providing insight into the key differences between Red Hat's
for providing insight into the key differences between Red Hat's
customized Bugzilla, and being largely responsible for the "Red
customized Bugzilla, and being largely responsible for the "Red
Hat Bugzilla" appendix
Hat Bugzilla" appendix
</para>
</para>
...
@@ -191,42 +152,16 @@
...
@@ -191,42 +152,16 @@
questions and arguments on irc.mozilla.org in #mozwebtools
questions and arguments on irc.mozilla.org in #mozwebtools
</para>
</para>
<para>
<para>
Last but not least, all the members of the <ulink
Last but not least, all the members of the
url="news://news.mozilla.org/netscape/public/mozilla/webtools"> netscape.public.mozilla.webtools</ulink> newsgroup. Without your discussions, insight, suggestions, and patches, this could never have happened.
<ulinkurl="news://news.mozilla.org/netscape/public/mozilla/webtools"> netscape.public.mozilla.webtools</ulink> newsgroup. Without your discussions, insight, suggestions, and patches, this could never have happened.
</para>
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="contributors">
<title>Contributors</title>
<para>
<para>
Thanks go to these people for significant contributions to this
Thanks also go to the following people for significant contributions
documentation (in no particular order):
to this documentation (in no particular order):
</para>
</para>
<para>
<para>
Andrew Pearson, Spencer Smith, Eric Hanson, Kevin Brannen, Ron
Zach Liption, Andrew Pearson, Spencer Smith, Eric Hanson, Kevin Brannen,
Teitelbaum, Jacob Steenhagen, Joe Robins
Ron Teitelbaum, Jacob Steenhagen, Joe Robins, Gervase Markham.
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="feedback">
<title>Feedback</title>
<para>
I welcome feedback on this document. Without your submissions
and input, this Guide cannot continue to exist. Please mail
additions, comments, criticisms, etc. to
<email>barnboy@trilobyte.net</email>. Please send flames to
<email>devnull@localhost</email>
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="translations">
<title>Translations</title>
<para>
The Bugzilla Guide needs translators! Please volunteer your
translation into the language of your choice. If you will
translate this Guide, please notify the members of the
mozilla-webtools mailing list at
<email>mozilla-webtools@mozilla.org</email>, and arrange with
These instructions must, of necessity, be somewhat vague
</para>
since Bugzilla runs on so many different platforms. If you
</section>
have refinements of these directions for specific platforms,
please submit them to <ulinkurl="mailto://mozilla-webtools@mozilla.org">mozilla-webtools@mozilla.org</ulink>
</para>
<section>
</note>
<title>Particular Templates</title>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<para>
There are a few templates you may be particularly interested in
Ensure you are running at least MysQL version 3.22.32 or
customising for your installation.
newer. Earlier versions had notable security holes and
</para>
poorly secured default configuration choices.
</para>
<para>
</listitem>
<command>index.html.tmpl</command>:
<listitem>
This is the Bugzilla front page.
<para><emphasis>There is no substitute for understanding the
</para>
tools on your system!</emphasis> Read <ulinkurl="http://www.mysql.com/documentation/mysql/bychapter/manual_Privilege_system.html"> The MySQL Privilege System</ulink> until you can recite it from memory!</para>
<para>
<para>
At the very least, ensure you password the "mysql -u root"
<command>global/header.html.tmpl</command>:
account and the "bugs" account, establish grant table
This defines the header that goes on all Bugzilla pages.
rights (consult the Keystone guide in Appendix C: The
The header includes the banner, which is what appears to users
Bugzilla Database for some easy-to-use details) that do
and is probably what you want to edit instead. However the
not allow CREATE, DROP, RELOAD, SHUTDOWN, and PROCESS for
header also includes the HTML HEAD section, so you could for
user "bugs". I wrote up the Keystone advice back when I
example add a stylesheet or META tag by editing the header.
knew far less about security than I do now : )
</para>
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
<listitem>
<command>global/banner.html.tmpl</command>:
<para>
This contains the "banner", the part of the header that appears
Lock down /etc/inetd.conf. Heck, disable inet entirely on
at the top of all Bugzilla pages. The default banner is reasonably
this box. It should only listen to port 25 for Sendmail
barren, so you'll probably want to customise this to give your
and port 80 for Apache.
installation a distinctive look and feel. It is recommended you
</para>
preserve the Bugzilla version number in some form so the version
</listitem>
you are running can be determined, and users know what docs to read.
