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<title>The Bugzilla FAQ</title>
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This FAQ includes questions not covered elsewhere in the Guide.
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<qandadiv id="faq-general">
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<title>General Questions</title>
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<question id="faq-general-tryout">
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Can I try out Bugzilla somewhere?
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If you want to take a test ride, there are test installations
25
at <ulink url="http://landfill.bugzilla.org/"/>,
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ready to play with directly from your browser.
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<question id="faq-general-license">
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What license is Bugzilla distributed under?
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Bugzilla is covered by the Mozilla Public License.
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See details at <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/"/>.
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<question id="faq-general-support">
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How do I get commercial support for Bugzilla?
53
<ulink url="http://www.bugzilla.org/support/consulting.html"/>
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is a list of companies and individuals who have asked us to
55
list them as consultants for Bugzilla.
58
There are several experienced
59
Bugzilla hackers on the mailing list/newsgroup who are willing
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to make themselves available for generous compensation.
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Try sending a message to the mailing list asking for a volunteer.
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<question id="faq-general-companies">
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What major companies or projects are currently using Bugzilla
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There are <emphasis>dozens</emphasis> of major companies with public
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Bugzilla sites to track bugs in their products. We have a fairly
77
complete list available on our website at
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<ulink url="http://bugzilla.org/installation-list/"/>. If you
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have an installation of Bugzilla and would like to be added to the
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list, whether it's a public install or not, simply e-mail
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Gerv <email>gerv@mozilla.org</email>.
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<question id="faq-general-maintainers">
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Who maintains Bugzilla?
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A <ulink url="http://www.bugzilla.org/developers/profiles.html">core
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team</ulink>, led by Dave Miller (justdave@bugzilla.org).
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<question id="faq-general-compare">
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How does Bugzilla stack up against other bug-tracking databases?
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We can't find any head-to-head comparisons of Bugzilla against
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other defect-tracking software. If you know of one, please get
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in touch. In the experience of Matthew Barnson (the original
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author of this FAQ), though, Bugzilla offers superior
112
performance on commodity hardware, better price (free!), more
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developer-friendly features (such as stored queries, email
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integration, and platform independence), improved scalability,
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greater flexibility, and superior ease-of-use when compared
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to commercial bug-tracking software.
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If you happen to be a vendor for commercial bug-tracking
120
software, and would like to submit a list of advantages your
121
product has over Bugzilla, simply send it to
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<email>documentation@bugzilla.org</email> and we'd be happy to
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include the comparison in our documentation.
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<question id="faq-general-bzmissing">
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Why doesn't Bugzilla offer this or that feature or compatibility
132
with this other tracking software?
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It may be that the support has not been built yet, or that you
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have not yet found it. While Bugzilla makes strides in usability,
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customizability, scalability, and user interface with each release,
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that doesn't mean it can't still use improvement!
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The best way to make an enhancement request is to <ulink
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url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Bugzilla">file
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a bug at bugzilla.mozilla.org</ulink> and set the Severity
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to 'enhancement'. Your 'request for enhancement' (RFE) will
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start out in the UNCONFIRMED state, and will stay there until
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someone with the ability to CONFIRM the bug reviews it.
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If that person feels it to be a good request that fits in with
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Bugzilla's overall direction, the status will be changed to
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NEW; if not, they will probably explain why and set the bug
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to RESOLVED/WONTFIX. If someone else has made the same (or
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almost the same) request before, your request will be marked
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RESOLVED/DUPLICATE, and a pointer to the previous RFE will be
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Even if your RFE gets approved, that doesn't mean it's going
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to make it right into the next release; there are a limited
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number of developers, and a whole lot of RFEs... some of
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which are <emphasis>quite</emphasis> complex. If you're a
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code-hacking sort of person, you can help the project along
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by making a patch yourself that supports the functionality
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you require. If you have never contributed anything to
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Bugzilla before, please be sure to read the
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<ulink url="http://www.bugzilla.org/docs/developer.html">Developers' Guide</ulink>
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<ulink url="http://www.bugzilla.org/docs/contributor.html">Contributors' Guide</ulink>
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<question id="faq-general-db">
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What databases does Bugzilla run on?
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MySQL is the default database for Bugzilla. It was originally chosen
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because it is free, easy to install, and was available for the hardware
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Netscape intended to run it on.
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As of Bugzilla 2.22, complete support for PostgreSQL
188
is included. With this release using PostgreSQL with Bugzilla
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should be as stable as using MySQL. If you experience any problems
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with PostgreSQL compatibility, they will be taken as
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seriously as if you were running MySQL.
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There are plans to include an Oracle driver for Bugzilla 3.1.2.
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<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=189947">
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Sybase support was worked on for a time. However, several
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complicating factors have prevented Sybase support from
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being realized. There are currently no plans to revive it.
