0-9, high ascii
.htaccess
Apache web server, and other NCSA-compliant web servers,
observe the convention of using files in directories
called .htaccess files. These
restrict parameters of the web server. In Bugzilla, they
are used to restrict access to certain files which would
otherwise compromise your installation. For instance, the
localconfig file contains the
password to your database. If this information were
generally available, and remote access to your database
turned on, you risk corruption of your database by
computer criminals or the curious.
A
Apache
In this context, Apache is the web server most
commonly used for serving up
Bugzilla pages. Contrary to
popular belief, the apache web server has nothing to do
with the ancient and noble Native American tribe, but
instead derived its name from the fact that it was
a patchy
version of the original
NCSA world-wide-web server.
B
Bug
A Bug
in Bugzilla refers to an issue
entered into the database which has an associated number,
assignments, comments, etc. Some also refer to a
tickets
or issues
; in the
context of Bugzilla, they are synonymous.
Bug Number
Each Bugzilla Bug is assigned a number that uniquely
identifies that Bug. The Bug associated with a Bug Number
can be pulled up via a query, or easily from the very
front page by typing the number in the "Find" box.
Bug Life Cycle
A Bug has stages through which it must pass before
becoming a closed bug
, including
acceptance, resolution, and verification. The Bug
Life Cycle
is moderately flexible according to
the needs of the organization using it, though.
Bugzilla
Bugzilla is the industry-standard bug tracking system. It
is quite popular among Open Source enthusiasts.
Component
A Component is a subsection of a Product. It should be a
narrow category, tailored to your organization. All
Products must contain at least one Component (and, as a
matter of fact, creating a Product with no Components will
create an error in Bugzilla).
CPAN
CPAN stands for the
Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
. CPAN
maintains a large number of extremely useful
Perl modules. By themselves, Perl
modules generally do nothing, but when used as part of a
larger program, they provide much-needed algorithms and
functionality.
D
daemon
A daemon is a computer program which runs in the
background. In general, most daemons are started at boot
time via System V init scripts, or through RC scripts on
BSD-based systems. mysqld, the
MySQL server, and apache, a web
server, are generally run as daemons.
Groups
The word Groups
has a very special
meaning to Bugzilla. Bugzilla's main security mechanism
comes by lumping users into groups, and assigning those
groups certain privileges to
Products and
Components in the
Bugzilla database.
I
Infinite Loop
A loop of information that never ends; see recursion.
M
mysqld
mysqld is the name of the
daemon for the MySQL database. In
general, it is invoked automatically through the use of
the System V init scripts on GNU/Linux and AT&T System
V-based systems, such as Solaris and HP/UX, or through the
RC scripts on BSD-based systems.
P
Product
A Product is a broad category of types of bugs. In
general, there are several Components to a Product. A
Product also defines a default Group (used for Bug
Security) for all bugs entered into components beneath
it.
A Sample Product
A company sells a software product called
X
. They also maintain some older
software called Y
, and have a secret
project Z
. An effective use of Products
might be to create Products X
,
Y
, Z
, each with Components
of User Interface, Database, and Business Logic. They
might also change group permissions so that only those
people who are members of Group Z
can see
components and bugs under Product
Z
.
Perl
First written by Larry Wall, Perl is a remarkable
program language. It has the benefits of the flexibility
of an interpreted scripting language (such as shell
script), combined with the speed and power of a compiled
language, such as C. Bugzilla is
maintained in Perl.
Q
QA
QA
, Q/A
, and
Q.A.
are short for Quality
Assurance
. In most large software development
organizations, there is a team devoted to ensuring the
product meets minimum standards before shipping. This
team will also generally want to track the progress of
bugs over their life cycle, thus the need for the
QA Contact
field in a Bug.
R
Recursion
The property of a function looking back at itself for
something. GNU
, for instance, stands for
GNU's Not UNIX
, thus recursing upon itself
for definition. For further clarity, see Infinite
Loop.
S
SGML
SGML stands for Standard
Generalized Markup Language
. Created in the
1980's to provide an extensible means to maintain
documentation based upon content instead of presentation,
SGML has withstood the test of time as
a robust, powerful language.
XML is the
baby brother
of SGML; any valid
XML document it, by definition, a valid
SGML document. The document you are
reading is written and maintained in
SGML, and is also valid
XML if you modify the Document Type
Definition.
T
Target Milestone
Target Milestones are Product goals. They are
configurable on a per-Product basis. Most software
development houses have a concept of
milestones
where the people funding a
project expect certain functionality on certain dates.
Bugzilla facilitates meeting these milestones by giving
you the ability to declare by which milestone a bug will be
fixed, or an enhancement will be implemented.
Z
Zarro Boogs Found
This is the cryptic response sent by Bugzilla when a
query returned no results. It is just a goofy way of
saying "Zero Bugs Found".