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developers:bugzilla:start

Bugzilla Info

We use Bugzilla for all of our feature and bug tracking. And we have made it open to clients that have either a current support contract with us, or the support contract has been active within the last 2 years, to allow voting on items even if your support has expired already.

That means anyone with current or "recent" support can see upcoming features, and vote for them. We also have enabled posting new bugs/features, at least for now, we will be evaluating whether this is better than forcing to always report bugs to support or not. If there is some bug that affects you, just vote on it as a way to say "I need this fixed too" (just make sure it is same problem!) Or if there is some feature you would like added, vote on it as we will be using the votes to determine how popular a feature is.

Requires Separate Login, see Login Details. If this is your first time here, we highly recommend to read over the rest of this page first to get a better idea of how Bugzilla is used.

Next Maintenance Release (7.3.5):

Next Feature Release (7.4.0):

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Note that each of the above, are actually just links to specific searches in Bugzilla. Read the sections below for tips on how to find what you want using the quick search within Bugzilla beyond these few quick links.

Vote on Features!

We encourage everyone to vote on features they want! Below is a screenshot showing the vote button on one of the Bugzilla entries:

We're having a Feature Vote Drive! Everyone be sure to vote on a feature if you would like to see it added!

Login Details

To log into Bugzilla, use the same e-mail and password as you use to log into the client area on our site, typically this is your e-mail used when you purchased the software, and the password you entered at that time. Note that it will NOT work with your client area username, you must use the e-mail and your password to log into Bugzilla. You can use the same login to download the software, or to view the helpdesk. If you do not know or have lost your password, use the lost password link on the client area login page to have a new password e-mailed to you. If you still have trouble, contact [email protected].

You will need either Active Support, or have had support active on your account in the last 2 years to be able to log into Bugzilla, as it is an advanced support related service. If you do not have active support and are past the 2 year window, you can log into the client area to renew your support and updates for your license.

Things to Know

There are a few basics you may need to know for Bugzilla to make more sense.

  • All issues are called bugs in Bugzilla, even new features3). If someone refers to "bug 123" that could be a bug in the software, or a feature. You can tell which it is by looking at the Importance for that bug, a feature will be marked with "enhancement". <
  • Voting: If you see a feature that you would like added, you can vote on that feature. We use votes as a way to tell how much a certain feature is "in demand", if a feature has a lot of votes, there is more chance we will add it. Or if there is an issue that affects you, you can vote on the bug for that issue as a way to say "this affects me too". You will be notified of changes to bugs you have voted for4). <
  • Get Notifications of Changes: To get updates when changes are made to a bug, either vote on that bug if applicable, or you can add yourself to the CC List. When you are looking at a particular bug, near the top on the right should be an option to Add me to CC list, check the box and click the button to save changes5). <
  • Creating new Bug: You are welcome to create a new bug (for a feature or an actual bug), but first do a search to make sure it is not something already in the system. Also as you are typing in the title of the bug, it will list "similar" bugs it finds, make sure to look through the list as well. When creating a bug, try to use the same type of format as other bugs you see in the system, and try to be as concise as possible in the bug description. Note that you should NOT use Bugzilla if you are expecting feedback from a developer or the community, use the helpdesk or forums respectively if you need that. If in doubt, start a support ticket about it, we will be more than happy to add the bug for you in "our own words" so that there is less possible confusion6). <
  • Bug Status: All new bugs start out with status of UNCONFIRMED. This just indicates that the bug was created by a client and has not been "confirmed" by someone at Geodesic Solutions yet. Only Geodesic Solutions staff can change the status of a bug. Inside Bugzilla there is an explanation of different statuses.
    • Features: When a client adds a feature, it is considered a "feature request".
      • If we change the status to CONFIRMED, that means we have accepted that feature as a possible feature to be added, that does NOT guarantee it will be added soon, or even added at all. Once it is confirmed, we will wait to see how much demand for that feature there is (going by votes on the feature). <
      • If we change the status to anything else, such as RESOLVED WONTFIX, that means we feel that the feature is not something we feel should be in the software. For instance if you requested something like "add forums built into the software", most likely we will not accept that as it does not relate to the software; if you requested "Integrate with forum software XYZ" however, that may be something we would accept. <

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  • Actual Bugs: If you feel you have found a bug, you are encouraged to start a new bug for it. We will try to duplicate the problem as best we can, if we are not able to we'll change status to "WORKSFORME" you may need to provide additional information so we can figure out how to duplicate the problem. In some cases we may need you to start a support ticket so we can see the problem in action on your website. <

