +> 
    +system ("perl processmail.pl",@ARGLIST);
     	    

  • Add binmode() calls so attachments + will work (bug 62000). +

    Because Microsoft Windows based systems handle binary + files different than Unix based systems, you need to add + the following lines to + createattachment.cgi and + showattachment.cgi before the + require 'CGI.pl'; line.

  • binmode(STDIN);
    +binmode(STDOUT);
    +

    According to bug 62000, the perl documentation says that you should always use binmode() when dealing with binary files, but never when dealing with text files. That seems to suggest that rather than aribtrarily putting binmode() at the begining of the attachment files, there should be logic to determine if binmode() is needed or not. +

  • From Andrew Pearson:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters\ScriptMap +>

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters\ScriptMap
    +	      

    The keys should be called ".pl" and ".cgi", and both @@ -1319,11 +1428,12 @@ VALIGN="TOP" not necessary for Bugzilla 2.13 and - later. + later, which includes the current release, Bugzilla + 2.14.

    Replace this: +> Replace this:
     
    -SendSQL("SELECT encrypt(" . SqlQuote($enteredpwd) . ", " . SqlQuote(substr($realcryptpwd, 0, 2)) . ")"); 
    -my $enteredcryptpwd = FetchOneColumn(); 
    +>  
    +SendSQL("SELECT encrypt(" . SqlQuote($enteredpwd) . ", " . SQLQuote(substr($realcryptpwd, 0, 2)) . ")");
    +my $enteredcryptpwd = FetchOneColumn();
     	      
    - with this: +> +with this:
     
    -my $enteredcryptpwd = $enteredpwd  
    +>  
    +my $enteredcryptpwd = $enteredpwd   
     	      
    +> in cgi.pl.

    3.6.3. Bugzilla LDAP Integration

    What follows is some late-breaking information on using the + LDAP authentication options with Bugzilla. The author has not + tested these (nor even formatted this section!) so please + contribute feedback to the newsgroup. +

    Mozilla::LDAP module
    +
    +The Mozilla::LDAP module allows you to use LDAP for authentication to
    +the Bugzilla system.  This module is not required if you are not using
    +LDAP.
    +
    +Mozilla::LDAP (aka PerLDAP) is available for download from
    +http://www.mozilla.org/directory.
    +
    +NOTE: The Mozilla::LDAP module requires Netscape's Directory SDK.
    +Follow the link for "Directory SDK for C" on that same page to
    +download the SDK first.  After you have installed this SDK, then
    +install the PerLDAP module.
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +
    +Post-Installation Checklist
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +Set useLDAP to "On" **only** if you will be using an LDAP directory
    +for authentication.  Be very careful when setting up this parameter;
    +if you set LDAP authentication, but do not have a valid LDAP directory
    +set up, you will not be able to log back in to Bugzilla once you log
    +out.  (If this happens, you can get back in by manually editing the
    +data/params file, and setting useLDAP back to 0.)
    +
    +If using LDAP, you must set the three additional parameters:
    +
    +Set LDAPserver to the name (and optionally port) of your LDAP server.
    +If no port is specified, it defaults to the default port of 389.  (e.g
    +"ldap.mycompany.com" or "ldap.mycompany.com:1234")
    +
    +Set LDAPBaseDN to the base DN for searching for users in your LDAP
    +directory.  (e.g. "ou=People,o=MyCompany")  uids must be unique under
    +the DN specified here.
    +
    +Set LDAPmailattribute to the name of the attribute in your LDAP
    +directory which contains the primary email address.  On most directory
    +servers available, this is "mail", but you may need to change this.
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +
    +(Not sure where this bit should go, but it's important that it be in
    +there somewhere...)
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +Using LDAP authentication for Bugzilla:
    +
    +The existing authentication scheme for Bugzilla uses email addresses
    +as the primary user ID, and a password to authenticate that user.  All
    +places within Bugzilla where you need to deal with user ID (e.g
    +assigning a bug) use the email address.
    +
    +The LDAP authentication builds on top of this scheme, rather than
    +replacing it.  The initial log in is done with a username and password
    +for the LDAP directory.  This then fetches the email address from LDAP
    +and authenticates seamlessly in the standard Bugzilla authentication
    +scheme using this email address.  If an account for this address
    +already exists in your Bugzilla system, it will log in to that
    +account.  If no account for that email address exists, one is created
    +at the time of login.  (In this case, Bugzilla will attempt to use the
    +"displayName" or "cn" attribute to determine the user's full name.)
    +
    +After authentication, all other user-related tasks are still handled
    +by email address, not LDAP username.  You still assign bugs by email
    +address, query on users by email address, etc.
    +----------------------------------------------------------------------
    +