.. meta::
    :description:
        Features of using the Roundup Issue Tracker. Describes
        all access methods, configuration and workflow capabilities.
	Links to detailed documentation.

================
Roundup Features
================

Roundup is an easy-to-use and -install issue-tracking system with
web, e-mail and command-line interfaces. Based on the winning design
from Ka-Ping Yee in the :index:`Software Carpentry` "Track" design competition.

*simple to try*
 - instant-gratification ``python demo.py`` or spin up a Docker
   container in less than 5 minutes :)
 - base your tracker on one of five templates included in the distribution
 - play with the demo, customise it and then use *it* as the template for
   your production tracker
 - requires *no* additional support software - python (3.6+ or 2.7) is
   enough to get you going

*simple to install*
 - basic installation (including web interface) takes about 30 minutes
 - supports embedded databases like sqlite_ and dbm so you don't
   need a separate database like mysql_ or postgresql_
 - can be run in a container (Docker)

*flexible*
 - manage your issues your way
 - use it to track bugs, features, user feedback, sales opportunities,
   fleet maintenance requests, office issues, milestones, ...
 - can be deployed in your network running as a stand alone
   web server (with optional reverse proxy), WSGI (with
   mod_wsi under Apache, Nginx w/ gunicorn), FastCGI, as a
   plain cgi script, or through Zope

*simple to use*
 - default trackers have a basic web interface usable on any device
 - users may sign themselves up, there may be automatic signup for
   incoming email and users may handle their own password reset requests
 - accessible through the web (html, REST or XMLRPC), email,
   command-line or Python programs
 - indexed Full Text Search (FTS) gives fast responses to searches across all
   messages and indexed string properties
 - 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) to keep
   everybody informed

*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)
 - support for the Xapian, Whoosh, sqlite or Postgres full-text
   indexing engines for large trackers

*highly configurable*
 - web interface HTML is fully editable using TAL or jinja2
   templating languages
 - database schema is fully editable (only the "user" class is required)
   with a full set of data types (including dates and many-to-many relations)
   across all available databases
 - fine grained authorization can be based on the properties of
   a user and resource (`Attribute or Policy/Purpose Based Access
   Control (ABAC or PBAC)
   <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute-based_access_control>`_))
 - customised automatic auditors and reactors to 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

*private and self-hosted*
 - your data on your servers
 - used for AI training only if you want
 - can be containerized or not

*documented*
 - documentation exists for installation, upgrading, maintenance, users
 - samples are provided for all manner of configuration changes and
   customisations

*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
 - 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
 - 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: 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 can have multiple email addresses may associated
   with the same Roundup username/account
 - built-in security features like TLS, APOP, IMAPS w/ OAUTH

*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 variety of sample shell and Python scripts are provided (weekly
   reports, new issue from command line, daily open ticket summary
   email sent to the person assigned to the tickets, ...)

*xmlrpc interface*
 - simple remote tracker interface with basic HTTP authentication
   available at the /xmlrpc endpoint.
 - provides same access to tracker as roundup-admin, but based on
   XMLRPC calls
 - see the `xmlrpc guide`_ for more details basic and advanced clients etc.

*RESTful interface*
 - accessible using basic HTTP authentication at /rest starting point
 - able to be extended with new endpoints
 - CORS support for use by third party web pages.
 - authentication can be done using JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
 - see the `rest guide`_ for details.

.. _sqlite: https://www.sqlite.org/index.html
.. _mysql: https://pypi.org/project/MySQL-python/
.. _postgresql: https://www.psycopg.org/
.. _`xmlrpc guide`: xmlrpc.html
.. _`rest guide`: rest.html