<listitem>
</para>
<para>
Do not run Apache as <quote>nobody</quote>. This will
<para>
require very lax permissions in your Bugzilla directories.
<command>global/footer.html.tmpl</command>:
Run it, instead, as a user with a name, set via your
This defines the footer that goes on all Bugzilla pages. Editing
httpd.conf file.
this is another way to quickly get a distinctive look and feel for
<note>
your Bugzilla installation.
<para>
</para>
<quote>nobody</quote> is a real user on UNIX systems.
Having a process run as user id <quote>nobody</quote>
<para>
is absolutely no protection against system crackers
(e.g.: <ulinkurl="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/localconfig"> http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/localconfig</ulink>). If you can read the contents of this file, your web server has not secured your bugzilla directory properly and you must fix this problem before deploying Bugzilla. If, however, it gives you a "Forbidden" error, then it probably respects the .htaccess conventions and you are good to go.
On Apache, you can use .htaccess files to protect access
would appear in the initial checkin comment.
to these directories, as outlined in <ulinkurl="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57161">Bug 57161</ulink> for the localconfig file, and <ulinkurl="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=65572"> Bug 65572</ulink> for adequate protection in your data/ and shadow/ directories.
</para>
</para>
</section>
<para>
Note the instructions which follow are Apache-specific.
</section>
If you use IIS, Netscape, or other non-Apache web servers,
please consult your system documentation for how to secure
<sectionid="upgrading">
these files from being transmitted to curious users.
<title>Upgrading to New Releases</title>
</para>
<para>
<para>A plain Bugzilla is fairly easy to upgrade from one version to a
Place the following text into a file named ".htaccess",
newer one. Always read the release notes to see if there are any issues
readable by your web server, in your $BUGZILLA_HOME/data
that you might need to take note of. It is recommended that you take a
<entry><foreignphrase>Prompt</foreignphrase> of users command under bash shell</entry>
<entry>
<foreignphrase>Prompt</foreignphrase>
of users command under bash shell</entry>
<entry>bash$</entry>
<entry>bash$</entry>
</row>
</row>
<row>
<row>
<entry><foreignphrase>Prompt</foreignphrase> of root users command under bash shell</entry>
<entry>
<foreignphrase>Prompt</foreignphrase>
of root users command under bash shell</entry>
<entry>bash#</entry>
<entry>bash#</entry>
</row>
</row>
<row>
<entry><foreignphrase>Prompt</foreignphrase> of user command under tcsh shell</entry>
<row>
<entry>tcsh$</entry>
<entry>
</row>
<foreignphrase>Prompt</foreignphrase>
of user command under tcsh shell</entry>
<entry>tcsh$</entry>
</row>
<row>
<row>
<entry>Environment Variables</entry>
<entry>Environment Variables</entry>
<entry><envar>VARIABLE</envar></entry>
<entry>
<envar>VARIABLE</envar>
</entry>
</row>
</row>
<row>
<row>
<entry>Emphasized word</entry>
<entry>Emphasized word</entry>
<entry><emphasis>word</emphasis></entry>
<entry>
<emphasis>word</emphasis>
</entry>
</row>
</row>
<row>
<row>
<entry>Code Example</entry>
<entry>Code Example</entry>
<entry><programlisting><sgmltagclass="starttag">para</sgmltag>Beginning and end of paragraph<sgmltagclass="endtag">para</sgmltag></programlisting></entry>
http://homepages.kcbbs.gen.nz/~tonyg/</ulink>, under the
<quote>cvszilla</quote> link.
