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Issue tracker survey

Thanks to all those who responded so quickly to my requests for comments on issue and bug trackers. I thought it would be useful to summarise responses, so here we go.

I received information about these free solutions.

  • Roundup. Currently next on my list to play with. Got three responses. One was really positive. One sounded like they tried to adopt too early in Roundup's development. And another noted that they got performance problems when using Roundup's Berkeley DB backend.
  • Trac. A new one to me, recommended by two separate correspondents. Integrates wiki, issue tracker and subversion repository view all in one. Looks very good for software development, but as I want to use a tracker for both support issues and software bugs, I'm not sure it's for me. I'll still try this out though.
  • Mantis. Three people pointed this out to me as a good "lightweight Bugzilla", and gave good reports of it.
  • Midge. The result of what one company created when they found they didn't like any of the other trackers.
  • Flyspray offers itself as a haven for people who found Bugzilla too complex. I like the sound of their Jabber notifications, that could work in a support context.
  • ITracker. J2EE based, so not for me.
  • Scarab. J2EE based. A young project, but looks as though it's going places.

I also learned of these commercial solutions, which aren't an option for me as I'd like to be able to modify the source if necessary, but might be useful to other folk.

  • Jira. J2EE, which could be good or bad depending on what you're invested in. This looks a little heavyweight. Apparently provides source code once purchased.
  • FogBUGZ. Looks capable and well-integrated. The version control system integration is reminiscent of Trac.

From what I've heard so far, I'm going to take Roundup and Trac and trial these more seriously. I'd rather not run separate systems for software bugs and support issues if possible, which may count against Trac. I'll also look at Mantis, as it seems most popular among people responding to my request for advice.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in on this topic. I've archived this list permanently in my notes: IssueTrackers. I'll add in my experiences and any more suggestions I receive over time.

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