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<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<section id="whatis">
<title>What is Bugzilla?</title>
<para>
Bugzilla is a bug- or issue-tracking system. Bug-tracking
systems allow individual or groups of developers effectively to keep track
of outstanding problems with their product.
Bugzilla was originally
written by Terry Weissman in a programming language called TCL, to
replace a rudimentary bug-tracking database used internally by Netscape
Communications. Terry later ported Bugzilla to Perl from TCL, and in Perl
it remains to this day. Most commercial defect-tracking software vendors
at the time charged enormous licensing fees, and Bugzilla quickly became
a favorite of the open-source crowd (with its genesis in the open-source
browser project, Mozilla). It is now the de-facto standard
defect-tracking system against which all others are measured.
</para>
<para>Bugzilla boasts many advanced features. These include:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Powerful searching</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>User-configurable email notifications of bug changes</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Full change history</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Inter-bug dependency tracking and graphing</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Excellent attachment management</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Integrated, product-based, granular security schema</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Fully security-audited, and runs under Perl's taint mode</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A robust, stable RDBMS back-end</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Web, XML, email and console interfaces</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Completely customisable and/or localisable web user
interface</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Extensive configurability</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Smooth upgrade pathway between versions</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</section>
<section id="why">
<title>Why Should We Use Bugzilla?</title>
<para>For many years, defect-tracking software has remained principally
the domain of large software development houses. Even then, most shops
never bothered with bug-tracking software, and instead simply relied on
shared lists and email to monitor the status of defects. This procedure
is error-prone and tends to cause those bugs judged least significant by
developers to be dropped or ignored.</para>
<para>These days, many companies are finding that integrated
defect-tracking systems reduce downtime, increase productivity, and raise
customer satisfaction with their systems. Along with full disclosure, an
open bug-tracker allows manufacturers to keep in touch with their clients
and resellers, to communicate about problems effectively throughout the
data management chain. Many corporations have also discovered that
defect-tracking helps reduce costs by providing IT support
accountability, telephone support knowledge bases, and a common,
well-understood system for accounting for unusual system or software
issues.</para>
<para>But why should
<emphasis>you</emphasis>
use Bugzilla?</para>
<para>Bugzilla is very adaptable to various situations. Known uses
currently include IT support queues, Systems Administration deployment
management, chip design and development problem tracking (both
pre-and-post fabrication), and software and hardware bug tracking for
luminaries such as Redhat, NASA, Linux-Mandrake, and VA Systems.
Combined with systems such as
<ulink url="http://www.cvshome.org">CVS</ulink>,
<ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/bonsai.html">Bonsai</ulink>, or
<ulink url="http://www.perforce.com">Perforce SCM</ulink>, Bugzilla
provides a powerful, easy-to-use solution to configuration management and
replication problems.</para>
<para>Bugzilla can dramatically increase the productivity and
accountability of individual employees by providing a documented workflow
and positive feedback for good performance. How many times do you wake up
in the morning, remembering that you were supposed to do
<emphasis>something</emphasis>
today, but you just can't quite remember? Put it in Bugzilla, and you
have a record of it from which you can extrapolate milestones, predict
product versions for integration, and follow the discussion trail
that led to critical decisions.</para>
<para>Ultimately, Bugzilla puts the power in your hands to improve your
value to your employer or business while providing a usable framework for
your natural attention to detail and knowledge store to flourish.</para>
</section>
</chapter>
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