comparison doc/user_guide.txt @ 1356:83f33642d220 maint-0.5

[[Metadata associated with this commit was garbled during conversion from CVS to Subversion.]]
author Richard Jones <richard@users.sourceforge.net>
date Thu, 09 Jan 2003 22:59:22 +0000
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1 ==========
2 User Guide
3 ==========
4
5 :Version: $Revision: 1.12 $
6
7 .. contents::
8
9 Note: this document will refer to *issues* as the primary store of information
10 in the tracker. This is the default of the classic template, bubt may vary in
11 any given installation.
12
13 Your Tracker in a Nutshell
14 ==========================
15
16 Your tracker holds information about issues in bundles we call *items*. An
17 item may be an *issue* (a bug or feature request) or a *user*. The issue-ness or
18 user-ness is called the item's *class*. So, for bug reports and features, the
19 class is "issue", and for users the class is "user".
20
21 Each item in the tracker has an id number that identifies it along with its
22 item class. To identify a particular issue or user, we combine the class with
23 the number to create a unique label, so that user 1 (who, incidentally, is
24 *always* the "admin" user) is referred to as "user1". Issue number 315 is
25 referred to as "issue315". We call that label the item's *designator*.
26
27 Accessing the Tracker
28 ---------------------
29
30 You may access your tracker through one of three ways:
31
32 1. through the `web interface`_,
33 2. through the `e-mail gateway`_, or
34 3. using the `command line tool`_.
35
36 The last is usually only used by administrators. Most users will use the web
37 and email interfaces. All three are explained below.
38
39
40 Web Interface
41 =============
42
43 Note: this document contains screenshots of the default look and feel. Your
44 site may have a slightly (or very) different look, but the functionality will
45 be very similar, and the concepts still hold.
46
47 The web interface is broken up into the following parts:
48
49 1. `lists of items`_,
50 2. `display, edit or entry of an item`_, and
51 3. `searching page`_.
52
53
54 Lists of Items
55 --------------
56
57 The first thing you'll see when you log into Roundup will be a list of open
58 (ie. not resolved) issues. This list has been generated by a bunch of controls
59 `under the covers`_ but for now, you can see something like:
60
61 .. img: images/index_logged_out.png
62
63 The screen is divided up into three sections:
64
65 .. img: images/page_layout.png
66
67 you may either register or log in. Registration takes you to:
68
69 .. img: images/registration.png
70
71 Once you're logged in, the screen changes slightly to:
72
73 .. img: images/index_logged_in.png
74
75 Note that the sidebar menu has changed slightly, so you can now get to your
76 "My Details" page:
77
78 .. img: images/my_details.png
79
80 Note the new information on this page - the history.
81
82
83 Display, edit or entry of an item
84 ---------------------------------
85
86 Create a new issue with "create new" under the issue subheading. This will
87 take you to:
88
89 .. img: images/new_issue.png
90
91 The `nosy list`_ is explained below.
92 Enter some information and click "submit new entry" and you'll be rewarded
93 with:
94
95 .. img: images/new_issue_created.png
96
97 or, if you don't enter all the required information (or some other error
98 occurs) you'll get something like:
99
100 .. img: images/new_issue_error.png
101
102
103 Searching Page
104 --------------
105
106 XXX: some information about how searching works
107
108
109 Under the covers
110 ----------------
111
112 Index views may be modified by the following arguments:
113
114 ========== =============================================================
115 Argument Description
116 ========== =============================================================
117 :sort sort by prop name, optionally preceeded with '-'
118 to give descending or nothing for ascending sorting.
119 :group group by prop name, optionally preceeded with '-' or
120 to sort in descending or nothing for ascending order.
121 :filter selects which props should be displayed in the filter
122 section. Default is all.
123 :columns selects the columns that should be displayed.
124 Default is all.
125 propname selects the values the item properties given by propname
126 must have (very basic search/filter).