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<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=237862">
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Bug 237862</ulink> is a good bug to read through if you'd
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like to see what progress is being made on general database
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<question id="faq-general-perlpath">
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My perl is located at <filename>/usr/local/bin/perl</filename>
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and not <filename>/usr/bin/perl</filename>. Is there an easy
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to change that in all the files that have this hard-coded?
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The easiest way to get around this is to create a link from
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<command>ln -s /usr/local/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl</command>.
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If that's not an option for you, the following bit of perl
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magic will change all the shebang lines (that is to say,
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the line at the top of each file that starts with '#!'
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and contains the path) to something else:
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perl -pi -e 's@#\!/usr/bin/perl@#\!/usr/local/bin/perl@' *cgi *pl
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Sadly, this command-line won't work on Windows unless you
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also have Cygwin. However, MySQL comes with a binary called
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<command>replace</command> which can do the job:
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C:\mysql\bin\replace "#!/usr/bin/perl" "#!C:\perl\bin\perl" -- *.cgi *.pl
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If your perl path is something else again, just follow the
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above examples and replace
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<filename>/usr/local/bin/perl</filename> with your own perl path.
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Once you've modified all your files, you'll also need to modify the
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<filename>t/002goodperl.t</filename> test, as it tests that all
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shebang lines are equal to <filename>/usr/bin/perl</filename>.
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(For more information on the test suite, please check out the
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appropriate section in the <ulink
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url="http://www.bugzilla.org/docs/developer.html#testsuite">Developers'
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Guide</ulink>.) Having done this, run the test itself:
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perl runtests.pl 2 --verbose
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to ensure that you've modified all the relevant files.
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If using Apache on Windows, you can avoid the whole problem
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by setting the <ulink
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url="http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/core.html#scriptinterpretersource">
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ScriptInterpreterSource</ulink> directive to 'Registry'.
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(If using Apache 2 or higher, set it to 'Registry-Strict'.)
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ScriptInterperterSource requires a registry entry
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<quote>HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.cgi\Shell\ExecCGI\Command</quote> to
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associate .cgi files with your perl executable. If one does
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not already exist, create it with a default value of
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<quote><full path to perl> -T</quote>, e.g.
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<quote>C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -T</quote>.
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<question id="faq-general-cookie">
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Is there an easy way to change the Bugzilla cookie name?
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<question id="faq-general-selinux">
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How can Bugzilla be made to work under SELinux?
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As a web application, Bugzilla simply requires its root
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directory to have the httpd context applied for it to work
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properly under SELinux. This should happen automatically
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on distributions that use SELinux and that package Bugzilla
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(if it is installed with the native package management tools).
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Information on how to view and change SELinux file contexts
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<ulink url="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/selinux-faq-fc5/">
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<qandadiv id="faq-phb">
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<title>Managerial Questions</title>
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<question id="faq-phb-deletebugs">
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Is it possible to delete bug reports?
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Yes. You have to turn on the 'allowbugdeletion' parameter, which is
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off by default. Note that you cannot delete bug reports one by one.
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You have to move them in a product or component, e.g. named "Trash",
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and then delete this product or component. The reason we make it
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hard is that you generally don't want to do that.
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<question id="faq-phb-client">
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Is Bugzilla web-based, or do you have to have specific software or
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a specific operating system on your machine?
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It is web and e-mail based.
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<question id="faq-phb-priorities">
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Does Bugzilla allow us to define our own priorities and levels?
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Do we have complete freedom to change the labels of fields and
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format of them, and the choice of acceptable values?
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Yes. However, modifying some fields, notably those related to bug
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progression states, also require adjusting the program logic to
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compensate for the change.
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As of Bugzilla 3.0 custom fields can be created via the
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"Custom Fields" admin page.
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<question id="faq-phb-reporting">
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Does Bugzilla provide any reporting features, metrics, graphs,
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etc? You know, the type of stuff that management likes to see. :)
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Yes. Look at <ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/report.cgi"/>
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for samples of what Bugzilla can do in reporting and graphing.
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Fuller documentation is provided in <xref linkend="reporting"/>.
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If you can not get the reports you want from the included reporting
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scripts, it is possible to hook up a professional reporting package
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such as Crystal Reports using ODBC. If you choose to do this,
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beware that giving direct access to the database does contain some
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security implications. Even if you give read-only access to the
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bugs database it will bypass the secure bugs features of Bugzilla.
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<question id="faq-phb-email">
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Is there email notification? If so, what do you see
398
when you get an email?
403
Email notification is user-configurable. By default, the bug id
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and summary of the bug report accompany each email notification,
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along with a list of the changes made.
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<question id="faq-phb-emailapp">
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Do users have to have any particular type of email application?
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Bugzilla email is sent in plain text, the most compatible
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mail format on the planet.
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If you decide to use the bugzilla_email integration features
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to allow Bugzilla to record responses to mail with the
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associated bug, you may need to caution your users to set
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their mailer to <quote>respond to messages in the format in
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which they were sent</quote>. For security reasons Bugzilla
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ignores HTML tags in comments, and if a user sends HTML-based
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email into Bugzilla the resulting comment looks downright awful.
