How to Install Bugzilla on Windows
Bugzilla is an open source system for bug tracking efficiently and for maintaining the issues arising in a project.
While developing a project, we need a way to keep track of the bugs arising. Many developers keep track of their errors, using a type of worksheet. But this can be difficult to maintain. Hence, it is easier to use a bug tracking system for the same, and Bugzilla happens to be one of the only open source software available for this use.
For just using Bugzilla, we also have the possibility of accessing it from our browser by hitting the URL provided to us by our Bugzilla administrator.
Features of Bugzilla
It has many key features making it unique.
- Bugzilla has advanced searching capabilities.
- Bugzilla supports email notifications which are configurable by the user to keep track of the changes in the bug status.
- It displays the change in bug history as more and more changes occur.
- Bugzilla provides a graphic representation of the issue we are working on.
- Bugzilla allows users to attach files which support bug tracking.
- It supports Web, E-Mail, XML and other console interfaces.
- Bugzilla has a wide range of customized, user preferred features.
- Bugzilla has widespread configurability because it allows configuration to be done with other test management tools providing a better user experience.
Prerequisite to Install Bugzilla
Before installing Bugzilla, there are a few prerequisites that we need to meet. We need to make sure our system has a setup of a working Database server, a Web server, and Perl.
Bugzilla supports MySQL, Oracle, SQLite and PostgreSQL as database servers. MySQL and PostgreSQL are highly recommended, as they have the best support from Bugzilla and are used on a daily basis by the Bugzilla developers. Oracle is known to have several issues, though it works correctly in most cases. SQLite is suggested only for testing purposes by small teams. In case of MySQL being used, version 5.0.15 is required by Bugzilla 4.x versions, but version 5.5 or newer is highly recommended. For PostgreSQL installation, version 8.3 is necessary.
For a web server, Bugzilla recommends Apache web server. It is advised to install Apache 2.2, although Bugzilla works fine with IIS too (IIS 7 or higher is recommended). To improve shows in Apache, it is recommended to enable its mod_perl module.
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Steps to Install Bugzilla
For the sake of our article, we will be explaining steps using MySQL database and Apache Web server being installed in our systems. We will also need Perl setup on our machine, the steps for which we will see. To install Bugzilla, the following are the recommended steps.
Step 1: Install Perl
For Bugzilla to be up and running, we need a number of Perl modules to be installed in our systems. Some of the modules are compulsory, while others are non-compulsory. The optional modules permit us with additional Bugzilla features, which we can install as per our requirements.
Bugzilla 4.4 and older versions require Perl 5.8.1 or newer versions, whereas Bugzilla 5.0 and newer versions, will require Perl 5.10.1 or newer versions.
After downloading Bugzilla, to install it on our machine, we can use the following steps:
- Open the .msi installer for Windows and install Perl in our directory (For e.g. C:/Perl)
- Start “Perl Package Manager(PPM)” from the start menu
- Select the modules mentioned below by right-clicking them.
Mandatory modules:
AppConfig
CGI
Data-Dumper
DateTime
DBI
DBD-mysql
Digest-SHA
DateTime-Timezone.
Template-Toolkit
Email-send
Email-MIME
URI
Math-Random-ISAAC
Win32
Win32-API
Optional modules:
GD
Chart
Template-GD
GDTextUtil
GDGraph
MIME-tools
lib-www perl
XML-Twig
PatchReader
Perl-LDAP
Authen-SASL
RadiusPerl
SOAP-Lite
JSON-RPC
JSON-XS
- Then go to File and select Run marked actions to start installing the modules.
Step 2: Download Bugzilla
The best way to download Bugzilla is to get it from the Bugzilla GIT website. We could download and install GIT from the website https://git-scm.com/download and run it.
Another way to download Bugzilla is to download the stable release from their official website using the link https://www.bugzilla.org/download/.
Bugzilla comes as a ‘tarball’ (.tar.gz extension), which any proficient Windows archiving instrument should be able to extract.
After downloading, we can extract the files and place them in any folder in C:
Step 3: Database Configuration
For the next step, we have to create a new database in our MySQL database.
NOTE: We can check whether we have MySQL installed, by running the command “mysql –v” in the command prompt.
After that, we need to open the config file from our Bugzilla folder, in an editable mode to modify the given fields.
Step 4: Configure Bugzilla
To configure Bugzilla, we need to run the below-given command in our command prompt. This will prepare a database to create the required tables.
At the time of configuration, it will also ask a hostname for the mail server and an administrator email and password.
Step 5: Configure Apache Web Server
The next step would be to configure our web server. We need to open our httpd.conf file, present in our Apache folder and enable CGI support by uncommenting the “AddHandler CGI-script .cgi” line. Refer the below screenshot for better understanding.
On account of any error, such as 500 internal error, page load error or in case Bugzilla is not working, we could try replacing the first line from all .cgi files, i.e. replacing #!/usr/bin/perl to the C: a path of a bin of our Perl folder.
Now our Bugzilla should be set up and working. We can access the link HTTP://<your-bugzilla-server>/ to see the Bugzilla front page and log in with the admin account that we defined.
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