The Butt Ugly Weblog

http://bestpractical.com/rt

--Steven Noels, 24-May-2007

ATM we are using Mantis http://www.mantisbt.org/, it works fine enough. It runs on SQL thought, but it should be pretty easy to install (if you are willing to give sql another try, that is)

--Eero, 24-May-2007

If you are using Subversion, just buy some nerd a couple beers and let him/her install Trac ( http://trac.edgewall.org/ ) for you. It's absolutely great but not very easy to install. So, remember the beers.

Maybe there is some kind of secret code of conduct for bugtracking projects that one *must* be almost impossible to install to be counted as a true bug tracking software?

Anyway, there is a great Wikipedia page on issue tracking systems. It has also a separated list for bug tracking systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_issue_tracking_systems

And then there are hosted solutions like Unfuddle: http://unfuddle.com/home

But, don't forget the beer...

--Ville Säävuori, 24-May-2007

I like Roundup. It does need a database, but it can be sqlite, which is in its simplicity very unlike mysql. Roundup is written in Python, which depending on your personal circumstances may be a good thing or a bad thing. Actual problems I've encountered are a very unforgiving email parser, and the use of Zope page templates (though of course reusing _some_ template language is better than inventing yet another one).

As for ease of installation, install the prerequisites (which basically means python and sqlite), unpack the Roundup tar ball, run the demo script, and paste the resulting URL into your browser. Actual deployment is slightly more work, but at least you can take it out for a test run pretty easily.

http://roundup.sourceforge.net

PS. It seems you don't even need sqlite, as there is a built-in backend that requires no external dependencies; but it's said to be slow compared to sqlite.

--Jouni Seppänen, 24-May-2007

A vote for Mantis from here as well.

RequestTracker is the best, but as stated before, it will make Cthulhu pale in comparison in the way it can drive a grown man insane while you try to install it.

--Tuomas Rinta, 24-May-2007

I'm not aware of any bug tracking databases that would be decent and would not need SQL engine.

However, setting up SQL engine for a proper application is not too hard. Install engine, create user account and provide necessary information for the app.

We have found mySQL Eventum to be a pretty nice bug tracking sw. It's not fancy and there aren't too many extra features but it works and is easy to use.

--AriKauppi, 24-May-2007

Everyone, thanks for the great tips. I'll certainly be taking a good look at some of these (and someone did offer to help in Codebeamer installation via email - now where's my sack of cables)!

My problem with sql databases is that they're unintuitive when you have to use them only once every few months. All this GRANT PRIVILEGES stuff I forget the moment I close mysql... I'm sure if I dealt with them on a regular basis, they would be easy, but since most installations are pretty much automatic (thank Ubuntu), I don't have to deal with maintenance.

It's interesting how trying to make things easier results in complete user inability to handle exceptions.

--JanneJalkanen, 25-May-2007