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<question id="faq-phb-data">
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Does Bugzilla allow data to be imported and exported? If I had
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outsiders write up a bug report using a MS Word bug template,
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could that template be imported into <quote>matching</quote>
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fields? If I wanted to take the results of a query and export
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that data to MS Excel, could I do that?
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Bugzilla can output buglists as HTML (the default), CSV or RDF.
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The link for CSV can be found at the bottom of the buglist in HTML
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format. This CSV format can easily be imported into MS Excel or
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other spreadsheet applications.
453
To use the RDF format of the buglist it is necessary to append a
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<computeroutput>&ctype=rdf</computeroutput> to the URL. RDF
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is meant to be machine readable and thus it is assumed that the
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URL would be generated programmatically so there is no user visible
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Currently the only script included with Bugzilla that can import
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data is <filename>importxml.pl</filename> which is intended to be
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used for importing the data generated by the XML ctype of
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<filename>show_bug.cgi</filename> in association with bug moving.
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Any other use is left as an exercise for the user.
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There are also scripts included in the <filename>contrib/</filename>
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directory for using e-mail to import information into Bugzilla,
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but these scripts are not currently supported and included for
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educational purposes.
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<question id="faq-phb-l10n">
478
Has anyone converted Bugzilla to another language to be
479
used in other countries? Is it localizable?
484
Yes. For more information including available translated templates,
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url="http://www.bugzilla.org/download.html#localizations"/>.
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Some admin interfaces have been templatized (for easy localization)
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but many of them are still available in English only. Also, there
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may be issues with the charset not being declared. See <ulink
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url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=126266">bug 126226</ulink>
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for more information.
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<question id="faq-phb-reports">
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Can a user create and save reports?
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Can they do this in Word format? Excel format?
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Yes. No. Yes (using the CSV format).
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<question id="faq-phb-backup">
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Are there any backup features provided?
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You should use the backup options supplied by your database platform.
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Vendor documentation for backing up a MySQL database can be found at
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<ulink url="http://www.mysql.com/doc/B/a/Backup.html"/>.
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PostgreSQL backup documentation can be found at
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<ulink url="http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/static/backup.html"/>.
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<question id="faq-phb-maintenance">
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What type of human resources are needed to be on staff to install
531
and maintain Bugzilla? Specifically, what type of skills does the
532
person need to have? I need to find out what types of individuals
533
would we need to hire and how much would that cost if we were to
534
go with Bugzilla vs. buying an <quote>out-of-the-box</quote>
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If Bugzilla is set up correctly from the start, continuing
541
maintenance needs are minimal and can be done easily using
545
Commercial Bug-tracking software typically costs somewhere
546
upwards of $20,000 or more for 5-10 floating licenses. Bugzilla
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consultation is available from skilled members of the newsgroup.
548
Simple questions are answered there and then.
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<question id="faq-phb-installtime">
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What time frame are we looking at if we decide to hire people
557
to install and maintain the Bugzilla? Is this something that
558
takes hours or days to install and a couple of hours per week
559
to maintain and customize, or is this a multi-week install process,
560
plus a full time job for 1 person, 2 people, etc?
565
It all depends on your level of commitment. Someone with much
566
Bugzilla experience can get you up and running in less than a day,
567
and your Bugzilla install can run untended for years. If your
568
Bugzilla strategy is critical to your business workflow, hire
569
somebody to who has reasonable Perl skills, and a familiarity
570
with the operating system on which Bugzilla will be running,
571
and have them handle your process management, bug-tracking
572
maintenance, and local customization.
578
<question id="faq-phb-cost">
580
Is there any licensing fee or other fees for using Bugzilla? Any
581
out-of-pocket cost other than the bodies needed as identified above?
586
No. Bugzilla, Perl, the Template Toolkit, and all other support
587
software needed to make Bugzilla work can be downloaded for free.
588
MySQL and PostgreSQL -- the databases supported by Bugzilla --
589
are also open-source. MySQL asks that if you find their product
590
valuable, you purchase a support contract from them that suits your needs.
596
<question id="faq-phb-renameBugs">
598
We don't like referring to problems as 'bugs'. Can we change that?
603
Yes! As of Bugzilla 2.18, it is a simple matter to change the
604
word 'bug' into whatever word/phrase is used by your organization.
605
See the documentation on Customization for more details,
606
specifically <xref linkend="template-specific"/>.
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<qandadiv id="faq-admin">
614
<title>Administrative Questions</title>
617
<question id="faq-admin-midair">
619
Does Bugzilla provide record locking when there is simultaneous
620
access to the same bug? Does the second person get a notice
621
that the bug is in use or how are they notified?
626
Bugzilla does not lock records. It provides mid-air collision
627
detection -- which means that it warns a user when a commit is
628
about to conflict with commits recently made by another user,
629
and offers the second user a choice of options to deal with
636
<question id="faq-admin-livebackup">
638
Can users be on the system while a backup is in progress?
