urosm
/
ikiwiki
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

update with edited and somewhat improved source from linuxworld

master
joey 2007-04-06 21:47:48 +00:00
parent 30a8773988
commit e2dddb9db5
1 changed files with 117 additions and 65 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

182
doc/tips/issue_tracking.mdwn
View File

@ -1,36 +1,63 @@
[[meta title="Including more bugs in your tarball: Integrated issue tracking with Ikiwiki"]]
[[meta title="Integrated issue tracking with Ikiwiki"]]
By Joey Hess, LinuxWorld.com
[[template id=note text="""
[First published](http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/040607-integrated-issue-tracking-ikiwiki.html)
on [LinuxWorld.com](http:://www.linuxworld.com/), a
First published on [LinuxWorld.com](http:://www.linuxworld.com/), a
publication of Network World Inc., 118 Turnpike Rd., Southboro, MA 01772.
"""]]
Wikis are not just for encyclopedias and websites anymore. The
[Ikiwiki](http://ikiwiki.info) engine can be used to handle issue tracking,
news feeds, and other needs of a software project. The wiki can become as
much a part of your software project as its code, with interesting results.
Wikis are not just for encyclopedias and websites
anymore. You can use [Ikiwiki](http://ikiwiki.info)
in combination with your revision control system to
handle issue tracking, news feeds, and other needs of
a software project. The wiki can make your bug reports
as much a part of your software project as its code,
with interesting results.
Ikiwiki is a wiki engine with a twist. It's best described by the term
"wiki compiler". Just as a typical software project consists of source code
that is stored in revision control and compiled with `make` and `gcc`, an
ikiwiki based wiki is stored as human editable source in a revision control
system, and built into HTML using ikiwiki.
Ikiwiki is a wiki engine with a twist. It's best
described by the term "wiki compiler". Just as a
typical software project consists of source code
that is stored in revision control and compiled with
`make` and `gcc`, an ikiwiki-based wiki is stored as
human editable source in a revision control system,
and built into HTML using ikiwiki.
Ikiwiki is a full-featured wiki that can be used for a variety of purposes,
from traditional wikis to weblogs, podcasting, or even aggregating together
other RSS feeds into a Planet. While ikiwiki is being used for purposes
ranging from genealogy research to shoe accessory sales, one thing it's
especially well suited for is collaborative software development, including
issue tracking, announcements, documentation, and managing a software
project's web site.
Ikiwiki uses your revision control system to track
changes and handle tasks such as rolling back changes and
merging edits. Because it takes advantage of revision
control, there are no annoying warnings about other
people editing a file, or finding yourself locked
out of a file because someone else started editing it
and left. Instead, the other person's changes will
be automatically merged with yours when you commit.
## Building wikis with ikiwiki
In the rare cases where automatic merging fails
because of concurrent edits to the same part of a
page, regular commit conflict markers are shown in
the file to let you resolve the conflict, as you
would for conflicting edit in source code.
The simplest way to use ikiwiki is to build static html files from source
wiki files. This example builds a wiki for an imaginary software project.
The wiki source files used in this example are available in the
`examples/softwaresite` subdirectory of ikiwiki's documentation.
Ikiwiki is a full-featured wiki that you can use
for a variety of purposes, from traditional wikis
to weblogs, podcasting, or even aggregating other
sites' RSS feeds into a Planet page. While people
are [using](http://ikiwiki.info/ikiwikiusers.html)
Ikiwiki for purposes ranging from genealogy research
to shoe accessory sales, one thing it's especially
well suited for is collaborative software development,
including announcements, documentation, managing a
software project's web site, and even acting as an
issue tracking system.
## Building a project wiki with ikiwiki
The simplest way to use ikiwiki is to build static
HTML files from source wiki files. This example builds
a wiki for an imaginary software project. The wiki
source files used in this example are available in the
[examples/softwaresite](http://ikiwiki.info/examples/softwaresite.html)
section of ikiwiki's documentation.
wiki$ ls
Makefile bugs.mdwn doc/ download.mdwn news/
@ -57,23 +84,26 @@ The wiki source files used in this example are available in the
Links: contact doc
Last edited Wed Nov 22 09:58:35 2006
If all you need is a simple static set of pages, that can be put up on a
web site, or shipped with a software package, this is a good starting
point, which includes example pages for a news feed for the project (with
RSS), an issue tracker, and other pages users expect to see on a project's
website. The wiki's source code can be checked into revision control as part
of the software project, and tied into its build system using the Makefile.
If all you need is a simple static set of pages
that can be put up on a web site, or shipped with
a software package, this is a good starting point.
The examples included with ikiwiki include pages for
a news feed for the project (with RSS), an issue
tracker, and other pages users expect to see on a
project's website. You can check the wiki-format text
into revision control as part of the software project,
and tie it into the build system using the Makefile.
Ikiwiki can also be tied into the `post-commit` hook of your revision
control system, so that whenever a developer commits a change to a wiki
page in revision control, the project's web site is automatically updated.
Ikiwiki has a [tutorial](http://ikiwiki.info/setup.html) that explains in
The [ikiwiki tutorial](http://ikiwiki.info/setup.html) explains in
detail how to set this up using the Subversion, Git, TLA, and Mercurial
revision control systems.
The tutorial also explains how to configure ikiwiki so that users can edit
pages using a web interface, with their changes committed back into revision
control. After all one of the benefits of keeping a project's docs in a wiki
control. After all, one of the benefits of keeping a project's docs in a wiki
is to make it easy for users to improve them, so that busy software developers
don't have to. And if the wiki is being used for issue tracking, this will
let users post and follow up on bug reports.
@ -84,22 +114,27 @@ You might be wondering exactly how a wiki can be used as an issue tracking
