In search of the ultimate bug tracking tool

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by Anne-Marie Charrett in BlogRoll, startups, tools

As many of you know, I’ve been on the hunt for a bug tracking tool for a while now and I’m glad to say the hunt is over.

I needed this bug tracking tool to meet some key criteria.

1) It had to be easy to install. Startups don’t always have a reputation of up front planning and I wanted a tool I could recomend that was quick and easy to install.

2) It had to be open source. I didn’t want to pay for a bug tracking tool unless I had too. My clients feel the same way.

3) I wanted to embed the bug tracking tool into my website Testing Times and then provide it as a service for my clients who don’t have or want a bug tracking tool.

4) It had to be easy to use and secure. I wanted each client to have access to only their project.

TRAC got the heads up for being opensource, but was too hard to install in comparison to YouTrack, which beat it hands down. YouTrack only provided a temporary license though and I had trouble getting my hosting company to support Apache Tomcat. The effort to install something I may have to pay for later, made me feel it was pointless to pursue.

Tails was interesting and looked great, and if I had to pay for a tool, their pricing structure suited my needs. There is no messy install as it’s a hosted service but that meant that I wouldn’t be able to embed it onto my site.

Practitest had similar issues for me, and also the pay per month/user pricing structure didn’t suit my needs.

I was at a bit of a loss until BHARATH suggested Redmine.

Redmine is an opensource tracking tool that’s easy to install, easy to configure and secure.  It ticked all the boxes and it’s now sitting on my website. You can take a look at it at  http://bugs.testingtimes.ie if you like.

I have created a public project called Testing Times for those who want to investigate a bit further.

The real test of course will be my clients, their reaction and how much they use it.

So a hearty thanks to Bharath and a sigh of contentment from me.

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15 Responses to “In search of the ultimate bug tracking tool”

  1. Computer Internet and Technology Articles. » Blog Archive » In search of the ultimate bug tracking tool | Maverick Tester …

    17. Sep, 2009

    [...] See original here: In search of the ultimate bug tracking tool | Maverick Tester … [...]

    Reply to this comment

  2. Bharath

    17. Sep, 2009

    Thanks for giving me credits Anne-Marie Charrett.

    Reply to this comment

    • Anne-Marie Charrett

      17. Sep, 2009

      No problem! What did you think of the final setup?

      Reply to this comment

      • Bharath

        18. Sep, 2009

        What did you think of the final setup? — I am not very clear about your question, If i have understood it rite , i am yet to go tru your setup. will comment on it soon

        Reply to this comment

  3. Redmine!! « A Testers Journey

    18. Sep, 2009

    [...] many lessons too . I had suggested to one of the testing consultant and she seemed to like it and here is the link for the credit i got for suggesting [...]

    Reply to this comment

  4. Bharath

    18. Sep, 2009

    A small request can u redirect user to this blog of mine ? http://ticketnumber.wordpress.com

    Reply to this comment

  5. Dennis

    19. Sep, 2009

    Some interesting suggestions, but have you tried Bugzilla? Atlassian JIRA?

    Reply to this comment

    • Anne-Marie Charrett

      20. Sep, 2009

      I looked at Jira a while ago, but its not free software anymore. Buzilla looked good, but again it seemed complex to configure. Redmine provided a pre-configured work flow and users for you to start with and its easy to change.
      I could be wrong as it was the impression from the website.

      Reply to this comment

  6. Jonathanh

    20. Sep, 2009

    Have you considered Mantis?

    I have used redmine before and I can vouch for it , it is easy to install and use but I still believe you cna achieve more with Mantis
    http://www.mantisbt.org/

    Reply to this comment

    • Anne-Marie Charrett

      20. Sep, 2009

      Hi Jonathan,

      I’ve used Mantis, but was always under the impression that whilst you could do more, it was complex to configure. That could be wrong though. Same as for GNATS.

      Reply to this comment

  7. Rich

    20. Sep, 2009

    Would be interested in your opinion of http://www.bugsherpa.com – a hosted solution; very lightweight by design. Thanks!

    Reply to this comment

  8. Barry Kukkuk

    20. Sep, 2009

    I also use RedMine. I can REALLY recommend it. I give my customers login to their projects, so they are always up to date.

    Reply to this comment

  9. In search of the ultimate bug tracking tool « Jasper Blog

    21. Sep, 2009

    [...] Read more: Maverick [...]

    Reply to this comment

  10. Justin Hunter

    02. Nov, 2009

    Good post.

    We’ve got a conversation (with voting) on the best test management tools at:

    http://testing.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-the-best-free-test-management-tool-and-why

    Please contribute your views there too. Thanks.

    Justin Hunter
    Company: http://hexawise.com
    Blog: http://hexawise.wordpress.com

    Reply to this comment

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