Bug & Issue Tracking Software
Farshad
become a high priority necessity for me since the number of projects has
increased and my home-made bug-tracking methods are far from being
sufficient now.
There is good page here in Wiki that compares different products:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_issue_tracking_systems
I checked lots of options with GPL and commercial licences. Among free ones
BugZilla and Bugtracker.NET took my attention. BugZilla has lots of features
but the user interface and way of handling issues wans't much user friendly
or let's say I didn't like it.
Anyway, I narrowed down my choices to "FogBugz" from FogCreek and "OnTime"
from Axosoft.
OnTime is .NET based and feature rich but the user interface is slow
specially in web-mode and I'm not sure if it can be installed on a regular
Windows Web-Host as it needs some special registeration/activation tasks. So
it may need you to run your own Windows Server.
FogBugz is made by FogCreek (Joel Spolsky) and it has a web-only simple user
interface and options to be deployed as both ASP and PHP. The UI is not as
good as OnTime but it is faster and simple. Once you get used to it, you can
do tasks easily. It also has a Wiki that can be opened to outside world.
Well I had a one day test-drive with each product and can't really tell
which one is the way to go. Is there any recommendation regarding above
products or other issue tracking software in general? Any help is highly
appreciated.
Farshad
Roland
>products or other issue tracking software in general? Any help is highly
>appreciated.
We recently started to use BugNET, and we really like it. ASP.NET C#.
http://www.bugnetproject.com/
Roland (Beensoft)
http://www.beensoft.nl
http://beensoft.blogspot.com
--- posted by geoForum on http://delphi.newswhat.com
Brian Moelk
> Well I had a one day test-drive with each product and can't really tell
> which one is the way to go. Is there any recommendation regarding above
> products or other issue tracking software in general? Any help is highly
> appreciated.
If you use Subversion, http://trac.edgewall.org/ is worth looking at as
well.
Also, if you're looking for something to manage customer accounts, my
current choice is: http://www.userscape.com/products/helpspot/
--
Brian Moelk
Brain Endeavor LLC
bmo...@NObrainSPAMendeavorFOR.MEcom
ctr...@gmail.com
> I checked lots of options with GPL and commercial licences. Among free ones
> BugZilla and Bugtracker.NET took my attention.
I'm the author of BugTracker.NET. Did you actually run BugTracker.NET
or just read about it? I'd be very interested to know your thoughts,
pro or con. Between FogBugz, OnTime, and Trac, BugTracker.NET is
closest in approach to FogBugz. Here's what others have written
about BugTracker.NET.
http://ifdefined.com/bugtrackernet_others_say.html
I also have a page that's a good place to spend some time for anybody
in the process of evaluating issue trackers:
http://ifdefined.com/blog/post/2007/10/Links-to-other-comparisons-of-issue-trackers.aspx
Eug. C.
Ed Dressel
> specially in web-mode and I'm not sure if it can be installed on a regular
> Windows Web-Host as it needs some special registeration/activation tasks.
> So
> it may need you to run your own Windows Server.
I've been using this for a few years now and am happy with it. What I like
that does not show up in a demo is (1) the tech support has always been
excellent; (2) They respond to feature requests in upgrades; (3) ability to
customize reports is very usefull (though takes a bit to figure out).
HTH,
Edward Dressel
Eddie Shipman
We've encountered various problems with OT. The most significant is
that for some unknown reason, it decides to change the status of items.
We ran into a problem several months ago where we were getting the
notifications that the status had been changed and apparently this was
all in respone to modifying one item. It began doing this to many other
items, as well.
While I like the product, it's UI is horrible, namely because it is a
.NET application. It is slow and clunky the loading of the grids are
slow and there is not much configurability to the UI at all. It does
not store user UI preferences per user.
We run it on a terminal server for some people to run the Windows UI and
we also allow some others to use the Web UI, which I have never seen.
--
Farshad
"Ed Dressel"
> I've been using this for a few years now and am happy with it. What I like
> that does not show up in a demo is (1) the tech support has always been
> excellent; (2) They respond to feature requests in upgrades; (3) ability
> to customize reports is very usefull (though takes a bit to figure out).
Yes, OnTime is feature rich but I wish its Web UI could be simpler and more
responsive.
Eddie Shipman
> "Eddie Shipman"
> > While I like the product, it's UI is horrible, namely because it is
> > a .NET application. It is slow and clunky the loading of the grids
> > are slow and there is not much configurability to the UI at all. It
> > does not store user UI preferences per user.
> >
> > We run it on a terminal server for some people to run the Windows
> > UI and we also allow some others to use the Web UI, which I have
> > never seen.
