Are you looking for best open source bug tracking? We have selected top open source bug tracking tools that are available for free download.
A bug tracking system which is also known as defect tracking system is basically a software which records bugs reports in software development ventures. This program is normally used by programmers and other quality control personnel whose responsibility is to track down software related issues so that they can provide a centralized and clear overview of programming requests.
Defect management is very important aspect of any software development process. Last year, I read a product management book that highlighted the importance of effective defect management in creating a product that customer love.
There is a large number of open source bug tracking system out there and all of them work with their own pace, however, below you can find a list of top 10 systems which will allow you to find even better solutions for your problems.
This article is focused on software issue tracking systems you may also be interested in project management software list.
Bugzilla
Bugzilla is known as one of the best bug tracking systems which is developed by Mozilla Foundation that is still supporting it to provide users a perfect solution for tracking defects in their products. This simple application can be really helpful not just for users but also for administrations and some of its features are described below to give you an idea how beneficial it can be for you as a user and as an administrator:
For Users
- Advanced Search Capabilities
- Hourly, Daily and Weekly Scheduled Reports
- Multiple Formats Bug Lists
- Email Notifications
- Reports & Charts
- Replica Bug Detection
- Patch Viewer
- Time Tracking
- Many others
For Administrators
- Excellent Security
- Sanity Check
- Control Bug Visibility
- Custom Fields
- Custom Workflow
- Localization
- Full Unicode Support
- mod_perl Support
- Webservices Interface
- Impersonate Users
- Multiple Database Engines Support
- Authentication Methods
Mantis Defect Tracking
MantisBT is another great open source bugs tracking system which provides users and administrators with an elusive solutions. Users can start their flawless programing just in minutes and start working on their client based projects. This is a features rich application which includes apps such as:
- Integrated wiki
- Integration of source code
- Multi-DBMS support
- Mobile devices support
- Teammates Chat
- Time tracking
- Built in reporting
- RSS feeds
- Email notifications
- Many others
Redmine
The third most popular open source bug tracking system is Redmine which is also a management tool for web based projects. This is an easy to use application which does not require some kind of complicated installation and user control. Some of the great features which you experience in this application may not be available in many other similar programs.
- Gantt chart & calendar
- Support for multiple projects
- Easy access control
- File management system
- Email notification and RSS Feeds
- Per project wiki & forums
- Multiple databases support
- Multilanguage support
- LDAP authentication support
- User registration support
Request Tracker
Request tracker is a helpdesk/grade ticketing software program that has been designed to connect a team of people to work efficiently and intelligently so they can work together to manage administrative tasks, deal with issues in a timely manner and address requests which are sent by community users. Some of its features are as follow:
- Identification & Prioritization
- Assignment & Resolution
- Notification & Help desk
- Dashboards & relationship graphs
- NOC ticketing
- Project management
- Custom theming
- Easy branding
- Rich text editing
Trac
Trac is great help for successful completion of software development projects as it has come up with issue tracking and enhanced wiki system. Trac brings an easy and simplicity approached based solution for web interface. This is a fully functional, stable and extremely light weight program which will provide you great solution for many big problem you have to confront during your projects. Read about some of its features:
- Interface to Subversion
- Appropriate reporting facilities
- User management
- Control systems
- Milestone tracking
- Roadmap
- Wiki Support
- Unlimited plugins support
Fossil
If you have never read about Fossil before, you might be surprised to read about it because it is all in one integrated package that has bug tracking system, effective and easy version control and blog mechanism.
- Easy to use and simple web interface
- Auto sync mode support
- CGI enabled
- Simple networking
- Trusted functionality
- Single binary
PHP Bug Tracker
PHP Bug tracker is another useful type of web based bug tracking system which has been designed with similar functionalities that Bugzilla or other popular tracking systems have. Its basic design comes with a focus on presentation and separation and easy to use features have been very useful for the administrators and project management teams. It is a lightweight application which can also be installed easiliy.
This software is developed using PHP – one of the most popular programming language for web applications, therefore a PHP developer can easily enhance its functionality and maintain it at low cost.
WebIssues
WebIssues is a very good issue tracking program and the best thing about it is that it is available in web client as well as desktop versions. It is an open source MySQL, PHP and cross platform based program. This is a fully customizable program which has been designed to support variety of database servers such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
Bug Genie
Bug Genie is really a kind of genie for tracking issues but it is absolutely user friendly system with a large number of flexible features and options. It has been designed to work with MySQL as well as PHP and it also provides supports for multiple languages and database systems.
Bug-A-Boo
Bug-A-Boo is a bug tracker exclusively designed for Linux and it has been designed to work with all types of web servers which support CGI functionality. It does not require any type of database servers for setup and functioning because it has local tables which makes it an easy and simple to setup program. Some of its features are as follow:
- Multi language support
- Layouts/themes
- Unlimited users
- Different user levels
- User profile display
- Email notifications
- English and German Translation
Conclusion
The above described list of top 10 open source bug tracking systems has been finalized after reviewing all popular systems which are available on internet and can be easily accessed and among all of them.
These 10 have been found to be very useful for dealing with bugs and others issues which can create hindrance in complication of web based projects. Therefore, a large number of users, administrators, programmers and developers prefer to use any of the above mentioned tools to deal with prevailing issues.