643
Refer to your database platform documentation for details on how to do hot
645
Vendor documentation for backing up a MySQL database can be found at
646
<ulink url="http://www.mysql.com/doc/B/a/Backup.html"/>.
647
PostgreSQL backup documentation can be found at
648
<ulink url="http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/static/backup.html"/>.
654
<question id="faq-admin-cvsupdate">
656
How can I update the code and the database using CVS?
664
Make a backup of both your Bugzilla directory and the
665
database. For the Bugzilla directory this is as easy as
666
doing <command>cp -rp bugzilla bugzilla.bak</command>.
667
For the database, there's a number of options - see the
668
MySQL docs and pick the one that fits you best (the easiest
669
is to just make a physical copy of the database on the disk,
670
but you have to have the database server shut down to do
671
that without risking dataloss).
677
Make the Bugzilla directory your current directory.
683
Use <command>cvs -q update -AdP</command> if you want to
685
<command>cvs -q update -dP -rTAGNAME</command>
686
if you want a specific version (in that case you'll have to
687
replace TAGNAME with a CVS tag name such as BUGZILLA-2_16_5).
691
If you've made no local changes, this should be very clean.
692
If you have made local changes, then watch the cvs output
693
for C results. If you get any lines that start with a C
694
it means there were conflicts between your local changes
695
and what's in CVS. You'll need to fix those manually before
702
After resolving any conflicts that the cvs update operation
703
generated, running <command>./checksetup.pl</command> will
704
take care of updating the database for you as well as any
705
other changes required for the new version to operate.
710
Once you run checksetup.pl, the only way to go back is
711
to restore the database backups. You can't
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<quote>downgrade</quote> the system cleanly under most
720
See also the instructions in <xref linkend="upgrade-cvs"/>.
726
<question id="faq-admin-enable-unconfirmed">
728
How do I make it so that bugs can have an UNCONFIRMED status?
733
To use the UNCONFIRMED status, you must have the 'usevotes'
734
parameter set to <quote>On</quote>. You must then visit the
735
<filename>editproducts.cgi</filename> page and set the <quote>
736
Number of votes a bug in this product needs to automatically
737
get out of the UNCONFIRMED state</quote> to be a non-zero number.
738
(You will have to do this for each product that wants to use
739
the UNCONFIRMED state.) If you do not actually want users to be
740
able to vote for bugs entered against this product, leave the
741
<quote>Maximum votes per person</quote> value at '0'.
744
There is work being done to decouple the UNCONFIRMED state from
745
the 'usevotes' parameter for future versions of Bugzilla.
746
Follow the discussion and progress at <ulink
747
url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=162060">bug
754
<question id="faq-admin-moving">
756
How do I move a Bugzilla installation from one machine to another?
762
Reference your database vendor's documentation for information on
763
backing up and restoring your Bugzilla database on to a different server.
764
Vendor documentation for backing up a MySQL database can be found at
765
<ulink url="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/mysqldump.html"/>.
766
PostgreSQL backup documentation can be found at
767
<ulink url="http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/static/backup.html"/>.
771
On your new machine, follow the instructions found in <xref
772
linkend="installing-bugzilla"/> as far as setting up the physical
773
environment of the new machine with perl, webserver, modules, etc.
774
Having done that, you can either: copy your entire Bugzilla
775
directory from the old machine to a new one (if you want to keep
776
your existing code and modifications), or download a newer version
777
(if you are planning to upgrade at the same time). Even if you are
778
upgrading to clean code, you will still want to bring over the
779
<filename>localconfig</filename> file, and the
780
<filename class="directory">data</filename> directory from the
781
old machine, as they contain configuration information that you
782
probably won't want to re-create.
787
If the hostname or port number of your database server changed
788
as part of the move, you'll need to update the appropriate
789
variables in localconfig before taking the next step.
794
Once you have your code in place, and your database has
795
been restored from the backup you made in step 1, run
796
<command>checksetup.pl</command>. This will upgrade your
797
database (if necessary), rebuild your templates, etc.
803
<question id="faq-admin-makeadmin">
805
How do I make a new Bugzilla administrator?
806
The previous administrator is gone...
811
Run <command>checksetup.pl</command> with
812
<option>--make-admin</option> option.
813
Its usage is <option>--make-admin=user@example.org</option>.
814
The user account must be exist in the Bugzilla database.
821
<qandadiv id="faq-security">
822
<title>Bugzilla Security</title>
824
<question id="faq-security-mysql">
826
How do I completely disable MySQL security if it's giving
827
me problems? (I've followed the instructions in the installation
828
section of this guide...)
834
You can run MySQL like this: <command>mysqld --skip-grant-tables</command>.
835
However, doing so disables all MySQL security. This is a bad idea.
836
Please consult <xref linkend="security-mysql"/> of this guide
837
and the MySQL documentation for better solutions.
843
<question id="faq-security-knownproblems">
845
Are there any security problems with Bugzilla?
