Hey! I'm Woody! Howdy, Howdy, Howdy! |
Bugzilla is a large and complex system. Describing how to use it + requires some time. If you are only interested in installing or administering + a Bugzilla installation, please consult the Installing and Administering + Bugzilla portions of this Guide. This section is principally aimed towards + developing end-user mastery of Bugzilla, so you may fully enjoy the benefits + afforded by using this reliable open-source bug-tracking software. +
Throughout this portion of the Guide, we will refer to user account + options available at the Bugzilla test installation, + landfill.tequilarista.org. + Although Landfill serves as a great introduction to Bugzilla, it does not offer + all the options you would have as a user on your own installation of Bugzilla, + nor can it do more than serve as a general introduction to Bugzilla. + However, please use it if you want to + follow this tutorial. +
First thing's first! If you want to use Bugzilla, first you need to create + an account. Consult with the administrator responsible for your installation + of Bugzilla for the URL you should use to access it. + If you're test-driving the end-user Bugzilla experience, use this URL: + http://landfill.tequilarista.org/mozilla/bugzilla/ +
Click the "Open a new Bugzilla account" link. +
Enter your "E-mail address" and "Real Name" (or whatever name you want to call yourself) + in the spaces provided, then select the "Create Account" button. +
Within 5-10 minutes, you should receive an email to the address you provided above, + which contains your login name (generally the same as the email address), and + a password you can use to access your account. This password is randomly generated, + and should be changed at your nearest opportunity (we'll go into how to do it later). +
Click the "Log In" link in the yellow area at the bottom of the page in your browser, + then enter your "E-mail address" and "Password" you just received into the spaces provided, + and select "Login". +
Note: If you ever forget your password, you can come back to this page, enter your + "E-mail address", then select the "E-mail me a password" button to have your password + mailed to you again so that you can login. +
| Caution |
Many modern browsers include an "Auto-Complete" or "Form Fill" feature to + remember the user names and passwords you type in at many sites. Unfortunately, + sometimes they attempt to "guess" what you will put in as your password, and guess + wrong. If you notice a text box is already filled out, please overwrite the contents + of the text box so you can be sure to input the correct information. + |
Congratulations! If you followed these directions, you now are the + proud owner of a user account on landfill.tequilarista.org (Landfill) or + your local Bugzilla install. You should now see in your browser a + page called the "Bugzilla Query Page". It may look daunting, but + with this Guide to walk you through it, you will master it in no time. +
The Bugzilla Query Page is the heart and soul of Bugzilla. It is the master + interface where you can find any bug report, comment, or patch currently in the Bugzilla + system. We'll go into how to create your own bug report later on. +
There are efforts underway to simplify query usage. If you have a local installation + of Bugzilla 2.12 or higher, you should have "quicksearch.html" available + to use and simplify your searches. There is also, or shortly will be, a helper + for the query interface, called "queryhelp.cgi". Landfill tends to run the latest code, + so these two utilities should be available there for your perusal. +
At this point, please visit the main Bugzilla site, + bugzilla.mozilla.org, to see a more fleshed-out query page. +
The first thing you need to notice about the Bugzilla Query Page is that + nearly every box you see on your screen has a hyperlink nearby, explaining what + it is or what it does. Near the upper-left-hand corner of your browser window + you should see the word "Status" underlined. Select it. +
Notice the page that popped up? Every underlined word you see on your screen + is a hyperlink that will take you to context-sensitive help. + Click around for a while, and learn what everything here does. To return + to the query interface after pulling up a help page, use the "Back" button in + your browser. +
I'm sure that after checking out the online help, you are now an Expert + on the Bugzilla Query Page. If, however, you feel you haven't mastered it yet, + let me walk you through making a few successful queries to find out what there + are in the Bugzilla bug-tracking system itself. +
Ensure you are back on the "Bugzilla Query Page" + Do nothing in the boxes marked "Status", "Resolution", "Platform", "OpSys", + "Priority", or "Severity". The default query for "Status" is to find all bugs that + are NEW, ASSIGNED, or REOPENED, which is what we want. If you don't select anything + in the other 5 scrollboxes there, then you are saying that "any of these are OK"; + we're not locking ourselves into only finding bugs on the "DEC" Platform, or "Windows 95" + OpSys (Operating System). You're smart, I think you have it figured out. +
