1. Bug tracking tools

2. Outline Why need Bug Tracking tool? Life-cycle of a “bug report”
Bug report attributes
Bug tracking events
Main tools
Guidelines
Public bug trackers
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3. Why need Bug Tracking tool?
Collaborative software engineering
Software result of co-operation of many people typically at different locations
Communication is crucial
Many means available
face-to-face meetings, , phone
video-conferencing, instant messaging, Wiki
Bugs are inevitable
Software written by humans
It’s only human to errr
Means: first row – old fashioned style
second row – “internet generation” style
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4. Why need bug tracking tool?
Need to communicate about bugs
discovery / symptom / reproduction / reason / removal
Communication means inappropriate
all parties involved? difficult to follow evolution.
phone, IM: all parties involved? might get forgotten.
Wiki: needs notification.
We need a specialized tool
able to track history and evolution of bugs
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5. Life-cycle of a “bug report”
I think I know what’s wrong.
Que???
Updates
Notifies
Reports
Open
Unassigned
Open
Assigned
Closed
Notifies
Self-assigns
Fixes
This is just a possible scenario. For instance:
- reported bug can already be assigned to someone,
- updates can be added before report being assigned,
- not only self-assignment is allowed
- after being closed in can be re-opened again
Notifies
Oops, that’s in my code…
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6. Bug report attributes Date: report, updates, close
Status: open, closed, deleted, assigned
Short summary
Detailed description
Severity and priority
Platform and version number
Category: GUI, installation, certain module
Reproduction: description or test-case
From Sourceforge, Gaim project (a popular instant messenger)
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7. Bug report attributes Date: report, updates, close
Status: open, closed, deleted, assigned
Short summary
Detailed description
Severity and priority
Platform and version number
Category: GUI, installation, certain module
Reproduction: description or test-case (e.g. attaching core dump)
The description on the right is displayed when clicking on the summary of the entry on the previous slide.
In rectangle: what additional info appears compared to previous slide
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8. Bug tracking events Open, update and close report Search among reports
Upper figure shows an update dialog.
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9. Main tools How to choose? free vs. commercial
featurism vs. ease of use
technical requirements
A comprehensive list of tools
Most popular tools
Bugzilla, Mantis, GNATS, Flyspray
By technical requirement I mean e.g. whether the installation of DB / PHP etc. needed or not.
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10. Bug report writing guidelines
One issue per report
Make sure it is not reported yet
How to write useful bug report
Summary: short but quickly and uniquely identifies bug
Be specific: product, version, component, platform, OS
include list of third party software used
Reproducible: provide least amount of steps
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11. Public bug trackers bugzilla.mozilla.org
netbeans.org/community/issues.html
bugs.eclipse.org
bugs.debian.org
If time permits, can show and browse through one or Gaim at Sourceforge:
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