127 ========== =============================================================
128
129 Access Controls
130 ---------------
131
132 User access is controlled through Permissions. These are are grouped into
133 Roles, and users have a comma-separated list of Roles assigned to them.
134
135 Permissions divide access controls up into answering questions like:
136
137 - may the user edit issues ("Edit", "issue")
138 - is the user allowed to use the web interface ("Web Access")
139 - may the user edit other user's Roles through the web ("Web Roles")
140
141 Any number of new Permissions and Roles may be created as described in the
142 customisation documentation. Examples of new access controls are:
143
144 - only managers may sign off issues as complete
145 - don't give users who register through email web access
146 - let some users edit the details of all users
147
148
149 E-Mail Gateway
150 ==============
151
152 E-mail sent to Roundup is examined for several pieces of information:
153
154 1. `subject-line information`_ identifying the purpose of the e-mail
155 2. `e-mail message content`_ which is to be extracted
156 3. e-mail attachments which should be associated with the message
157
158 Subject-line information
159 ------------------------
160
161 The subject line of the incoming message is examined to find one of:
162
163 1. the item that the message is responding to,
164 2. the type of item the message should create, or
165 3. we default the item class and try some trickiness
166
167 If the subject line contains a prefix in ``[square brackets]`` then we're
168 looking at case 1 or 2 above. Note that any "re:" or "fwd:" prefixes are
169 stripped off the subject line before we start looking for real information.
170
171 If an item designator (class name and id number, for example ``issue123``)
172 is found there, a new "msg" item is added to the "messages" property for
173 that item, and any new "file" items are added to the "files" property for
174 the item.
175
176 If just an item class name is found there, we attempt to create a new item of
177 that class with its "messages" property initialized to contain the new "msg"
178 item and its "files" property initialized to contain any new "file" items.
179
180 The third case above - where no ``[information]`` is provided, the tracker's
181 ``MAIL_DEFAULT_CLASS`` configuration variable defines what class of item
182 the message relates to. We try to match the subject line to an existing
183 item of the default class, and if there's a match, the message is related to
184 that matched item. If not, then a new item of the default class is created.
185
186 Setting Properties
187 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
188
189 The e-mail interface also provides a simple way to set properties on items. At
190 the end of the subject line, propname=value pairs can be specified in square
191 brackets, using the same conventions as for the roundup set shell command.
192
193 For example,
194
195 - setting the priority of an issue::
196
197 Subject: Re: [issue1] the coffee machine is broken! [priority=urgent]
198
199 - adding yourself to a nosy list::
200
201 Subject: Re: [issue2] we're out of widgets [nosy=+richard]
202
203 - setting the nosy list to just you and cliff::
204
205 Subject: Re: [issue2] we're out of widgets [nosy=richard,cliff]
206
207 - removing yourself from a nosy list and setting the priority::
208
209 Subject: Re: [issue2] we're out of widgets [nosy=-richard;priority=bug]
210
211 In all cases, the message relates to issue 2. The ``Re:`` prefix is stripped
212 off.
213
214
215 Automatic Properties
216 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
217
218 **status of new issues**
219 When a new message is received that is not identified as being related to an
220 existing issue, it creates a new issue. The status of the new issue is
221 defaulted to "unread".
222
223 **reopening of resolved issues**
224 When a message is is received for a resolved issue, the issue status is
225 automatically reset to "chatting" to indicate new information has been
226 received.
227
228
229 E-Mail Message Content
230 ----------------------
231
232 Roundup only associates plain text (MIME type ``text/plain``) as messages for
233 items. Any other parts of a message are associated as downloadable files. If
234 no plain text part is found, the message is rejected.
235
236 To do this, incoming messages are examined for multiple parts:
237
238 * In a multipart/mixed message or part, each subpart is extracted and
239 examined. The text/plain subparts are assembled to form the textual body
240 of the message, to be stored in the file associated with a "msg" class
241 item. Any parts of other types are each stored in separate files and
242 given "file" class items that are linked to the "msg" item.
243 * In a multipart/alternative message or part, we look for a text/plain
244 subpart and ignore the other parts.
245
246 If the message is a response to a previous message, and contains quoted
247 sections, then these will be stripped out of the message if the
248 ``EMAIL_KEEP_QUOTED_TEXT`` configuration variable is set to ``'no'``.
249
250 Message summary
251 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
252
253 The "summary" property on message items is taken from the first non-quoting
254 section in the message body. The message body is divided into sections by blank
255 lines. Sections where the second and all subsequent lines begin with a ">" or
256 "|" character are considered "quoting sections". The first line of the first
257 non-quoting section becomes the summary of the message.
258
259
260 Address handling
261 ----------------
262
263 All of the addresses in the ``To:`` and ``Cc:`` headers of the incoming
264 message are
265 looked up among the tracker users, and the corresponding users are placed
266 in the
267 "recipients" property on the new "msg" item. The address in the ``From:`` header
268 similarly determines the "author" property of the new "msg" item. The default
269 handling for addresses that don't have corresponding users is to create new
270 users with no passwords and a username equal to the address.
271
272 The addresses mentioned in the ``To:``, ``From:`` and ``Cc:`` headers of
273 the message may be added to the `nosy list`_ depending on:
274
275 ``ADD_AUTHOR_TO_NOSY``
276 Does the author of a message get placed on the nosy list automatically?
277 If 'new' is used, then the author will only be added when a message
278 creates a new issue. If 'yes', then the author will be added on followups
279 too. If 'no', they're never added to the nosy.