</para>
</para>
</section>
</section>
<sectionid="scm"xreflabel="Perforce SCM (Fast Software Configuration Management System, a powerful commercial alternative to CVS">
<sectionid="scm"
xreflabel="Perforce SCM (Fast Software Configuration Management System, a powerful commercial alternative to CVS">
<title>Perforce SCM</title>
<title>Perforce SCM</title>
<para>
You can find the project page for Bugzilla and Teamtrack
Perforce integration (p4dti) at: <ulink
url="http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/"> http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti</ulink> . <quote>p4dti</quote> is now an officially supported product from Perforce, and you can find the "Perforce Public Depot" p4dti page at <ulinkurl="http://public.perforce.com/public/perforce/p4dti/index.html"> http://public.perforce.com/public/perforce/p4dti/index.html</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
Integration of Perforce with Bugzilla, once patches are applied,
is seamless. Perforce replication information will appear below
the comments of each bug. Be certain you have a matching set of
patches for the Bugzilla version you are installing. p4dti is
designed to support multiple defect trackers, and maintains its
own documentation for it. Please consult the pages linked above
for further information.
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="tinderbox"xreflabel="Tinderbox, the Mozilla automated build management system">
<para>You can find the project page for Bugzilla and Teamtrack Perforce
<title>Tinderbox/Tinderbox2</title>
integration (p4dti) at:
<para>We need Tinderbox integration information.</para>
<para>Apache's <filename>mod_rewrite</filename> module lets you do some truly amazing things with URL rewriting. Here are a couple of examples of what you can do.</para>
<filename>mod_rewrite</filename>
magic</title>
<para>Apache's
<filename>mod_rewrite</filename>
module lets you do some truly amazing things with URL rewriting. Here are
To take full advantage of the query power, the Bugzilla
maintainer must edit "localconfig.js" according to the value
sets used in the local installation.
</para>
<para>
Currently, keywords must be hard-coded in localconfig.js. If
they are not, keywords are not automatically recognized. This
means, if localconfig.js is left unconfigured, that searching
for a bug with the "foo" keyword will only find bugs with "foo"
in the summary, status whiteboard, product or component name,
but not those with the keyword "foo".
</para>
<para>
Workarounds for Bugzilla users:
<simplelist>
<member>search for '!foo' (this will find only bugs with the
keyword "foo"</member>
<member>search 'foo,!foo' (equivalent to 'foo OR
keyword:foo')</member>
</simplelist>
</para>
<para>
When this tool is ported from client-side JavaScript to
server-side Perl, the requirement for hard-coding keywords can
be fixed. <ulink
url="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=70907">This bug</ulink> has details.
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="bzhacking">
<para>Akkana Peck says she has good results piping
<title>Hacking Bugzilla</title>
<filename>buglist</filename> output through
<para>
<command>w3m -T text/html -dump</command>
What follows are some general guidelines for changing Bugzilla, and adhering to good coding practice while doing so. We've had some checkins in the past which ruined Bugzilla installations because of disregard for these conventions. Sorry for the lack of formatting; I got this info into the Guide on the day of 2.14 release and haven't formatted it yet.
</para>
</para>
<literallayout>
The following is a guide for reviewers when checking code into Bugzilla's
CVS repostory at mozilla.org. If you wish to submit patches to Bugzilla,
you should follow the rules and style conventions below. Any code that
does not adhere to these basic rules will not be added to Bugzilla's
codebase.
1. Usage of variables in Regular Expressions
It is very important that you don't use a variable in a regular
expression unless that variable is supposed to contain an expression.
This especially applies when using grep. You should use:
grep ($_ eq $value, @array);
- NOT -
grep (/$value/, @array);
If you need to use a non-expression variable inside of an expression, be
sure to quote it properly (using \Q..\E).