>
> Yes that's the major problem that made me reconsider my decision to
> go with OnTime. The problem with UI is that they have embedded lots
> of controls in a single form and it causes lots of flickers and
> delays in screen updates. It is even worse in Web Interface which I
> was planning to use. The web interface is heavily based on Java
> Script to replicate the Windows UI.
<bg> Kind of like PHP4D, I guess but in ASP.net, instead...
--
Farshad
> While I like the product, it's UI is horrible, namely because it is a
> .NET application. It is slow and clunky the loading of the grids are
> slow and there is not much configurability to the UI at all. It does
> not store user UI preferences per user.
>
> We run it on a terminal server for some people to run the Windows UI and
> we also allow some others to use the Web UI, which I have never seen.
Yes that's the major problem that made me reconsider my decision to go with
Michael Justin
Very easy to evaluate with InstantMantis: unzip and go.
Markus.Humm
Me too ;-)
A publically accessible installation can be found at Upscene somewhere
where you get read only access without registration. You can at least
look at some normal operations then...
Greetings
Markus
Dave Nottage [TeamB]
> We recently started to use BugNET, and we really like it. ASP.NET C#.
> http://www.bugnetproject.com/
Thanks for the link. That may just top our list for our web-based bug
tracking.
--
Dave Nottage [TeamB]
Patrick Moloney
I do run it in an office on a server, and using the windows client.
Sounds like you want to run it over the internet, maybe install it at
an ISP or something. That will probably never be as snappy.
Axosoft is quite responsive and open. They have a client feedback
system for bugs and feature requests, which keeps the system growing
and improving.
--
Patrick Moloney
Farshad
be able to access it from anywhere. However, I'm not sure if this can be
done since OnTime needs to be registered on installed machine.
Despite some disadvantages I mentioned before OnTime looks like a pretty
good choice. Price is a bit higher with Professional pack but price is not
an issue for me since it will be a one-time buy.
"Patrick Moloney" <NewsID*at*SandrockSoftware.c*o*m> wrote in message
news:4754...@newsgroups.borland.com...
Ed Dressel
> We've encountered various problems with OT. The most significant is
> that for some unknown reason, it decides to change the status of items.
> We ran into a problem several months ago where we were getting the
> notifications that the status had been changed and apparently this was
> all in respone to modifying one item. It began doing this to many other
> items, as well.
Have used it a little but not much.
> While I like the product, it's UI is horrible, namely because it is a
> .NET application. It is slow and clunky the loading of the grids are
> slow and there is not much configurability to the UI at all. It does
> not store user UI preferences per user.
A recent update addressed most of what you just mentioned with speed.
Ed Weatherup
[snip - using OnTime ]
>
> While I like the product, it's UI is horrible, namely because it is a
> .NET application. It is slow and clunky the loading of the grids are
> slow and there is not much configurability to the UI at all. It does
> not store user UI preferences per user.
We use OnTime on a local server and it's horribly slow. The Windows UI is
really sludgy and slow (feels like a web app!) -- is this really because
it's a .NET application?
> We run it on a terminal server for some people to run the Windows UI
> and we also allow some others to use the Web UI, which I have never
> seen.
OTOH the web interface is just too slow to be of use.
I wanted to look at changing to FogBugz but Boss#1 want's to persevere with
OnTime.
--
Ed.
Farshad
"Ed Weatherup"
> We use OnTime on a local server and it's horribly slow. The Windows UI is
> really sludgy and slow (feels like a web app!) -- is this really because
> it's a .NET application?
Which version are you using? I started testing the 2008 RC2 version and
while the Windows UI is not as responsive as I expected the overall
performance seems to be OK. I also started testing the Web UI through a
trial account. It works for me but I'm not sure how things will go when I
add several proejects, bugs, issues and attachements.
> I wanted to look at changing to FogBugz but Boss#1 want's to persevere
> with OnTime.
FogBugz looks good but I found it's reporting features very limited. The UI
seems to be good only if you have a few projects and as far as I can see the
UI is not scalabe. You have to select Projects and many other things from
pulldown menus and I wonder how you can manage things when you have 50 or
more projects with 100s of issues and filters. The integrated reports are
far from being sufficient. It doesn't even provide an XLS export or
PDF/print function.
Ed Weatherup
> "Ed Weatherup"
>
>> We use OnTime on a local server and it's horribly slow. The Windows
>> UI is really sludgy and slow (feels like a web app!) -- is this
>> really because it's a .NET application?
>
> Which version are you using? I started testing the 2008 RC2 version
> and while the Windows UI is not as responsive as I expected the
> overall performance seems to be OK. I also started testing the Web UI
> through a trial account. It works for me but I'm not sure how things
> will go when I add several proejects, bugs, issues and attachements.