Basically, selecting anything on the query page narrows your search + down. Leaving stuff unselected, or text boxes unfilled, broadens your search! +
You see the box immediately below the top six boxes that contains an "Email" text box, + with the words "matching as", a drop-down selection box, then some checkboxes with + "Assigned To" checked by default? This allows you to filter your search down based upon + email address. Let's put my email address in there, and see what happens. +
Type "barnboy@trilobyte.net" in the top Email text box. +
Let's narrow the search some more. Scroll down until you find the box with the word + "Program" over the top of it. This is where we can narrow our search down to only + specific products (software programs or product lines) in our Bugzilla database. + Please notice the box is a scrollbox. Using the down arrow on the + scrollbox, scroll down until you can see an entry called "Webtools". Select this entry. +
Did you notice that some of the boxes to the right changed when you selected "Webtools"? + Every Program (or Product) has different Versions, Components, and Target Milestones associated + with it. A "Version" is the number of a software program. +
Example 4-1. Some Famous Software Versions
Do you remember the hype in 1995 when Microsoft Windows 95(r) was released? + It may have been several years + ago, but Microsoft(tm) spent over $300 Million advertising this new Version of their + software. Three years later, they released Microsoft Windows 98(r), + another new version, to great fanfare, and then in 2000 quietly + released Microsoft Windows ME(Millenium Edition)(r). +
Software "Versions" help a manufacturer differentiate + their current product from their + previous products. Most do not identify their products + by the year they were released. + Instead, the "original" version of their software will + often be numbered "1.0", with + small bug-fix releases on subsequent tenths of a digit. In most cases, it's not + a decimal number; for instance, often 1.9 is an older version + of the software than 1.11, + but is a newer version than 1.1.1. +
In general, a "Version" in Bugzilla should refer to + released + products, not products that have not yet been released + to the public. Forthcoming products + are what the Target Milestone field is for. +
A "Component" is a piece of a Product. + It may be a standalone program, or some other logical + division of a Product or Program. + Normally, a Component has a single Owner, who is responsible + for overseeing efforts to improve that Component. +
Example 4-2. Mozilla Webtools Components
Mozilla's "Webtools" Product is composed of several pieces (Components): +
| Bonsai, + a tool to show recent changes to Mozilla |
| Bugzilla, + a defect-tracking tool |
| Build, + a tool to automatically compile source code + into machine-readable form |
| Despot, + a program that controls access to the other Webtools |
| LXR, + a utility that automatically marks up text files + to make them more readable |
| MozBot, + a "robot" that announces changes to Mozilla in Chat |
| TestManager, + a tool to help find bugs in Mozilla |
| Tinderbox, + which displays reports from Build |
A different person is responsible for each of these Components. + Tara Hernandez keeps + the "Bugzilla" component up-to-date. +
A "Milestone", or "Target Milestone" is a often a planned future "Version" of a + product. In many cases, though, Milestones simply represent significant dates for + a developer. Having certain features in your Product is frequently + tied to revenue (money) + the developer will receive if the features work by the time she + reaches the Target Milestone. + Target Milestones are a great tool to organize your time. + If someone will pay you $100,000 for + incorporating certain features by a certain date, + those features by that Milestone date become + a very high priority. Milestones tend to be highly malleable creatures, + though, that appear + to be in reach but are out of reach by the time the important day arrives. +
The Bugzilla Project has set up Milestones for future + Bugzilla versions 2.14, 2.16, 2.18, 3.0, etc. However, + a Target Milestone can just as easily be a specific date, + code name, or weird alphanumeric + combination, like "M19". +
OK, now let's select the "Bugzilla" component from its scrollbox. +
Skip down the page a bit -- do you see the "submit query" button? + Select it, and let's run + this query! +
Congratulations! You've completed your first Query, and have before you the Bug List + of the author of this Guide, Matthew P. Barnson (barnboy@trilobyte.net). If I'm + doing well, + you'll have a cryptic "Zarro Boogs Found" message on your screen. It is just + a happy hacker's way of saying "Zero Bugs Found". However, I am fairly certain I will + always have some bugs assigned to me that aren't done yet, + so you won't often see that message! +
I encourage you to click the bug numbers in the left-hand column and examine + my bugs. Also notice that if you click the underlined + links near the top of this page, they do + not take you to context-sensitive help here, + but instead sort the columns of bugs on the screen! + When you need to sort your bugs by priority, severity, + or the people they are assigned to, this + is a tremendous timesaver. +