Coding Style for Bugzilla
-------------------------
While it's true that not all of the code currently in Bugzilla adheres to
this styleguide, it is something that is being worked toward. Therefore,
we ask that all new code (submitted patches and new files) follow this guide
as closely as possible (if you're only changing 1 or 2 lines, you don't have
to reformat the entire file :).
1. Whitespace
Bugzilla's prefered indentation is 4 spaces (no tabs, please).
2. Curly braces.
The opening brace of a block should be on the same line as the statement
that is causing the block and the closing brace should be at the same
indentation level as that statement, for example:
if ($var) {
print "The variable is true";
} else {
print "Try again";
}
- NOT -
if ($var)
{
print "The variable is true";
}
else
{
print "Try again";
}
3. File Names
File names for bugzilla code and support documention should be legal across
multiple platforms. \ / : * ? " < > and | are all illegal characters for
filenames on various platforms. Also, file names should not have spaces in
them as they can cause confusion in CVS and other mozilla.org utilities.
4. Variable Names
If a variable is scoped globally ($::variable) its name should be descriptive
of what it contains. Local variables can be named a bit looser, provided the
context makes their content obvious. For example, $ret could be used as a
staging variable for a routine's return value as the line |return $ret;| will
make it blatently obvious what the variable holds and most likely be shown
on the same screen as |my $ret = "";|.
5. Cross Database Compatability
Bugzilla was originally written to work with MySQL and therefore took advantage
of some of its features that aren't contained in other RDBMS software. These
should be avoided in all new code. Examples of these features are enums and
encrypt().
6. Cross Platform Compatability
While Bugzilla was written to be used on Unix based systems (and Unix/Linux is
still the only officially supported platform) there are many who desire/need to
run Bugzilla on Microsoft Windows boxes. Whenever possible, we should strive
not to make the lives of these people any more complicated and avoid doing things
that break Bugzilla's ability to run on multiple operating systems.
have all Bugzilla features enabled, and often runs cutting-edge versions
Bugzilla is a large, complex system. Describing how to use it
of Bugzilla for testing, so some things may work slightly differently
requires some time. If you are only interested in installing or
than mentioned here.</para>
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.
</para>
<para>
Throughout this portion of the Guide, we will refer to user
account options available at the Bugzilla test installation,
<ulinkurl="http://landfill.tequilarista.org/">
landfill.tequilarista.org</ulink>.
<note>
<para>
Some people have run into difficulties completing this
tutorial. If you run into problems, please check the
updated online documentation available at <ulink
url="http://www.trilobyte.net/barnsons/">http://www.trilobyte.net/barnsons</ulink>. If you're still stumped, please subscribe to the newsgroup and provide details of exactly what's stumping you! If enough people complain, I'll have to fix it in the next version of this Guide. You can subscribe to the newsgroup at <ulinkurl="news://news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.webtools"> news://news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.webtools</ulink>
</para>
</note> 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. Additionally,
Landfill often runs cutting-edge versions of Bugzilla for
testing, so some things may work slightly differently than
mentioned here.
</para>
<sectionid="myaccount">
<sectionid="myaccount">
<title>Create a Bugzilla Account</title>
<title>Create a Bugzilla Account</title>
<para>
First things first! If you want to use Bugzilla, first you
<para>If you want to use Bugzilla, first you need to create an account.
need to create an account. Consult with the administrator
Consult with the administrator responsible for your installation of
responsible for your installation of Bugzilla for the URL you
Bugzilla for the URL you should use to access it. If you're
should use to access it. If you're test-driving the end-user
General issues having to do with the user interface cosmetics (not
functionality) including cosmetic issues, HTML templates, etc.
</member>
</simplelist>
</para>
</informalexample>
</example>
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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".
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
OK, now let's select the "Bugzilla" component from its scrollbox.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Skip down the page a bit -- do you see the "submit query" button?
Select it, and let's run
this query!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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!
