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Ask HN: Any recommendations for bug tracking software?

• bobds 16y ago
  MantisBT is an easy to install one. It integrates with SVN, Git, DokuWiki and many more. http://www.mantisbt.org/ http://www.mantisbt.org/ I like that I can hook it up to my Github projects. Here's the how-to: http://leetcode.net/blog/2009/01/integrating-git-svn-with-mantisbt/ http://leetcode.net/blog/2009/01/integrating-git-svn-with-ma...
• steveklabnik 16y ago
  I host all of my projects on GitHub, so I just use their built in Issues system. For something a little more heavyweight, Lighthouse is a good option, too.
  • MortenK 16y ago
    Beware that the only way to get your data out of Lighthouse is in JSON format. Basically you will get a ton of folders containing JSON files and attachments. You will have to write custom software to import that data into other bugtrackers, in case you want to switch. Its the same with their support app, tender.
  • zachinglis 16y ago
    I quite like Lighthouse too. But pay attention to the other comment in this thread about exporting. Unfortunately, it is for pay unless your project is open-source though.
• greattypo 16y ago
  If it were just me, I would use the startup edition of FogBugz in a heartbeat: http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBugz/StudentAndStartup.html http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBugz/StudentAndStartup.html MantisBT is full featured but the interface is pretty clunky and dated (IMO). I found Bugzilla to be similar but a little better once I got the hang of it. My company uses Mantis.
• togasystems 16y ago
  Redmine works great if you got an old server kickn around
• jhchen 16y ago
  The good news is there's plenty of good choices. There are many that do the job well enough that preference in the end is either personal or just what we happened to have the most experience with. Redmine, JIRA, Bugzilla and Trac are just a few popular ones I'd recommend checking out. All are free except JIRA costs $10 (one time) that they donate to charity.
• pyronicide 16y ago
  I'd suggest not actually using a bug tracking system. They tend to be separate from actual planning and the fact that they're separate means that planning is harder. Take a look at http://www.pivotaltracker.com/ http://www.pivotaltracker.com/ The whole system is crazy simple/easy to use and it pretty much lets you do all your project management in one place.
  • cmelbye 16y ago
    Pivotal Tracker is fantastic. Free, extremely easy to use, productive, and they just re-did their user interface.
    • megamark16 16y ago
      We use Pivotal Tracker at work and it's just awesome! I can't believe it's free, it's so good. At my last job we were using some enterprising scrum management software and it was slow, clunky, and expensive (unless you used the free version, which we didn't because heck, we've got an IT budget to spend and we need that burndown report!)
  • andrewjshults 16y ago
    I can't recommend pivotal tracker enough. It's not a full featured bug/issue tracker like JIRA, but I think that's what I love about it (I also only really use it for projects with up to about 4/5 people on them). The interface is super easy to learn, but works very well for both bugs and features. You do have to prescribe to an agile style development cycle to get the most out of it, but alternatively, you could just leave everything in the icebox.
• heyjonboy 16y ago
  http://www.unfuddle.com http://www.unfuddle.com It's basically a hosted, prettied-up version of Trac, with hosted SVN and Git integrated. It's not as pretty or collaborative as GitHub, but the issue tracking is much beefier.
• endtime 16y ago
  I'm very happy with Redmine, and it's free. :) I do host it myself, which is really not very hard (my instance runs off a Ubuntu Server VM on my Windows work machine, and took about 30 mins to get running).
  • bnycum 16y ago
    I just setup Redmine after seeing a comment about it here yesterday, took longer for the new subdomain to propagate than to install. In a day I have fully switched from a bunch of Trac installs since I can manage multiple projects with Redmine. Though I still think Trac's repo browsing is slightly better.
    • sitmack 16y ago
      I have run trac and redmine, I like trac more since I grok the python and find it pretty easy to hack extensions.
• gasull 16y ago
  http://projectlocker.com http://projectlocker.com git or SVN + Trac + wiki
• ordinaryman 16y ago
  If you would like to have a simple app which can align more with your requirements, you can build one online in a few minutes, using iFreeTools Creator. Check out: http://blogs.ifreetools.com/2010/03/building-simple-bug-tracker-application.html http://blogs.ifreetools.com/2010/03/building-simple-bug-trac... The overview of the steps involved.. - Edit App Settings to re-brand, set time-zone, etc.,. (optional) - Add Bug Entity - Add Attributes for Bug - Start using the Bug Tracker
  • babeKnuth 16y ago
    interesting. but not sure why you wouldn't just use google code since you're building the entire thing in GAE anyway?
    • ordinaryman 16y ago
      I believe Google Code is only for open-source projects.
• jgeewax 16y ago
  I use and love CodeBaseHQ (http://www.codebasehq.com/ http://www.codebasehq.com/) It hosts git repos and does ticketing in a pretty minimal way...
• fendrak 16y ago
  The best free issue tracker I've used is the one on Google Code. I use GitHub for hosting, but the Google Code issue tracker has plenty of options, and can fit just about any bill you want it to. It also has a built-in wiki! Since there's no requirement to actually host your code there, it works out pretty well.
• bigwally 16y ago
  bitbucket does the job for me.
• megamark16 16y ago
  I use a text file. Fixed bugs go to the bottom of the file with "FIXED" next to them. The higher priority a bug is the higher up in the file it is. I keep the file in source control with my code base. I tried moving to a different system, but I found that even the simplest alternative was still much more complex, and I tended not to use it as much because it required me to open up a new window/tab. I find that a solution that causes me to want to use it less is not a better solution. I'm working alone, and I don't need much more then a description to remind myself of what needs fixing, so it really works well for me. To each their own.
• dtran 16y ago
  I submitted this same question to HN a little less than a year ago when we started working on what would eventually become Crowdbooster. Here's a link to it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1190516 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1190516 We ended up going with Unfuddle, which we still use, and it's nice to be able to close out tickets in your Git commit messages, but we don't really use the rest of the software much. Honestly, just having quick meetings and going down a list on a whiteboard has been the most effective thing.
• sitmack 16y ago
  trac is pretty easy to setup.
• grok2 16y ago
  Fossil? http://www.fossil-scm.org/ http://www.fossil-scm.org/ Not sure why everyone recommends trac, my personal experience with trac has been that it's too simplistic. Since you want to track bugs across several projects, it may not be possible to find a hosted free bug tracker and should perhaps checkout redmine, bugzilla (a pain) or mantis and install it on your own server. A simple way to try out is use google spread-sheets or even your own local spread-sheet.
• babeKnuth 16y ago
  redmine (the bitnami redmine stack version) http://bitnami.org/stack/redmine http://bitnami.org/stack/redmine and anything else by bitnami is also reputable for the simplicity in the installation process even the iphone app is free: https://github.com/wwk/iRedmine https://github.com/wwk/iRedmine