850
The Bugzilla code has undergone a reasonably complete security
851
audit, and user-facing CGIs run under Perl's taint mode. However,
852
it is recommended that you closely examine permissions on your
853
Bugzilla installation, and follow the recommended security
854
guidelines found in The Bugzilla Guide.
860
<qandadiv id="faq-email">
861
<title>Bugzilla Email</title>
864
<question id="faq-email-nomail">
866
I have a user who doesn't want to receive any more email
867
from Bugzilla. How do I stop it entirely for this user?
872
The user can stop Bugzilla from sending any mail by unchecking
873
all boxes on the 'Edit prefs' -> 'Email settings' page.
874
(As of 2.18,this is made easier by the addition of a 'Disable
875
All Mail' button.) Alternately, you can add their email address
876
to the <filename>data/nomail</filename> file (one email address
877
per line). This will override their personal preferences, and
878
they will never be sent mail again.
884
<question id="faq-email-testing">
886
I'm evaluating/testing Bugzilla, and don't want it to send email
887
to anyone but me. How do I do it?
892
To disable email, set the
893
<option>mail_delivery_method</option> parameter to
894
<literal>none</literal> (2.20 and later), or
895
<programlisting>$enableSendMail</programlisting> parameter to '0'
896
in either <filename>BugMail.pm</filename> (2.18 and later) or
897
<filename>processmail</filename> (up to 2.16.x).
901
Up to 2.16.x, changing
902
<programlisting>$enableSendMail</programlisting>
903
will only affect bugmail; email related to password changes,
904
email address changes, bug imports, flag changes, etc. will
905
still be sent out. As of the final release of 2.18, however,
906
the above step will disable <emphasis>all</emphasis> mail
907
sent from Bugzilla for any purpose.
911
To have bugmail (and only bugmail) redirected to you instead of
912
its intended recipients, leave
913
<programlisting>$enableSendMail</programlisting> alone;
914
instead, edit the <quote>newchangedmail</quote> parameter
920
Replace <quote>To:</quote> with <quote>X-Real-To:</quote>
925
Replace <quote>Cc:</quote> with <quote>X-Real-CC:</quote>
930
Add a <quote>To: %lt;your_email_address></quote>
938
<question id="faq-email-whine">
940
I want whineatnews.pl to whine at something other than new and
941
reopened bugs. How do I do it?
946
For older versions of Bugzilla, you may be able to apply
947
Klaas Freitag's patch for <quote>whineatassigned</quote>,
948
which can be found in
949
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6679">bug
950
6679</ulink>. Note that this patch was made in 2000, so it may take
951
some work to apply cleanly to any releases of Bugzilla newer than
952
that, but you can use it as a starting point.
956
An updated (and much-expanded) version of this functionality is
957
due to be released as part of Bugzilla 2.20; see
958
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=185090">bug
959
185090</ulink> for the discussion, and for more up-to-date patches
960
if you just can't wait.
966
<question id="faq-email-in">
968
How do I set up the email interface to submit or change bugs via email?
973
Bugzilla 3.0 and later offers the ability submit or change
974
bugs via email, using the <filename>email_in.pl</filename>
975
script within the root directory of the Bugzilla installation.
976
More information on the script can be found in
977
<ulink url="api/email_in.html">docs/html/api/email_in.html</ulink>.
983
<question id="faq-email-sendmailnow">
985
Email takes FOREVER to reach me from Bugzilla -- it's
986
extremely slow. What gives?
991
If you are using <application>sendmail</application>, try
992
enabling <option>sendmailnow</option> in
993
<filename>editparams.cgi</filename>. For earlier versions of
994
<application>sendmail</application>, one could achieve
995
significant performance improvement in the UI (at the cost of
996
delaying the sending of mail) by setting this parameter to
997
<literal>off</literal>. Sites with
998
<application>sendmail</application> version 8.12 (or higher)
999
should leave this <literal>on</literal>, as they will not see
1000
any performance benefit.
1003
If you are using an alternate
1004
<glossterm linkend="gloss-mta">MTA</glossterm>, make sure the
1005
options given in <filename>Bugzilla/BugMail.pm</filename>
1006
and any other place where <application>sendmail</application>
1007
is called are correct for your MTA.
1013
<question id="faq-email-nonreceived">
1015
How come email from Bugzilla changes never reaches me?
1020
Double-check that you have not turned off email in your user
1021
preferences. Confirm that Bugzilla is able to send email by
1022
visiting the <quote>Log In</quote> link of your Bugzilla
1023
installation and clicking the <quote>Submit Request</quote>
1024
button after entering your email address.
1027
If you never receive mail from Bugzilla, chances are you do
1028
not have sendmail in "/usr/lib/sendmail". Ensure sendmail
1029
lives in, or is symlinked to, "/usr/lib/sendmail".
1032
If you are using an MTA other than
1033
<application>sendmail</application> the
1034
<option>sendmailnow</option> param must be set to
1035
<literal>on</literal> or no mail will be sent.
