issue/defect tracking software [closed]

Question

Our group is currently reviewing our toolset and looking for new defect/issue tracking software in additional to source control, and project management software.

For issue tracking, we've looked at bugzilla, fogbugz, bugtracker.net, sourcegear fortres, and bugnet.

I'm not satisfied with the list we've come up with, so I'm curios to know what others are using.

We're looking for Active directory integration for security, although we'd settle for a windows app, a web interface may be preferential, visual studio integration is also a bonus. We need to prioritize defects, mark the version the defect was found in, mark the version the defect was fixed in, and hopefully be able to maintain a discussion around each issue/defect. We'd also like to categorize items as defect, enhancement request, etc. and document workarounds for defects.

Very similar question:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/101774/what-is-your-bug-task-tracking-tool

Answer 1

Try Unfuddle. If you use their version control hosting (SVN and Git options) with their issue tracker, you get some good integration stuff going on. For example, you can enter a note in your commit message such as "fixes #384: Too much foo in the bar"*, and you not only get that turned into a hyperlink to the issue, but it also marks the ticket as fixed with a link back to the changeset. All good stuff. This is a web-based solution that is hosted by Unfuddle themselves, in a SaaS-type fashion.

Other than that, +1 for Trac which I've used in the past and like very much. It's quite an immature project feature-wise, although it's got a very healthy community around it that has developed plug-ins to do a lot of extra stuff (like the AD authentication you wanted). It also has similar integration with a number of source control systems, but it's much less feature-rich than the Unfuddle stuff. That is to say, you get to use an extended wiki syntax in your commit messages which is parsed by Trac when it's display to create links. It doesn't do any of the two-way stuff that Unfuddle does. Trac is available to host in-house; alternatively, if you want it hosted, there's a list of places that will do so on Trac's wiki.

*I can't remember the exact format off the top of my head.

Answer 2

On our current project, we've amazingly used 6 different tracking tools (2 versions of PVCS), mostly commercial. Here's my opinion on the ones that we've used. I've listed them in order of my most favored to least.

Serena Teamtrack - We use a web client. The interface is intuitive. Performance will vary across installations, but comparing with our same data in each tool, this works the fastest. It also works in Firefox.

HP Quality Center - This is also web based, but it is IE only. On the upside, it's well organized, easy to use, and full-featured. It has reasonable performance for us as well. It has an odd feature where there isn't a save button. It saves automatically for you. To force a save, you have to navigate to another ticket. Also when you first use it, it has to install so many DLLs that it is practically a thick client. That being the case, IE sometimes gets locked up (usually when trying to reinitialize a session after session expiration). Once locked up, you occasionally have to kill IE to regain control.

Bugzilla - I didn't use this as thoroughly as the other tools, so this isn't a fair comparison. We used it briefly for some internal tickets. I suppose the big upside is the (lack of) cost. IMO, I just didn't find the interface as nice and easy to use as the other tools. Its been awhile so I apologize for lack of specifics for why I'm relegating it below the others.

Siebel - There wasn't much to like about their defect tracking tool apart from that it is better than PVCS. The interface seems hokey. It's as if the Siebel interface has a set of user interface controls and it tries to force all square pegs into its round holes. Another downside is that it uses lengthy generated IDs so its hard to reference them or search by them. Along with that, the ticket IDs aren't sequenced.

Merant PVCS - We had separate databases and used both the web client and thick client. Its been awhile now, so the details are fading. I recall there were bugs in the tool and they weren't getting fixed, for instance reports couldn't display certain fields. Performance was bad. It took a long time to load. It was slow to navigate through tickets.