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
<para>
I encourage you to click the bug numbers in the left-hand
Don't use sigs in comments. Signing your name ("Bill") is acceptable,
column and examine my bugs. Also notice that if you click the
particularly if you do it out of habit, but full mail/news-style
underlined links near the top of this page, they do not take
four line ASCII art creations are not.
you to context-sensitive help here, but instead sort the
</para>
columns of bugs on the screen! When you need to sort your bugs
</section>
by priority, severity, or the people they are assigned to,
this is a tremendous timesaver.
<sectionid="attachments">
</para>
<title>Attachments</title>
<para>
<para>
A couple more interesting things about the Bug List page:
Use attachments, rather than comments, for large chunks of ASCII data,
<simplelist>
such as trace, debugging output files, or log files. That way, it doesn't
<member><emphasis>Change Columns</emphasis>: by selecting
bloat the bug for everyone who wants to read it, and cause people to
this link, you can show all kinds of information in the
receive fat, useless mails.
Bug List</member>
</para>
<member><emphasis>Change several bugs at once</emphasis>: If
you have sufficient rights to change all the bugs shown in
<para>Trim screenshots. There's no need to show the whole screen if
the Bug List, you can mass-modify them. This is a big
you are pointing out a single-pixel problem.
time-saver.</member>
<member><emphasis>Send mail to bug owners</emphasis>: 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.</member>
<member><emphasis>Edit this query</emphasis>: 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.</member>
</simplelist>
</para>
</para>
<note>
<para>
<para>Don't attach simple test cases (e.g. one HTML file, one
There are many more options to the Bugzilla Query Page and
CSS file and an image) as a ZIP file. Instead, upload them in
the Bug List than I have shown you. But this should be
reverse order and edit the referring file so that they point to the
enough for you to learn to get around. I encourage you to
attached files. This way, the test case works immediately
check out the <ulink
out of the bug.
url="http://www.mozilla.org/bugs/">Bugzilla Home Page</ulink> to learn about the Anatomy and Life Cycle of a Bug before continuing.
</para>
</para>
</note>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<sectionid="bugreports">
<title>Filing Bugs</title>
<title>Creating and Managing Bug Reports</title>
<epigraph>
<para>And all this time, I thought we were taking bugs <emphasis>out</emphasis>...</para>
</epigraph>
<sectionid="bug-writing">
<para>Try to make sure that everything said in the summary is also
<title>Writing a Great Bug Report</title>
said in the first comment. Summaries are often updated and this will
<para>
ensure your original information is easily accessible.
Before we plunge into writing your first bug report, I
encourage you to read some bug-writing guidelines. If you
are reading this document as part of a Bugzilla CVS checkout
or un-tarred Bugzilla distribution, you should be able to
read them by clicking <ulink
url="../../bugwritinghelp.html">here</ulink>. If you are reading this online, check out the Mozilla.org bug-writing guidelines at <ulinkurl="http://www.mozilla.org/quality/bug-writing-guidelines.html">http://www.mozilla.org/quality/bug-writing-guidelines.html</ulink>. 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.
</para>
<para>
While you are at it, why not learn how to find previously
reported bugs? Mozilla.org has published a great tutorial
I realize this was a lot to read. However, understanding
the mentality of writing great bug reports will help us on
the next part!
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Go back to <ulink
url="http://landfill.tequilarista.org/bugzilla-tip/"> http://landfill.tequilarista.org/bugzilla-tip/</ulink> in your browser.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the <ulink
url="http://landfill.tequilarista.org/bugzilla-tip/enter_bug.cgi"> Enter a new bug report</ulink> link.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select a product.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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?).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select a Component in the scrollbox.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Leave the "CC" text box blank. Fill in the "URL" box
with "http://www.mozilla.org".
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
Voila! Select "Commit" and send in your bug report! Next
we'll look at resolving bugs.
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="bug-manage">
<title>Managing your Bug Reports</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
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".
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
But I'll give a few last hints!
</para>
<para>
There is a <ulink
url="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/help.html">CLUE</ulink> on the Query page that will teach you more how to use the form.