1041
<qandadiv id="faq-db">
1042
<title>Bugzilla Database</title>
1045
<question id="faq-db-corrupted">
1047
I think my database might be corrupted, or contain
1048
invalid entries. What do I do?
1053
Run the <quote>sanity check</quote> utility
1054
(<filename>sanitycheck.cgi</filename>) from your web browser
1055
to see! If it finishes without errors, you're
1056
<emphasis>probably</emphasis> OK. If it doesn't come back
1057
OK (i.e. any red letters), there are certain things
1058
Bugzilla can recover from and certain things it can't. If
1059
it can't auto-recover, I hope you're familiar with
1060
mysqladmin commands or have installed another way to
1061
manage your database. Sanity Check, although it is a good
1062
basic check on your database integrity, by no means is a
1063
substitute for competent database administration and
1064
avoiding deletion of data. It is not exhaustive, and was
1065
created to do a basic check for the most common problems
1066
in Bugzilla databases.
1072
<question id="faq-db-manualedit">
1074
I want to manually edit some entries in my database. How?
1079
There is no facility in Bugzilla itself to do this. It's also
1080
generally not a smart thing to do if you don't know exactly what
1081
you're doing. If you understand SQL, though, you can use the
1082
<command>mysql</command> or <command>psql</command> command line
1083
utilities to manually insert, delete and modify table information.
1084
There are also more intuitive GUI clients available for both MySQL
1085
and PostgreSQL. For MySQL, we recommend
1086
<ulink url="http://www.phpmyadmin.net/">phpMyAdmin</ulink>.
1090
Remember, backups are your friend. Everyone makes mistakes, and
1091
it's nice to have a safety net in case you mess something up.
1098
<question id="faq-db-permissions">
1100
I think I've set up MySQL permissions correctly, but Bugzilla still
1106
Try running MySQL from its binary:
1107
<command>mysqld --skip-grant-tables</command>.
1108
This will allow you to completely rule out grant tables as the
1109
cause of your frustration. If this Bugzilla is able to connect
1110
at this point then you need to check that you have granted proper
1111
permission to the user password combo defined in
1112
<filename>localconfig</filename>.
1116
Running MySQL with this command line option is very insecure and
1117
should only be done when not connected to the external network
1118
as a troubleshooting step. Please do not run your production
1119
database in this mode.
1123
You may also be suffering from a client version mismatch:
1126
MySQL 4.1 and up uses an authentication protocol based on
1127
a password hashing algorithm that is incompatible with that
1128
used by older clients. If you upgrade the server to 4.1,
1129
attempts to connect to it with an older client may fail
1130
with the following message:
1133
<screen><prompt>shell></prompt> mysql
1134
Client does not support authentication protocol requested
1135
by server; consider upgrading MySQL client
1139
To solve this problem, you should use one of the following
1146
Upgrade all client programs to use a 4.1.1 or newer
1152
When connecting to the server with a pre-4.1 client
1153
program, use an account that still has a
1154
pre-4.1-style password.
1159
Reset the password to pre-4.1 style for each user
1160
that needs to use a pre-4.1 client program.
1161
This can be done using the SET PASSWORD statement
1162
and the OLD_PASSWORD() function:
1164
<prompt>mysql></prompt> SET PASSWORD FOR
1165
<prompt> -></prompt> ' some_user '@' some_host ' = OLD_PASSWORD(' newpwd ');
1181
<question id="faq-db-synchronize">
1183
How do I synchronize bug information among multiple
1184
different Bugzilla databases?
1189
Well, you can synchronize or you can move bugs.
1190
Synchronization will only work one way -- you can create
1191
a read-only copy of the database at one site, and have it
1192
regularly updated at intervals from the main database.
1195
MySQL has some synchronization features built-in to the
1196
latest releases. It would be great if someone looked into
1197
the possibilities there and provided a report to the
1198
newsgroup on how to effectively synchronize two Bugzilla
1202
If you simply need to transfer bugs from one Bugzilla to another,
1203
checkout the <quote>move.pl</quote> script in the Bugzilla
1210
<qandadiv id="faq-nt">
1211
<title>Can Bugzilla run on a Windows server?</title>
1214
<question id="faq-nt-easiest">
1216
What is the easiest way to run Bugzilla on Win32 (Win98+/NT/2K)?
1221
Making Bugzilla work easily with Windows
1222
was one of the major goals of the 2.18 milestone. If the
1223
necessary components are in place (perl, a webserver, an MTA, etc.)
1224
then installation of Bugzilla on a Windows box should be no more
1225
difficult than on any other platform. As with any installation,
1226
we recommend that you carefully and completely follow the
1227
installation instructions in <xref linkend="os-win32"/>.
1230
While doing so, don't forget to check out the very excellent guide
1231
to <ulink url="http://www.bugzilla.org/docs/win32install.html">
1232
Installing Bugzilla on Microsoft Windows</ulink> written by
1233
Byron Jones. Thanks, Byron!
