Mantis - A Free Popular Web-based Bug Tracking System

[Danilo Alsonado]

As I downloaded the latest stable version of Mantis, I am blogging about it.

Mantis is a free popular web-based bug tracking system. It is written in the PHP scripting language and works with MySQL, MS SQL, and PostgreSQL databases and a webserver. Mantis has been installed on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, OS/2, and others. Almost any web browser should be able to function as a client. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

The main features include:

1. Free (GPL License)
2. Easy to Install (both internally and in hosted environments).
3. Easy to evaluate:

• Demo
• InstantMantis - Be up and running in 2 minutes (not recommended for production use)

4. Simple User Experience
5. Web Based
6. Supports any platform that runs PHP (Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris, AS400/i5, etc)
7. Available in 68 localizations.
8. Simple/Advanced Issue Pages
9. Multiple Projects per instance
10. Support for Projects, Sub-Projects, and Categories.
11. Users can have a different access level per project
12. Changelog Support
13. Roadmap
14. My View Page
15. Search and Filter

• Full Text Search
• Simple/Advanced Filters
• Shared Filters (across users / projects)

16. Built-in Reporting (reports / graphs)
17. Custom Fields
18. Email notifications
19. Users can monitor specific issues
20. Attachments (can be saved on webserver or in database - can also backup to an FTP account)
21. Issue Change History
22. RSS Feeds (news, issues matching saved filters, issues matching a specific project)
23. Customizable issue workflow
24. Sponsorships Support - users are able to place bounties or sponsorships for specific issues, also developers can track such sponsorships / payments.
25. Anonymous Access
26. Signup with Captcha and Email Confirmation.
27. Self-Service Reset Password Support
28. Export to csv, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word
29. Ability to extended functionality through hook (custom) functions.
30. Reporting issues via Email (available as a patch - currently being integrated)
31. Reporting Issues via a custom form on your website (Anonymantis).
32. Source Control Integration (SVN and CVS).
33. No limit on the number of users, issues, or projects.
34. Wiki Integration (optional)
35. Time Tracking
36. Ability to send messages to messages to other users in regards to a specific issue.
37. Public / Private Projects - Public project accessible to all users, private are only accessible to those explicitly added.
38. Public / Private Notes - Private notes are accessible to users with a specific access level to the relevant project.
39. Public / Private Issues - Private issues are accessible to users with a specific access level to the relevant project.
40. Issue Relationships
41. Issue Relationship Graphs (uses “dot” library).
42. Attachment Auto-Preview
43. Public / Private News (news can be associated with a specific project, or with all projects).
44. Sticky Issues (always appear on the top of the issues list).
45. Group Actions: actions can be applied on multiple issues.
46. Easy hyperlinks to issues and issue notes (e.g. #123 hyper links to issue number 123).
47. Ability to view recently visited issues (the last 5 visited issues are visible by default at the top right corner).
48. Authentication

• Default Mantis Authentication (recommended)
• LDAP Integration
• HTTP Basic Authentication Support
• Active Directory Integration (patches available)

49. Chat Integration (optional)
50. Multi-DBMS Support - Mantis uses ADODB as an abstraction library to support multiple DBMSes.

• MySQL
• MS SQL
• PostgreSQL
• Oracle (experimental)
• DB2 (in progress)

51. Webservice (SOAP) interface (MantisConnect)

• A SOAP web service that is implemented in PHP and can be consumed from any language that supports SOAP web services.
• .NET Client Library
• Java Client Library
• Cocoa Client Library
• Eclipse Plugin
• NAnt Task
• Mantis Notifier

52. Support for mobile devices (MantisWAP).
53. Online Chat (optional integration)
54. There are community projects that integrate it with content management and project management too
55. Twitter Integration allowing users to monitor updates (Added in release 1.1.0a4)

Q: Other thoughts?

[Danilo Alsonado]

The above topic describes Mantis as free popular web-based bug tracking system. In this piece, you must be logged in to download the attached defect workflow file in MS Word version. The defect workflow file describes the defect workflow used by the QA Team and Dev Team in Mantis characteristically with the following activities:

1. Reporter - Reporting Issue Basics
2. QA Team - Reviewing
3. Reporter – Giving Feedback
4. Software Development Team - Reviewing
5. Software Developer – Marking Defect as Fixed
6. QA Team - Testing
7. QA Team – Acknowledging Defect for Closing
8. Reporter – User Acceptance Testing
9. Reporter – Closing Defect

Join QAST Practitioner Group and download attached defect Workflow file in MS Word version.

Q: Other thoughts?

[Danilo Alsonado]

Guys,

See attached.

I improved the defect workflow to help our test works and/or tasks further. The conformance to the defect workflow would govern us to:

• reduce the gaps due to lack of knowledge on the implied quality needs (specified in a project request and design, produced by the programmers, what the clients wanted) and/or approach governing the quality of their deliverables and products;
• re-enforce Mantis;
• optimize the current defect management process;
• improve the quality of the deliverables;
• improve team collaboration;
• reduce errors or deficiencies in the process; and
• prevent unforeseen problems.

Further, the perceived benefits would be good service, lower development cost, and achieving the best possible results.

Note you must be logged in to download the material again in MS Word version.

Q: Other thoughts?