A couple more interesting things about the Bug List page: +
| Change Columns: + by selecting this link, you can show all kinds + of information in the Bug List |
| Change several bugs at once: + If you have sufficient rights to change all + the bugs shown in the Bug List, you can mass-modify them. + This is a big time-saver. |
| Send mail to bug owners: + If you have many related bugs, you can request + an update from every person who owns the bugs in + the Bug List asking them the status. |
| Edit this query: + If you didn't get exactly the results you were looking for, + you can return to the Query page through this link and make + small revisions to the query you just made so + you get more accurate results. |
Note: There are many more options to the Bugzilla Query Page + and the Bug List than I have shown you. + But this should be enough for you to learn to get around. + I encourage you to check out the + Bugzilla Home Page + to learn about the Anatomy + and Life Cycle of a Bug before continuing. +
And all this time, I thought we were taking bugs out... |
Before we plunge into writing your first bug report, I encourage you to read + Mozilla.org's Bug + Writing Guidelines. While some of the advice is Mozilla-specific, the basic + principles of reporting Reproducible, Specific bugs, isolating the Product you are + using, the Version of the Product, the Component which failed, the Hardware Platform, and + Operating System you were using at the time of the failure go a long way toward ensuring accurate, + responsible fixes for the bug that bit you. +
While you are at it, why not learn how to find previously reported bugs? Mozilla.org + has published a great tutorial on finding duplicate bugs, available at + http://www.mozilla.org/quality/help/beginning-duplicate-finding.html. +
I realize this was a lot to read. However, understanding the mentality of writing + great bug reports will help us on the next part! +
Go back to http://landfill.tequilarista.org/mozilla/bugzilla/ + in your browser. +
Select the + Enter a new bug report link. +
Select a product. +
Now you should be at the "Enter Bug" form. + The "reporter" should have been automatically filled out + for you (or else Bugzilla prompted you to Log In again + -- you did keep the email with your username + and password, didn't you?). +
Select a Component in the scrollbox. +
Bugzilla should have made reasonable guesses, based upon your browser, + for the "Platform" and "OS" drop-down + boxes. If those are wrong, change them -- if you're on an SGI box + running IRIX, we want to know! +
Fill in the "Assigned To" box with the email address you provided earlier. + This way you don't end up sending copies of your bug to lots of other people, + since it's just a test bug. +
Leave the "CC" text box blank. + Fill in the "URL" box with "http://www.mozilla.org". +
Enter "The Bugzilla Guide" in the Summary text box, + and place any comments you have on this + tutorial, or the Guide in general, into the Description box. +
Voila! Select "Commit" and send in your bug report! + Next we'll look at resolving bugs. +
OK, you should have a link to the bug you just created near the top of your page. + It should say + "Bug XXXX posted", with a link to the right saying "Back to BUG# XXXX". + Select this link. +
Scroll down a bit on the subsequent page, + until you see the "Resolve bug, changing resolution to (dropdown box). + Normally, you would + "Accept bug (change status to ASSIGNED)", fix it, and then resolve. + But in this case, we're + going to short-circuit the process because this wasn't a real bug. + Change the dropdown next to + "Resolve Bug" to "INVALID", make sure the radio button is + marked next to "Resolve Bug", then + click "Commit". +
Hey! It said it couldn't take the change in a big red box! + That's right, you must specify + a Comment in order to make this change. Select the "Back" + button in your browser, add a + Comment, then try Resolving the bug with INVALID status again. + This time it should work. +
You have now learned the basics of Bugzilla navigation, + entering a bug, and bug maintenance. + I encourage you to explore these features, and see what you can do with them! + We'll spend no more time on individual Bugs or Queries from this point on, so you are + on your own there. +
But I'll give a few last hints! +
There is a CLUE + on the Query page + that will teach you more how to use the form. +
If you click the hyperlink on the + Component + box of the Query page, you will be presented a form that will describe what all + the components are. +
Possibly the most powerful feature of the Query page is the + Boolean Chart section. + It's a bit confusing to use the first time, but can provide unparalleled + flexibility in your queries, + allowing you to build extremely powerful requests. +
Finally, you can build some nifty + Reports + using the "Bug Reports" link near the bottom of the query page, and also + available via the "Reports" link + at the footer of each page. +