Roundup Features

Roundup is a simple-to-use and -install issue-tracking system with web, e-mail and command-line interfaces. It is based on the winning design from Ka-Ping Yee in the Software Carpentry “Track” design competition.

simple to install

• installation (including web interface) takes about 30 minutes
• instant-gratification python demo.py :)
• two templates included in the distribution for you to base your tracker on
• play with the demo, customise it and then use it as the template for your production tracker
• requires no additional support software - python (2.3+ but not 3+) is enough to get you going
• easy to set up higher-performance storage backends like sqlite, mysql and postgresql

simple to use

• accessible through the web, email, command-line or Python programs
• may be used to track bugs, features, user feedback, sales opportunities, milestones, ...
• automatically keeps a full history of changes to issues with configurable verbosity and easy access to information about who created or last modified any item in the database
• issues have their own mini mailing list (nosy list)
• users may sign themselves up, there may be automatic signup for incoming email and users may handle their own password reset requests

highly configurable

• web interface HTML is fully editable
• database schema is also fully editable (only the “user” class is required) with a full set of data types (including dates and many-to-many relations) across all storages available
• customised automatic auditors and reactors may be written that perform actions before and after changes are made to entries in the database, or may veto the creation or modification of items in the database
• samples are provided for all manner of configuration changes and customisations

fast, scalable

• with the sqlite, mysql and postgresql backends, roundup is also fast and scalable, easily handling thousands of issues and users with decent response times
• database indexes are automatically added for those backends that support them (sqlite, mysql and postgresql)
• indexed text searching giving fast responses to searches across all messages and indexed string properties
• support for the Xapian full-text indexing engine for large trackers

documented

• documentation exists for installation, upgrading, maintenance, users and customisation

web interface

• fully editable interfaces for listing and display of items
• extendable to include wizards, parent/meta bug displays, ...
• differentiates between anonymous, known and admin users
• may be set up to require login, and may also only allow admin users to register new users
• authentication of user registration and user-driven password resetting using email and one time keys
• may be run using WSGI or through CGI as a normal cgi script, as a stand-alone web server, under mod_python or through Zope
• searching may be performed using many constraints, including a full-text search of messages attached to issues
• file attachments (added through the web or email) are served up with the correct content-type and filename
• email change messages generated by roundup appear to be sent by the person who made the change, but responses will go back through the nosy list by default
• flexible access control built around Permissions and Roles with assigned Permissions
• generates valid HTML4 or XHTML
• detects concurrent user changes
• saving and editing of user-defined queries which may optionally be shared with other users

e-mail interface

• may be set up using sendmail-like delivery alias, POP polling or mailbox polling
• may auto-register users who send in mail and aren’t known to roundup
• nosy list configuration controls how people are added and when messages are sent to the list
• auto-filing of “unformatted” messages into a particular class
• e-mail attachments are handled sanely, being attached to the issue they’re intended for, and forwarded on to the nosy list
• sane handling of content-type and content-encoding of messages (text/plain preferred in all situations)
• email packages that display threading will show issue messages correctly threaded
• users may send in messages from multiple addresses and be associated with the same roundup username
• built-in security features like TLS and APOP

command-line

• may be used to interactively manage roundup databases
• may be scripted using standard shell scripting
• roundup’s API may also be used by other Python programs - a sample is provided that runs once a day and emails people their assigned issues
• a variety of sample shell scripts are provided (weekly reports, issue generation, ...)

xmlrpc interface

• simple remote tracker interface with basic HTTP authentication
• provides same access to tracker as roundup-admin, but based on XMLRPC calls