system. Three key parts of ikiwiki come together to create an issue tracker:
pages, tags, and inlining.
Each issue is described on a separate page in the wiki. There can also be
an associated Discussion page, as well as other related subpages that can
be used to hold files used to reproduce the bug, or patches, or other
related files. Since each issue is a page, standard wiki links can be used
to link related issues, or link issues with other pages in the wiki, and
each issue has its own unique URL. Since ikiwiki supports subdirectories,
it's usual to keep all the bugs in a `bugs/` subdirectory. You might prefer
to separate bugs and todo items, with todo items in their own 'todo/'
subdirectory.
Each issue is described on a separate page in the
wiki. There can also be an associated Discussion page,
as well as other related subpages that can be used
to hold files used to reproduce the bug, or patches,
or other related files. Since each issue is a page,
standard wiki links can be used to link related
issues, or link issues with other pages in the wiki.
Each issue has its own unique URL. Since ikiwiki
supports subdirectories, it's usual to keep all the
bugs in a `bugs/` subdirectory. You might prefer
to separate bugs and todo items, with todo items in
their own 'todo/' subdirectory.
While directories are useful for broad hierarchical grouping, tags can be
used to categorize issues, as bugs, wishlist items, security issues,
patches, or whatever other categories are useful. Bugs can be tagged
"moreinfo", "done" or "unreproducible", or "moreinfo", etc, to document
different stages of their lifecycle. Developers can take ownership of a bug
by tagging it with something like "owner/Joey".
While directories are useful for broad hierarchical
grouping, tags are better for categorizing issues
as bugs, wishlist items, security issues, patches,
or whatever other categories are useful. Bugs can
be tagged "moreinfo", "done" "unreproducible",
or "moreinfo", etc, to document different stages of
their lifecycle. A developer can take ownership of a
bug by tagging it with something like "owner/Joey".
To tag a wiki page, edit it and add text such as "\[[tag done]]". Note that
adding a wiki link to "\[[done]]" will have the same categorisation effect
@ -147,11 +182,18 @@ and tags, so if you need lots of queryable data such as what versions a bug
affects and what version it was fixed in, ikiwiki may not be a good fit for
your issue tracking.
On the other hand, by using a wiki for issue tracking, there is one less
system for users and developers to learn, and all the flexibility of a wiki
to take advantage of. Ikiwiki even supports OpenID, so it's easy for users
to use it for filing bugs, without going through an annoying registration
process.
On the other hand, by using a wiki for issue
tracking, there is one less system for users and
developers to learn, and all the flexibility of a
wiki to take advantage of. Ikiwiki even supports
[OpenID](http://openid.net/), so it's easy for users
to use it for filing bugs without going through an
annoying registration process.
Developers who work offline, or at the other end of a
slow connection, might appreciate having a full copy
of the project bug tracking system, too.
## Benefits
@ -172,7 +214,7 @@ available in a released version yet, so it's probably easier to skip
updating the website. Maybe once it's released, the web site will be
updated to mention the feature, but maybe (probably) not.
Now consider what happens if instead the web site is a wiki, that has its
Now consider what happens if instead the web site is a wiki that has its
source included in the project's revision control system. The programmer
codes up the feature, and can easily update the docs in the wiki to match.
When he commits his changes to a development branch, the docs are committed
@ -189,7 +231,7 @@ used as an issue tracker, the requests were made using it, and were
collaboratively edited on the wiki, to develop the specification. Once the
feature is implemented, that issue can be closed. What better way to close
it than to move it out of the issue tracking system, and into the project's
documentation?
documentation? In Subversion:
svn mv wiki/bugs/new_feature.mdwn wiki/doc/
@ -199,17 +241,21 @@ when the feature was designed. By using ikiwiki for issue tracking, plus
editing the spec, plus documentation, plus the website, each of these steps
has built on the other and the programmer has had to do less busywork.
A different example of how ikiwiki can tie things together is how a
security hole might be handled. First it's discovered, and a bug filed
about it. When it's fixed, the commit that fixes the bug can include a
change to the bug's page, marking it as done. Since it's a security hole,
an announcement needs to be made right away so users will know they need to
upgrade. This announcement can be added to the wiki's news feed, and
committed along with the fix, and the announcement can use a regular wiki
link to link to the bug that describes the security hole in detail. If the
security hole also affects an older version of the software, the fix, along
with the wiki documentation for that fix, can be merged into the branch for
the older version.
A different example of how ikiwiki can tie
things together is how a security hole might be
handled. First it's discovered, and a bug filed about
it. When it's fixed, the commit that fixes the bug
can include a change to the bug's page, marking it
as done. Since it's a security hole, the project
needs to make an announcement right away so users
will know they need to upgrade. This announcement
can be added to the wiki's news feed, and committed
along with the fix, and the announcement can use a
regular wiki link to link to the bug that describes
the security hole in detail. If the security hole
also affects an older version of the software, the
fix, along with the wiki documentation for that fix,
can be merged into the branch for the older version.
Another benefit of keeping the bug tracking system in revision control with
the wiki is that it allows for disconnected development. So there's no need
@ -225,3 +271,9 @@ large changes are being made in someone's branch, they can choose to put up
their own version of the website, use it to track bugs for that branch, and
when the branch is ready, all these changes can be merged back into the
mainline of the project.
Ikiwiki powers its own bug tracking
system. To see how wiki bug tracking
works in practice, visit the [ikiwiki bugs
page](http://ikiwiki.info/bugs.html) or the project
[TODO list](http://ikiwiki.info/todo.html).