Bug tracker

This page is for discussing possible options for a bug tracker to use. If you have any other possible options in mind, make a new level 3 heading for them.

General requirements

• It should allow submitting issues without requiring logging in/creating an account.
• (?) Should it have the ability to allow uploading attachments (screenshots of the bug, patches, etc.)?

Possible bug trackers

MediaWiki

• Uses this wiki that we already have running.
• Would use a Bug: namespace.
• This wiki currently requires registration before editing, although logged out editing can be re-enabled if needed.
• May be more difficult for developers to sort issues by values like status, assignee, etc. that are normally found in bug trackers.
• Template:Bug was created to give some structure to bug reports if we use this system.

Needed configuration changes to the wiki if we did this:

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = true;
define("NS_BUG", 112);
define("NS_BUG_TALK", 113);
$wgExtraNamespaces[NS_BUG] = "Bug";
$wgExtraNamespaces[NS_BUG_TALK] = "Bug_talk";

Done.

MediaWiki with semantic extensions

• Uses this wiki that we already have running.
• Would use a Bug: namespace.
• This wiki currently requires registration before editing, although logged out editing can be re-enabled if needed.
• Would require the installation of the Semantic MediaWiki and Semantic Forms extensions.
• Should be easier to sort issues, although it still likely will lack features found in standalone bug trackers
• Probably needs more configuration and initial setup than MediaWiki alone.

GitHub issues

• Already set up and running alongside the repository where the code currently is.
• GitHub requires registration, which likely makes it undesirable.

Bugzilla

• Requires registration.
• Free and open source.

JIRA

• Pretty sure this one can handle creating issues without users logging in.
• Proprietary software, but they offer a free as in beer license to open source projects.
• Atlassian's open source overview
• A bit of a resource hog, in my experience (For a 2-user setup) it will easily consume > 1 gig of RAM and still not be happy
• Its system requirements are here, looks like 2 gigs of RAM are recommended for even smaller projects.

Mantis

• It's not pretty, but allows bug submission without login.
• Some integration with MediaWiki apparently available, as per this link
• I've put up an install you can test out: http://209.141.33.25. If you create an account, check your spam folder for the confirmation email. Popeidol