HN Explorer

Ask HN: Any recommendations for bug tracking software?

15 points by hvasishth ↗ HN
I am working on some personal projects and want to start using a bug tracking software for them. I am looking for recommendations for a bug tracking system which is

- Free/Freemium

- Web based so that I don't have to worry about installing/maintaining it.

- Simple to use

27 comments

[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 62.4 ms ] thread
steveklabnik
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
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
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
If it were just me, I would use the startup edition of FogBugz in a heartbeat: 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
Redmine works great if you got an old server kickn around
jhchen
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
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/

The whole system is crazy simple/easy to use and it pretty much lets you do all your project management in one place.

cmelbye
Pivotal Tracker is fantastic. Free, extremely easy to use, productive, and they just re-did their user interface.
megamark16
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
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
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
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
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
I have run trac and redmine, I like trac more since I grok the python and find it pretty easy to hack extensions.
ordinaryman
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-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
interesting. but not sure why you wouldn't just use google code since you're building the entire thing in GAE anyway?
ordinaryman
I believe Google Code is only for open-source projects.
fendrak
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
bitbucket does the job for me.
megamark16
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
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

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
trac is pretty easy to setup.
grok2
Fossil? 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.