280
281 ``ADD_RECIPIENTS_TO_NOSY``
282 Do the recipients (To:, Cc:) of a message get placed on the nosy list?
283 If 'new' is used, then the recipients will only be added when a message
284 creates a new issue. If 'yes', then the recipients will be added on
285 followups too. If 'no', they're never added to the nosy.
286
287
288 Nosy List
289 ~~~~~~~~~
290
291 Roundup watches for additions to the "messages" property of items.
292
293 When a new message is added, it is sent to all the users
294 on the "nosy" list for the item that are not already on the "recipients" list
295 of the message. Those users are then appended to the "recipients" property on
296 the message, so multiple copies of a message are never sent to the same user.
297 The journal recorded by the hyperdatabase on the "recipients" property then
298 provides a log of when the message was sent to whom.
299
300 If the author of the message is also in the nosy list for the item that the
301 message is attached to, then the config var ``MESSAGES_TO_AUTHOR`` is queried
302 to determine if they get a nosy list copy of the message too.
303
304
305 Command Line Tool
306 =================
307
308 The basic usage is::
309
310 Help:
311 roundup-admin -h
312 roundup-admin help -- this help
313 roundup-admin help <command> -- command-specific help
314 roundup-admin help all -- all available help
315
316 Options:
317 -i instance home -- specify the issue tracker "home directory" to administer
318 -u -- the user[:password] to use for commands
319 -c -- when outputting lists of data, just comma-separate them
320
321 Commands:
322 commit
323 create classname property=value ...
324 display designator
325 export [class[,class]] export_dir
326 find classname propname=value ...
327 get property designator[,designator]*
328 help topic
329 history designator
330 import import_dir
331 initialise [adminpw]
332 install [template [backend [admin password]]]
333 list classname [property]
334 pack period | date
335 reindex
336 retire designator[,designator]*
337 rollback
338 security [Role name]
339 set designator[,designator]* propname=value ...
340 specification classname
341 table classname [property[,property]*]
342
343 Commands may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation matches only one
344 command, e.g. l == li == lis == list.
345
346 All commands (except help) require a tracker specifier. This is just the
347 path to the roundup tracker you're working with. A roundup tracker is where
348 roundup keeps the database and configuration file that defines an issue
349 tracker. It may be thought of as the issue tracker's "home directory".
350 It may be specified in the environment variable ``TRACKER_HOME`` or on
351 the command line as "``-i tracker``".
352
353 A designator is a classname and an itemid concatenated, eg. bug1, user10, ...
354 Property values are represented as strings in command arguments and in the printed
355 results:
356
357 - Strings are, well, strings.
358 - Password values will display as their encoded value.
359 - Date values are printed in the full date format in the local time zone,
360 and accepted in the full format or any of the partial formats explained
361 below.::
362
363 Input of... Means...
364 "2000-04-17.03:45" 2000-04-17.08:45:00
365 "2000-04-17" 2000-04-17.00:00:00
366 "01-25" yyyy-01-25.00:00:00
367 "08-13.22:13" yyyy-08-14.03:13:00
368 "11-07.09:32:43" yyyy-11-07.14:32:43
369 "14:25" yyyy-mm-dd.19:25:00
370 "8:47:11" yyyy-mm-dd.13:47:11
371 "." "right now"
372
373 - Link values are printed as item designators. When given as an argument,
374 item designators and key strings are both accepted.
375 - Multilink values are printed as lists of item designators joined by
376 commas. When given as an argument, item designators and key strings are
377 both accepted; an empty string, a single item, or a list of items joined
378 by commas is accepted.
379
380 When multiple items are specified to the roundup get or roundup set
381 commands, the specified properties are retrieved or set on all the listed
382 items. When multiple results are returned by the roundup get or roundup
383 find commands, they are printed one per line (default) or joined by commas
384 (with the "``-c``" option).
385
386 Where the command changes data, a login name/password is required. The login may
387 be specified as either "``name``" or "``name:password``".
388
389 - ``ROUNDUP_LOGIN`` environment variable
390 - the "``-u``" command-line option
391
392 If either the name or password is not supplied, they are obtained from the
393 command-line.
394
395
396
397 -----------------
398
399 Back to `Table of Contents`_
400
401 .. _`Table of Contents`: index.html
402 .. _`customisation documentation`: customizing.html

Roundup Issue Tracker: http://roundup-tracker.org/