</para>
<para>
If you click the hyperlink on the <ulink
url="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/describecomponents.cgi">Component</ulink> box of the Query page, you will be presented a form that will describe what all the components are.
</para>
<para>
Possibly the most powerful feature of the Query page is the
<ulink
url="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/booleanchart.html">Boolean Chart</ulink> 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.
</para>
<para>
Finally, you can build some nifty <ulink
url="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/reports.cgi">Reports</ulink> 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.
</para>
</section>
</section>
</section>
<sectionid="init4me">
<title>Where can I find my user preferences?</title>
<epigraph>
<para>
Indiana, it feels like we walking on fortune cookies!
</para>
</para>
<para>
<para>
These ain't fortune cookies, kid...
You do not need to put "any" or similar strings in the URL field.
If there is no specific URL associated with the bug, leave this
field blank.
</para>
<para>If you feel a bug you filed was incorrectly marked as a
DUPLICATE of another, please question it in your bug, not
the bug it was duped to. Feel free to CC the person who duped it
if they are not already CCed.
</para>
</para>
</epigraph>
</section>
<para>
</section>
Customized User Preferences offer tremendous versatility to your
individual Bugzilla experience. Let's plunge into what you can
<sectionid="userpreferences">
do! The first step is to click the "Edit prefs" link at the
<title>User Preferences</title>
footer of each page once you have logged in to <ulink
On this page, you can change your basic Account Settings,
<para>On this tab, you can change your basic account information,
including your password and full name. For security reasons,
including your password, email address and real name. For security
in order to change anything on this page you must type your
reasons, in order to change anything on this page you must type your
<emphasis>current</emphasis> password into the <quote>Old
<emphasis>current</emphasis>
Password</quote> field. If you wish to change your
password into the
password, type the new password you want into the <quote>New
<quote>Password</quote>
Password</quote> field and again into the <quote>Re-enter
field at the top of the page.
new password</quote> field to ensure you typed your new
If you attempt to change your email address, a confirmation
password correctly. Select the <quote>Submit</quote> button
email is sent to both the old and new addresses, with a link to use to
and you are done.
confirm the change. This helps to prevent account hijacking.</para>
</para>
</section>
</section>
<sectionid="emailsettings">
<sectionid="emailsettings">
<title>Email Settings</title>
<title>Email Settings</title>
<sectionid="notification"xreflabel="">
<title>Email Notification</title>
<para>On this tab you can reduce or increase the amount of email sent
<para>
you from Bugzilla, opting in our out depending on your relationship to
Here you can reduce or increase the amount of email sent you
the bug and the change that was made to it. (Note that you can also do
from Bugzilla. Although this is referred to as
client-side filtering using the X-Bugzilla-Reason header which Bugzilla
<quote>Advanced Email Filtering Options</quote>, they are,
adds to all bugmail.)</para>
in fact, the standard email filter set. All of them are
self-explanatory, but you can use the filters in interesting
<para>By entering user email names, delineated by commas, into the
ways. For instance, some people (notably Quality Assurance
"Users to watch" text entry box you can receive a copy of all the
personnel) often only care to receive updates regarding a
bugmail of other users (security settings permitting.) This powerful
bug when the bug changes state, so they can track bugs on
functionality enables seamless transitions as developers change
their flow charts and know when it is time to pull the bug
projects or users go on holiday.</para>
onto a quality assurance platform for inspection. Other
people set up email gateways to
<note>
<xreflinkend="bonsai"/> or <xreflinkend="tinderbox"/>, and
<para>The ability to watch other users may not be available in all
restrict which types of Bugzilla information are fed to
Bugzilla installations. If you can't see it, ask your
these systems..
administrator.</para>
</para>
</note>
</section>
<sectionid="newemailtech">
<title>New Email Technology</title>
<note>
<para>
This option may not be available in all Bugzilla
installations, depending upon the preferences of the
systems administrator responsible for the setup of your
Bugzilla. However, if you really want this functionality,
ask her to "enable newemailtech in Params" and "make it
the default for all new users", referring her to the
Administration section of this Guide.
