<chapter id="introduction">
  <title>Introduction</title>

  <section id="whatis">
    <title>What is Bugzilla?</title>

    <para>
    Bugzilla is a bug- or issue-tracking system. Bug-tracking
    systems allow individual or groups of developers effectively to keep track
    of outstanding problems with their product. 
    Bugzilla was originally
    written by Terry Weissman in a programming language called TCL, to
    replace a rudimentary bug-tracking database used internally by Netscape
    Communications. Terry later ported Bugzilla to Perl from TCL, and in Perl
    it remains to this day. Most commercial defect-tracking software vendors
    at the time charged enormous licensing fees, and Bugzilla quickly became
    a favorite of the open-source crowd (with its genesis in the open-source
    browser project, Mozilla). It is now the de-facto standard
    defect-tracking system against which all others are measured.
    </para>

    <para>Bugzilla boasts many advanced features. These include: 
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>Powerful searching</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>User-configurable email notifications of bug changes</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Full change history</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Inter-bug dependency tracking and graphing</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Excellent attachment management</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Integrated, product-based, granular security schema</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Fully security-audited, and runs under Perl's taint mode</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>A robust, stable RDBMS back-end</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Web, XML, email and console interfaces</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Completely customisable and/or localisable web user
        interface</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Extensive configurability</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Smooth upgrade pathway between versions</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="why">
    <title>Why Should We Use Bugzilla?</title>

    <para>For many years, defect-tracking software has remained principally
    the domain of large software development houses. Even then, most shops
    never bothered with bug-tracking software, and instead simply relied on
    shared lists and email to monitor the status of defects. This procedure
    is error-prone and tends to cause those bugs judged least significant by
    developers to be dropped or ignored.</para>

    <para>These days, many companies are finding that integrated
    defect-tracking systems reduce downtime, increase productivity, and raise
    customer satisfaction with their systems. Along with full disclosure, an
    open bug-tracker allows manufacturers to keep in touch with their clients
    and resellers, to communicate about problems effectively throughout the
    data management chain. Many corporations have also discovered that
    defect-tracking helps reduce costs by providing IT support
    accountability, telephone support knowledge bases, and a common,
    well-understood system for accounting for unusual system or software
    issues.</para>

    <para>But why should 
    <emphasis>you</emphasis>

    use Bugzilla?</para>

    <para>Bugzilla is very adaptable to various situations. Known uses
    currently include IT support queues, Systems Administration deployment
    management, chip design and development problem tracking (both
    pre-and-post fabrication), and software and hardware bug tracking for
    luminaries such as Redhat, NASA, Linux-Mandrake, and VA Systems.
    Combined with systems such as 
    <ulink url="http://www.cvshome.org">CVS</ulink>, 
    <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/bonsai.html">Bonsai</ulink>, or 
    <ulink url="http://www.perforce.com">Perforce SCM</ulink>, Bugzilla
    provides a powerful, easy-to-use solution to configuration management and
    replication problems.</para>

    <para>Bugzilla can dramatically increase the productivity and
    accountability of individual employees by providing a documented workflow
    and positive feedback for good performance. How many times do you wake up
    in the morning, remembering that you were supposed to do 
    <emphasis>something</emphasis>
    today, but you just can't quite remember? Put it in Bugzilla, and you
    have a record of it from which you can extrapolate milestones, predict
    product versions for integration, and  follow the discussion trail 
    that led to critical decisions.</para>

    <para>Ultimately, Bugzilla puts the power in your hands to improve your
    value to your employer or business while providing a usable framework for
    your natural attention to detail and knowledge store to flourish.</para>
  </section>
</chapter>

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