Issue Tracking Software
In this document, several candidates are reviewed for use within CTSC as an Issue Tracking solution. Potential candidates include Test Track Pro ®, Bugzilla, Scarab and Trac. One nice attribute would be integration into the established VCS (version control system) in place within CTSC, namely Subversion.
TestTrack Pro is a commercial product that is part of a much larger suite of tools that provide Source Code Management (VCS). TestTrack Pro provides server support on Windows, Linux, Solaris and MacOS X. Client solutions exist for both Windows and Web browsers.
VCS
TestTrack Pro integrates with Surround SCM (sibling software), MS Visual Source Safe and CVS. No mention as to integration with Subversion however.
Licensing for TT Pro provides two methods:
$295 per seat,
$795 per concurrent user, or
TT Pro can be bundled with Surround SCM. Licensing for the two products are:
$695 per seat
$1,895 per concurrent user
http://www.seapine.com/ttplicensing.html
The server component is evidently configured to know its clients in the per seat model via assigned IP address. This method allows a desktop to have access no matter who else is using the product. That desktop could then connect using a windows client or the web interface. The floating license is also known to the server and it will restrict access to N concurrent usages. This allows the web or windows client to be used by everyone, just not necessarily at the same time. The server can be configured to use a combination of either licensing method.
Bugzilla is an open source issue tracking software solution that began in 1998 at Mozilla.org. It was originally written in a programming language known as TCL (tool command language) but has since been ported to Perl. The database in use during initial development was MySQL but coding efforts are underway to allow the tool to be independent of RDBMS. This effort is not yet completed as of this writing, June 16, 2004.
VCS
Bugzilla is known to integrate with CVS but documentation does not suggest that Subversion is supported.
The Bugzilla software, due to its open source origins, is primarily developed for a ‘Nix environment. Efforts are underway however to make it Win32 compatible.
A number of companies use Bugzilla however and it is considered the de-facto in Open Source issue tracking solutions. Companies using Bugzilla include:
Mozilla.org (birthplace of Bugzilla), Apache, Red Hat, Mandrake IBM, NASA, Id Software and Netscape to name a few.
Scarab is an Issue Tracking solution that is Open Source and developed by the same group that created Subversion. As Subversion is a ground-up rethinking of CVS, Scarab is a ground-up rethinking of Bugzilla. Scarab is not full grown yet as they are about 4 years into development and are still at pre-1.0 beta. They did, however begin using their own product to track issues for their development in July 2002. So, while it’s not a production level yet, it is usable and in use at several sites.
VCS
Scarab documentation does not mention integration with any VCS.
Scarab is developed using Java Servlets for portability and is currently supported on ‘Nix, Win32, and MacOS X. Database calls are made using JDBC and are designed to be DBMS independent although MySQL is used for development and some tinkering is required during installation to setup on systems like Oracle or MS SQL Server. The installation of Scarab is quite involved and requires the pre-installation of several other operating environments;
Trac is an Open Source issue tracking and project management tool. It is written in Python and is built upon a Wiki engine. It was released in Feb 2004 in a pre-beta form. It is currently at version 0.7.1
VCS
Trac provides integration with Subversion.
Trac has several pre-installation requirements;
(only version 0.8 is available as a windows binary)
Trac is currently installed on the host; dba. It can be access via the url
http://dba:80/cgi-bin/trac.cgi