</para>
</note>
<para>
Disregard the warnings about "experimental and bleeding
edge"; the code to handle email in a cleaner manner than
that historically used for Bugzilla is quite robust and
well-tested now.
</para>
<para>
I recommend you enable the option, "Click here to sign up
(and risk any bugs)". Your email-box will thank you for it.
The fundamental shift in "newemailtech" is away from
standard UNIX "diff" output, which is quite ugly, to a
prettier, better laid-out email.
</para>
</section>
<sectionid="watchsettings">
<title>"Watching" Users</title>
<note>
<para>
This option may not be available in all Bugzilla
installations, depending upon the preferences of the
systems administrator responsible for the setup of your
Bugzilla. However, if you really want this functionality,
ask her to "enable watchers in Params".
</para>
</note>
<para>
By entering user email names into the "Users to watch" text
entry box, delineated by commas, you can watch bugs of other
users. This powerful functionality enables seamless
transitions as developers change projects, managers wish to
get in touch with the issues faced by their direct reports,
or users go on vacation. If any of these three situations
apply to you, you will undoubtedly find this feature quite
convenient.
</para>
</section>
</section>
</section>
<sectionid="footersettings">
<sectionid="footersettings">
<title>Page Footer</title>
<title>Page Footer</title>
<note>
<para>
<para>On the Search page, you can store queries in Bugzilla, so if you
By default, this page is quite barren. However, go explore
regularly run a particular query it is just a drop-down menu away.
the Query Page some more; you will find that you can store
Once you have a stored query, you can come
numerous queries on the server, so if you regularly run a
here to request that it also be displayed in your page footer.</para>
particular query it is just a drop-down menu away. On this
page of Preferences, if you have many stored queries you can
elect to have them always one-click away!
</para>
</note>
<para>
If you have many stored queries on the server, here you will
find individual drop-downs for each stored query. Each
drop-down gives you the option of that query appearing on the
footer of every page in Bugzilla! This gives you powerful
one-click access to any complex searches you may set up, and
is an excellent way to impress your boss...
</para>
<tip>
<para>By default, the "My Bugs" link appears at the bottom of
each page. However, this query gives you both the bugs you
have reported, as well as those you are assigned. One of
the most common uses for this page is to remove the "My
Bugs" link, replacing it with two other queries, commonly
called "My Bug Reports" and "My Bugs" (but only referencing
bugs assigned to you). This allows you to distinguish those
bugs you have reported from those you are assigned. I
commonly set up complex Boolean queries in the Query page
and link them to my footer in this page. When they are
significantly complex, a one-click reference can save hours
of work.</para>
</tip>
</section>
</section>
<sectionid="permissionsettings">
<sectionid="permissionsettings">
<title>Permissions</title>
<title>Permissions</title>
<para>
This is a purely informative page which outlines your current
<para>This is a purely informative page which outlines your current
permissions on this installation of Bugzilla. If you have
permissions on this installation of Bugzilla - what product groups you
permissions to grant certain permissions to other users, the
are in, and whether you can edit bugs or perform various administration
"other users" link appears on this page as well as the footer.
functions.</para>
For more information regarding user administration, please
consult the Administration section of this Guide.
</para>
</section>
</section>
</section>
</section>
<sectionid="usingbz-conc">
<title>Using Bugzilla-Conclusion</title>
<para>
Thank you for reading through this portion of the Bugzilla
Guide. I anticipate it may not yet meet the needs of all
readers. If you have additional comments or corrections to
make, please submit your contributions to the <ulink
url="mailto://mozilla-webtools@mozilla.org">mozilla-webtools</ulink> mailing list/newsgroup. The mailing list is mirrored to the netscape.public.mozilla.webtools newsgroup, and the newsgroup is mirrored to mozilla-webtools@mozilla.org
