Bugzilla Reporting

Question

Is there a really good free tool for BugZilla reporting? I am finding the default search options on the web interface far too limiting. My biggest issue is with the lack of Order By options (only 1 field at a time, and a very limited set of fields to choose from). I have done some Google searches, but I can't find any good free BugZilla reporting tools.

If there isn't one, can someone please point me to an example on how to access the BugZilla web services? If I can get the BugZilla data, then I can easily build my own reports that will better meet our needs.

Answer 1

I have used this in the past and have liked it a lot: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Bugzilla_Reports

Answer 2

AFAIK Bugzilla uses MySQL database for storing data. So probably you can connect with some visual db manager (plenty of it exists, see Toad Data Modeler, DbVisualizer) and try do do some sql work...

Answer 3

Take a look at this: http://www.faqs.org/docs/bugzilla/dbdoc.html

Use this database schema for reference: faqs.org/docs/bugzilla/dbschema.html

If you need a web-interface, use your favorite dynamic website scripting language that can access MySQL databases (say PHP)...

Simple-ish Tutorial: freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql/4

PHP MySQL API Reference: php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php

Then use SQL queries such as: "SELECT * FROM bugs WHERE WHERE bug_status != 'RESOLVED' ORDER BY creation_ts ASC, votes DESC LIMIT 50" which lists first 50 entries of unresolved bugs ordered first ascending creation time then descending by number of votes.

Answer 4

There is a list of some add-ons (free and commercial) listed on the Buzilla addons wiki. If you are a Windows user, MyZilla is a possible option.

Otherwise, to work toward your own, see the Bugzilla API documentation, which, in a way, includes how to retrieve the current schema (Bugzilla::DB::Schema), and Bugzilla::WebService.

Answer 5

You can also consider other tool eg mantis (http://www.mantisbt.org/)

I've personally switched from Bugzilla into Mantis and installed some plugins (http://deboutv.free.fr/mantis/) and found this more comfortable

Answer 6

If you are a Java user, you might want to check out Mylyn for eclipse. This is integrates a task-driven development approach into eclipse.

With that, you can raise bugs, tie together SVN changes and bugs, and hide classes that are not relevant to fixing bugs, etc. It's a bit involved to get started with, but quite powerful.

It also comes with a connector for BugZilla. See this introductory article for an example.

If you don't use eclipse, but you do use Java, then note that since Mylyn is open-source, you might want to look at the source code of the Mylyn BugZilla connector for how they do their work.

Good luck.

Answer 7

Netbeans also has Bugzilla integration (I haven't tried it...).

Answer 8

I have analized a bunch of bug tracking tools. You can try track or mantis, because bugzilla is very unfriendly about reporting.

Mantis Mantis can export data in excel: all the graphic you need can be generated by that sheet. For more information take a look to my blog: http://gioorgi.com/2008/bug-tracking-mantis/

Anyway, Track is used a lot more, so for sake of completeness I should cite it:

Track Pros: Can Also work with an embedded database (using sqlite). Easy to setup and use.

Cons: Feature are too much, and aims to be also a CMS to some extend. Take a look to: http://gioorgi.com/2008/bug-tracking-trac/

Answer 9

Since Bugzilla can be installed on your own server, I presume the simplest way is to do that and play with the databases it creates ("Bugzilla supports MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle as database servers"). The documentation also says you can modify the templates as you like.

Otherwise one could try paid support or some other bug trackers.

Answer 10

You can try Deskzilla (http://deskzilla.com/) - it is a multi-platform desktop client for Bugzilla with Outlook-like interface, rich reporting and filtering capabilities, offline work, drag-n-drop, etc. It's a commercial product, but if you're working on an Open Source project you can use it for free.