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  • Finding Things: There are quite a few ways to find what you want. See the Quick Tour for 6.0 section below for a few searches you can use to find certain things specific to the upcoming 6.0 release. Instead of repeating what is already in the Bugzilla documentation, just take a look at the quick search help page in Bugzilla. <
  • Version VS. Target Milestone: In Bugzilla, the version is the version of the software that the bug was found in, not the version to be fixed or added in. For features, the version does not apply as much so does not matter what it is set to. The target milestone is the target Geo version the bug will be fixed or added in. Keep in mind it is the target, and not guaranteed. If a bug is not resolved yet, it is subject to change to later target milestone if needed. Note that only Geo staff can set or change the target milestone. See the bugzilla bug fields help for complete description for these or any of the bug fields. <
  • Privacy Concerns: Bugzilla will reveal your name and e-mail on any comments you post, or votes, or bugs that you create, but only to other Geodesic clients that have current support contract. You do not need to worry about a spammer getting a hold of your e-mail address, but other Geo clients can see your e-mail address7). If this is a concern for you, we recommend you look but don't touch, as long as you only look at bugs and do not interact, there will not be anywhere that Bugzilla will show your e-mail. We are interested in changing this but currently, since Bugzilla uses the e-mail as the "username", and since Bugzilla is designed for large projects with lots of contributors that all need to potentially contact each other easily, there is not an easy way to hide the e-mail short of a massive custom modification to the Bugzilla software. <

Quick Tour for 6.0

First make sure you read over the Things to Know section above. We'll give you a quick tour of the upcoming version 6.0.0. If 6.0 has already been released, you can replace 6.0.0 with whatever the next "upcoming release" is. Below we will list something to enter in the search (with a direct link to that actual search), and explain what each search is showing you.

  • List of Finished Bugs8) for 6.0.0: Search for FIXED milestone:6.0.0 <
  • List of Remaining Bugs9) for 6.0.0: Search for milestone:6.0.0 - NOTE: Any bugs10) that are not resolved yet are not guaranteed to be added in 6.0.0. In other words, this is a list of things that "may" be added in 6.0.0 but we may elect to push a few of them off to a later version in order to release 6.0.0 sooner. You can vote on a bug to give it less chance of being pushed off to a later release. <
  • List of "In Progress" Bugs11) for 6.0.0: Search for IN_PROGRESS milestone:6.0.0 - In progress means a developer has started working on that bug. Typically we will only mark a bug "in progress" if it is taking more than a day to complete. <
  • List of All Bugs12) for 6.0.0: Search for ALL milestone:6.0.0 <
  • List of bugs13) in future versions: Search for milestone:"future release" - NOTE: As mentioned in Things to Know, a feature that is listed as CONFIRMED does not guarantee that we will add it, just that it is something we may possibly add in the future. <
  • List of Unconfirmed bugs14): Search for UNCONFIRMED - This will show all bugs started by clients that are waiting for triage by Geodesic staff. <

Task List

A bug task list is something created by one of the Geodesic Developers. The task list is attached in ODT format so that it can be adjusted by the developers if needed. The task list should NOT be edited or created by anyone except for developers working on the bug. When starting out, they use the following starting template:

task_list_template.odt

1) , 2)
Note that anything that is not already finished, is subject to be re-assigned to a later version. Just because something is assigned to a specific release, does not mean it is set in stone, so make sure to vote on the features you want even if they are already assigned to a release!
3)
That is just how Bugzilla is, since it was designed as primarily a bug tracking system.
4)
At least, by default you will. You can turn on/off each of the different notifications Bugzilla sends by editing the settings in your account within Bugzilla, one of those settings is whether to notify you on changes to bugs you have voted on.
5)
This has not been tested yet for normal accounts, if you do not see a way to do this please let us know
6)
Not to mention we will see it more quickly, as we work on the helpdesk on a daily basis. Bugzilla is monitored much less frequently than the helpdesk.
7)
This only affects when you are displayed somewhere in Bugzilla, for instance on a comment you posted or if you voted on a bug or some other interaction
8) , 9) , 10) , 11) , 12) , 13) , 14)
Remember, everything is called a bug in Bugzilla, see first bullet point in Things to Know for more info.
developers/bugzilla/start.txt · Last modified: 2014/09/25 16:55 (external edit)