1239
<question id="faq-nt-bundle">
1241
Is there a "Bundle::Bugzilla" equivalent for Win32?
1246
Not currently. Bundle::Bugzilla enormously simplifies Bugzilla
1247
installation on UNIX systems. If someone can volunteer to
1248
create a suitable PPM bundle for Win32, it would be appreciated.
1254
<question id="faq-nt-mappings">
1256
CGI's are failing with a <quote>something.cgi is not a valid
1257
Windows NT application</quote> error. Why?
1262
Depending on what Web server you are using, you will have to
1263
configure the Web server to treat *.cgi files as CGI scripts.
1264
In IIS, you do this by adding *.cgi to the App Mappings with
1265
the <path>\perl.exe %s %s as the executable.
1268
Microsoft has some advice on this matter, as well:
1271
<quote>Set application mappings. In the ISM, map the extension
1272
for the script file(s) to the executable for the script
1273
interpreter. For example, you might map the extension .py to
1274
Python.exe, the executable for the Python script interpreter.
1275
Note For the ActiveState Perl script interpreter, the extension
1276
'.pl' is associated with PerlIS.dll by default. If you want
1277
to change the association of .pl to perl.exe, you need to
1278
change the application mapping. In the mapping, you must add
1279
two percent (%) characters to the end of the pathname for
1280
perl.exe, as shown in this example:
1281
<command>c:\perl\bin\perl.exe %s %s</command></quote>
1289
<question id="faq-nt-dbi">
1291
I'm having trouble with the perl modules for NT not being
1292
able to talk to the database.
1297
Your modules may be outdated or inaccurate. Try:
1301
Hitting <ulink url="http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl"/>
1321
<prompt>PPM></prompt> <command>install DBI DBD-mysql GD</command>
1325
I reckon TimeDate comes with the activeperl.
1326
You can check the ActiveState site for packages for installation
1327
through PPM. <ulink url="http://www.activestate.com/Packages/"/>.
1334
<qandadiv id="faq-use">
1335
<title>Bugzilla Usage</title>
1338
<question id="faq-use-changeaddress">
1340
How do I change my user name (email address) in Bugzilla?
1345
You can change your email address from the Name and Password
1346
section in Preferences. You will be emailed at both the old
1347
and new addresses for confirmation. 'Administrative Policies'
1348
must have the 'allowemailchange' parameter set to <quote>On</quote>.
1354
<question id="faq-use-query">
1356
The query page is very confusing.
1357
Isn't there a simpler way to query?
1362
The interface was simplified by a UI designer for 2.16. Further
1363
suggestions for improvement are welcome, but we won't sacrifice
1364
power for simplicity.
1367
As of 2.18, there is also a 'simpler' search available. At the top
1368
of the search page are two links; <quote>Advanced Search</quote>
1369
will take you to the familiar full-power/full-complexity search
1370
page. The <quote>Find a Specific Bug</quote> link will take you
1371
to a much-simplified page where you can pick a product and
1372
status (open,closed, or both), then enter words that appear in
1373
the bug you want to find. This search will scour the 'Summary'
1374
and 'Comment' fields, and return a list of bugs sorted so that
1375
the bugs with the most hits/matches are nearer to the top.
1379
Matches in the Summary will 'trump' matches in comments,
1380
and bugs with summary-matches will be placed higher in
1381
the buglist -- even if a lower-ranked bug has more matches
1382
in the comments section.
1386
Bugzilla uses a cookie to remember which version of the page
1387
you visited last, and brings that page up when you next do a
1388
search. The default page for new users (or after an upgrade)
1389
is the 'simple' search.
1395
<question id="faq-use-accept">
1397
I'm confused by the behavior of the <quote>Accept</quote>
1398
button in the Show Bug form. Why doesn't it assign the bug
1399
to me when I accept it?
1404
The current behavior is acceptable to bugzilla.mozilla.org and
1405
most users. If you want to change this behavior, though, you
1406
have your choice of patches:
1409
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35195">Bug 35195</ulink>
1410
seeks to add an <quote>...and accept the bug</quote> checkbox
1411
to the UI. It has two patches attached to it:
1412
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=8029">attachment 8029</ulink>
1413
was originally created for Bugzilla 2.12, while
1414
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=91372">attachment 91372</ulink>
1415
is an updated version for Bugzilla 2.16
1418
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=37613">Bug
1419
37613</ulink> also provides two patches (against Bugzilla
1420
2.12): one to add a 'Take Bug' option, and the other to
1421
automatically reassign the bug on 'Accept'.
1424
These patches are all somewhat dated now, and cannot be applied
1425
directly, but they are simple enough to provide a guide on how
1426
Bugzilla can be customized and updated to suit your needs.
1432
<question id="faq-use-attachment">
1434
I can't upload anything into the database via the
1435
<quote>Create Attachment</quote> link. What am I doing wrong?