One quick look -- it's 7.1.1.7329
We've got 15 main projects each with approx 3 sub-projects and the about 750
issues logged.
>> I wanted to look at changing to FogBugz but Boss#1 want's to
>> persevere with OnTime.
(Correction: "... Boss#1 wants to ..." -- get rid of that superfluous
apsotrophe!)
>
> FogBugz looks good but I found it's reporting features very limited.
> The UI seems to be good only if you have a few projects and as far as
> I can see the UI is not scalabe. You have to select Projects and
> many other things from pulldown menus and I wonder how you can manage
> things when you have 50 or more projects with 100s of issues and
> filters. The integrated reports are far from being sufficient. It
> doesn't even provide an XLS export or PDF/print function.
The PDF reports are useful but I find the filters a pain to use and to my
mind the bug recording logic is a bit backwards (unless we're not using it
correctly) we get testers estimating how long it will take to fix a bug: how
would they know?
--
Ed.
Patrick Moloney
> Yes, I want to install it on a remote server which hosts my website
> so I'll be able to access it from anywhere. However, I'm not sure if
> this can be done since OnTime needs to be registered on installed
> machine.
>
> Despite some disadvantages I mentioned before OnTime looks like a
> pretty good choice. Price is a bit higher with Professional pack but
> price is not an issue for me since it will be a one-time buy.
>
>
They have the "Remote Server" version of Ontime which sounds like it is
designed for what you want. And I think they do hosting too. Have you
talked with them about it?
--
Patrick Moloney
Farshad
"Patrick Moloney"
>
> They have the "Remote Server" version of Ontime which sounds like it is
> designed for what you want. And I think they do hosting too. Have you
> talked with them about it?
>
Yes, I contacted them yesterday and waiting for a reply.
In past week I've tested up to 15 different products and couldn't decide
which one is best to use. Each product has some advantages and some
weaknesses.
These are features that I want:
1) Support for different projects
2) Dividing issues into several categories: Bugs, Features request, Tasks
and etc
3) Submitting issues and attachements by email
4) Simple reports like Change log Report, Open issues, Closed issues..
5) Adding Attachments to issues
6) A web portal for customers and end users
7) Wiki for internal use and/or customer view
8) Web Interface
9) Must be installed on a regular web hosting provider
10) Ability to sort incoming emails to different projects
It seems that eventually I'm going to continue using Notepad for bug
tracking :)
Ed Dressel
> while the Windows UI is not as responsive as I expected the overall
> performance seems to be OK. I also started testing the Web UI through a
> trial account. It works for me but I'm not sure how things will go when I
> add several proejects, bugs, issues and attachements.
I use 2007 and find it fine--more responsive then Delphi.:-)--note that
there are only two of us but I have been using it for two years and have
~300 defects (and a few more features) in the list. I really like the
ability to filter & sort--very powerful. And reporting is nice.
Martijn Tonies
> > http://www.mantisbt.org/
> >
> >
>
> Me too ;-)
>
> A publically accessible installation can be found at Upscene somewhere
> where you get read only access without registration. You can at least
> look at some normal operations then...
Yep, and we're very happy with it :-)
--
Martijn Tonies
Database Workbench - tool for InterBase, Firebird, MySQL, NexusDB, Oracle &
MS SQL Server
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com
My thoughts:
http://blog.upscene.com/martijn/
Database development questions? Check the forum!
http://www.databasedevelopmentforum.com
Randy Shelley
I am the author of RS Project Manager and it has a pretty rich issue
management system. I would be interested to hear what you think. Is is
J2EE based.
http://RSProjectManager.com
ctr...@yahoo.com
Just for your info, here are the features that BugTracker.NET does
*NOT* deliver on, at least not the current version:
#6 - web portal for customers and end users. It's ok for, like, a
software company communicating with a small number of customers, that
they know, that are set up as users in the system beforehand. But it
doesn't have a user self-registration feature, or a way for a user to
interact with it without first logging in.
#7 - Wiki - there's no wiki. I know that Trac and FogBugz have
integrated Wiki's. I'm curious, how important is it that a Wiki be
*INTEGRATED* with the tracker? Can you describe what the INTEGRATION
does for you?
Mitchell Vincent
> Recently, the need for an automated bug tracking and QA control software has
> become a high priority necessity for me since the number of projects has
> increased and my home-made bug-tracking methods are far from being
> sufficient now.
>
I used FogBugz for several years but never really liked it. I switched
to Support Suite by Kayako as a support/issue/bug/feature management
software - http://www.kayako.com/
--
- Mitchell Vincent
Marco van de Voort
> We us Mantis. Works well for us.
