Re: [Gaim-cabal] bug trackers

[Ethan B. <ebl...@cs...>]

Luke Schierer spake unto us the following wisdom:
> What bug tracking software have you all interacted with?  What are
> the pros and cons?

My analysis of both SF and bugzilla are very similar to yours.  For
the record, however, I would take sf over bugzilla any day.

> RT: it is unfamiliar to most people.  I can interact with it via web
> or email or command line client.  It offers a top down view of a bug,
> vrs. SF's bottom up view.  It lets us control what users can set,
> without confusing them.  Downside: changing things can take several
> pages in the web interface.  it offers good filtering.  It has an
> integratable faq tool (RTFM).  I've used it before.

What sort of changing takes several pages?  If normal interactions
(create a bug, add a comment, close a bug) are simple, that's good
enough ... infrequent actions are welcome to be somewhat more
cumbersome.

> Trac:  it integrates well with subversion.  It doesn't seem to
> integrate with any other verson control system.  It doesn't seem to
> let me interact with it by email.  Its unfamiliar to most of us.  Its
> web interface has been praised by several people I've talked to who
> have used it.

There is a trac-monotone plugin.  I have no idea how far along it is.
As I believe I've mentioned before, I think monotone is a front-line
contender (the front-line contender, for me) for a replacement VCS.
As a bonus, they're getting pretty serious about collecting real-world
usage scenarios and workflows and making sure they work -- one of the
lead developers asked me the other day what issues I see blocking it
as a switchover for Gaim, and what work flow issues I see with our
development model.  Even if we don't want to switch, they're very
concerned about making it comfortable for as many people as possible.
Oops, that turned into a monotone advertisement.

We can probably find or create an email interface for trac, at least
for use by developers if not the whole wide world.  I agree that it
would be nice to not have to load a web page to file comments on
bugs/etc.

> My own feeling is to go with RT/RTFM, primarily based on the fact
> that I can interact with it by email and the fact that I've used it
> before, and found it more usable than I do either SF or bugzilla.  My
> feeling about trac is that its a significant plus if we stick with
> svn, but doesn't offer much over sf if we go with any other system.

I have grown to be a big fan of integrated VCS/issue tracker, and I've
never even actually used one.  ;-)  It just seems like so clearly the
Right Idea that I can't believe how long it's taken to come around ...
maybe I'll find that it's not all it's cracked up to be in practice,
but I think this is a bonus for trac, myself.

That said, you're our heaviest issue tracker user, and that certainly
carries some weight in the decision process.

Ethan

--=20
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