1440
The most likely cause is a very old browser or a browser that is
1441
incompatible with file upload via POST. Download the latest version
1442
of your favourite browser to handle uploads correctly.
1448
<question id="faq-use-keyword">
1450
How do I change a keyword in Bugzilla, once some bugs are using it?
1455
In the Bugzilla administrator UI, edit the keyword and
1456
it will let you replace the old keyword name with a new one.
1457
This will cause a problem with the keyword cache; run
1458
<command>sanitycheck.cgi</command> to fix it.
1464
<question id="faq-use-close">
1466
Why can't I close bugs from the <quote>Change Several Bugs
1467
at Once</quote> page?
1472
Simple answer; you can.
1476
The logic behind the page checks every bug in the list to
1477
determine legal state changes, and then only shows you controls
1478
to do things that could apply to <emphasis>every</emphasis> bug
1479
on the list. The reason for this is that if you try to do something
1480
illegal to a bug, the whole process will grind to a halt, and all
1481
changes after the failed one will <emphasis>also</emphasis> fail.
1482
Since that isn't a good outcome, the page doesn't even present
1483
you with the option.
1487
In practical terms, that means that in order to mark
1488
multiple bugs as CLOSED, then every bug on the page has to be
1489
either RESOLVED or VERIFIED already; if this is not the case,
1490
then the option to close the bugs will not appear on the page.
1494
The rationale is that if you pick one of the bugs that's not
1495
VERIFIED and try to CLOSE it, the bug change will fail
1496
miserably (thus killing any changes in the list after it
1497
while doing the bulk change) so it doesn't even give you the
1506
<qandadiv id="faq-hacking">
1507
<title>Bugzilla Hacking</title>
1510
<question id="faq-hacking-templatestyle">
1512
What kind of style should I use for templatization?
1517
Gerv and Myk suggest a 2-space indent, with embedded code sections on
1518
their own line, in line with outer tags. Like this:</para>
1519
<programlisting><![CDATA[
1523
[% FOREACH x = barney %]
1532
]]></programlisting>
1534
<para> Myk also recommends you turn on PRE_CHOMP in the template
1535
initialization to prevent bloating of HTML with unnecessary whitespace.
1538
<para>Please note that many have differing opinions on this subject,
1539
and the existing templates in Bugzilla espouse both this and a 4-space
1540
style. Either is acceptable; the above is preferred.</para>
1545
<question id="faq-hacking-bugzillabugs">
1547
What bugs are in Bugzilla right now?
1552
Try <ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&product=Bugzilla">
1553
this link</ulink> to view current bugs or requests for
1554
enhancement for Bugzilla.
1557
You can view bugs marked for &bz-nextver; release
1558
<ulink url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?product=Bugzilla&target_milestone=Bugzilla+&bz-nextver;">here</ulink>.
1559
This list includes bugs for the &bz-nextver; release that have already
1560
been fixed and checked into CVS. Please consult the
1561
<ulink url="http://www.bugzilla.org/">
1562
Bugzilla Project Page</ulink> for details on how to
1563
check current sources out of CVS so you can have these
1570
<question id="faq-hacking-priority">
1572
How can I change the default priority to a null value?
1573
For instance, have the default priority be <quote>---</quote>
1574
instead of <quote>P2</quote>?
1579
This is well-documented in <ulink
1580
url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49862">bug
1581
49862</ulink>. Ultimately, it's as easy as adding the
1582
<quote>---</quote> priority field to your localconfig file
1583
in the appropriate area, re-running checksetup.pl, and then
1584
changing the default priority in your browser using
1585
<command>editparams.cgi</command>.
1591
<question id="faq-hacking-patches">
1593
What's the best way to submit patches? What guidelines
1602
Enter a bug into bugzilla.mozilla.org for the <quote><ulink
1603
url="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Bugzilla">Bugzilla</ulink></quote>
1609
Upload your patch as a unified diff (having used <quote>diff
1610
-u</quote> against the <emphasis>current sources</emphasis>
1611
checked out of CVS), or new source file by clicking
1612
<quote>Create a new attachment</quote> link on the bug
1613
page you've just created, and include any descriptions of
1614
database changes you may make, into the bug ID you submitted
1615
in step #1. Be sure and click the <quote>Patch</quote> checkbox
1616
to indicate the text you are sending is a patch!
1621
Announce your patch and the associated URL
1622
(https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=XXXXXX)
1623
for discussion in the newsgroup
1624
(mozilla.support.bugzilla). You'll get a
1625
really good, fairly immediate reaction to the
1626
implications of your patch, which will also give us
1627
an idea how well-received the change would be.
1632
If it passes muster with minimal modification, the
1633
person to whom the bug is assigned in Bugzilla is
1634
responsible for seeing the patch is checked into CVS.
1639
Bask in the glory of the fact that you helped write
1640
the most successful open-source bug-tracking software
1657
<!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
1660
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1661
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1667
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1674
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added
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