> http://www.mantisbt.org/
Mantis also, both hobby (FPC) and at work.
Only problem: with FPC we had some problems for tickets with huge amounts of
subscribers, the mail module doesn't scale that well.
Farshad
features like adding features by email and wiki support.
"Martijn Tonies" <m.to...@upscene.removethis.com> wrote in message
news:47557ca0$1...@newsgroups.borland.com...
Carlos Korhasanoglu
version 1.10.
Regards
Carlos
Farshad escribió:
Ed Dressel
>features like adding features by email and wiki support.
what is wiki support for a bug tracking tool?
Mike Orriss
> I tried Mantis for a while and it is good but there are some missing
> features like adding features by email and wiki support.
My biggest gripe with Mantis is the poor support for overall project
management.
So, I wrote my own client using MantisConnect and I'm much happier now
:)
--
Mike
Carlos Korhasanoglu
http://www.mantisbt.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4261&p=10950&hilit=wiki#p10950
Best regards
Carlos
Ed Dressel escribió:
Michael Fritz
<news:4756c46c$1...@newsgroups.borland.com>:
> I used FogBugz for several years but never really liked it. I switched
> to Support Suite by Kayako as a support/issue/bug/feature management
> software - http://www.kayako.com/
Mitchel,
it seems that this software is available only for online usage on their
servers, correct? So no offline or local installation seems to be possible?
--
cu,
Michael
Steve Troxell
There appear to be owned and leased options for use on your own server.
http://www.kayako.com/products.php
Scroll down to "License Options"
Steve Troxell
Steve Troxell
> I used FogBugz for several years but never really liked it. I switched
> to Support Suite by Kayako as a support/issue/bug/feature management
> software - http://www.kayako.com/
>
Care to highlight some of the things that distinguish Kayako over
FogBugz? FogBugz's lack of a real customer portal and several other
functional deficiencies have bothered me since I got it 2 1/2 years ago.
What FogBugz pain points have you found relief from in Kayako?
Steve Troxell
Michael Fritz
> There appear to be owned and leased options for use on your own server.
>
> http://www.kayako.com/products.php
>
> Scroll down to "License Options"
Yes, I now can see it - thanks!
--
cu,
Michael
Graeme Geldenhuys
> Farshad wrote:
>> Recently, the need for an automated bug tracking and QA control
>> software has
>> become a high priority necessity for me since the number of projects has
>> increased and my home-made bug-tracking methods are far from being
>> sufficient now.
>>
>
You can also try Team Coherence [http://www.teamcoherence.com/] which is
also pretty easy to use and fast. Also their is command line and gui
clients. You also get command line clients for Linux but even better,
the Windows GUI client runs perfectly under Linux with WINE.
Regards,
- Graeme -
Asim
I used http://www.dotproject.net, and found that it most closely matched
our requirements.
Regards,
Asim Khan
--- posted by geoForum on http://delphi.newswhat.com
Asim
I used http://www.dotproject.net, and found that it most closely matched
our requirements.
Features Include
User Management
Email based trouble Ticket System
Client/Company Management
Project listings
Hierarchical Task List
File Repository
Contact List
Calendar
Discussion Forum
Resource Based Permissions
Farshad
I decided to go with Mantis for several reasons:
- It is based on PHP + MySQL so it can be deployed to any server / OS
- UI is simple, clean and fast
- I could integrate DokuWiki with some efforts and the result looks good
- Project is evolving fast and new features are continounsly added
- Many features are customizable and can be done from integrated Config Menu
- Open Source. You have the PHP source, do whatever you want
- The ticket system is not available by default but it can be added by a
patch and will be standard in new versions
- 3rd party plugin support is good and growing
- Free with unlimited users
I didn't choose OnTime since:
- The Web UI is heavily based on AJAX and other Rich Web Components, so on a
slow connection screen refresh rate is not good
- Web hosting requires a Full-Trust IIS access level which is available only
if you run your own server
- Mail monitoring and Ticket Services run as Windows Services which again
requires Admin access to server and IIS
- Dependent to .NET platform and MSSQL
- Web UI is not usable from a Mobile Device.
- Closed source. There is a SDK but main features can't be customized
- While the Wiki is advanced, it is only for internal use and can't be
shared with customers.
- Free version is available but the license is limited to only 1 admin + 5
customers
I didn't choose FogBugz since:
- The UI is not that intuitive
- I expected better reporting features from a commercial product. Still
couldn't figure out how to get a ChangeLog report.
- Filter management is not that easy.
- It has an advanced Wiki designer but the Wiki, Projects and Issues can not
interact with each other.