Program to synchronize bug repositories
Project description
Bug Repo Syncer is a command line program to synchronize bug repositories. It currently works with Launchpad and Trac. It can in principle also be used to migrate between these repositories. The main motivation to write this program, is the lack of a Mylyn connector for Launchpad, while there exists a Mylyn connector for Trac. Additionally Launchpad has no integrated Wiki.
The program synchronizes its own bug trackers: the project’s bugs on Launchpad with a Trac site on Sourceforge.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bug-repo-syncer
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/bug-repo-syncer/report/6
Bug Repo Syncer is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 3.
Deficiencies
The program is currently incomplete. Also the approach to translate between repositories with significantly different concepts, has inherent drawbacks.
Bug Repo Syncer does not synchronize bug comments.
Bug status values (status, priority, resolution, type) can only be roughly translated between repositories of different type. Bug Repo Syncer uses internally a fairly simple model, that is quite similar to the way how Trac works. When Bug Repo Syncer changes a bug, the status values are set in accordance with this simple model. This way information is lost, especially from Launchpad’s fairly fine grained workflow.
Dependencies
The program is developed on Linux. It uses however nothing Linux specific, and may therefore work on other Unix-like operating systems such as Mac OS X.
The following software is required to run Bug Repo Syncer:
- Python
An installation of the Python programming language, version 2.6 or newer.
- diff3
A command line program to merge text. Present on nearly all Linux and Unix installations.
- Dateutil
A Python library to process dates. Usually installed on Linux by default.
- Launchpadlib
A library to access launchpad from Python programs. Install it with:
pip install launchpadlib
Installation
Open a shell window, get administrative permissions, and type:
pip install bug-repo-syncer
Alternatively download the source archive, extract it, change into the extracted directory, get administrative permissions, and type the familiar:
python setup.py install
Trac Permissions
To access a Trac repository with Bug Repo Syncer a user needs the permission XML_RPC. To make changes one additionally needs TRAC_ADMIN permission. (The tool needs administrative permission, because it does not respect Trac’s workflow, for reasons of simplicity.)
The XML_RPC permission is switched off by default (at least on Sourceforge), and must be enabled. In the web front end go to “Admin” -> “Permissions”. Search for XML_RPC in the “Action” drop-down list in the upper right of the page. Simply give everybody (“anonymous”) XML_RPC permissions.
Operation
Bug Repo Syncer has the notion of a project directory, where configuration and data files are stored. For normal operation it is assumed that the user changes into the project directory and types the synchronization command(s).
Synchronization commands are executed with the bsync program, it uses sub-commands like Bazaar’s bzr program.
General Options
The general options precede the sub-commands. For example, synchronize and specify the project directory explicitly:
bsync --project-dir path/to/project/dir sync
- -h, --help
Show a help message and exit.
- --version
Show a version message and exit.
- --project-dir DIRECTORY
Specify the directory with configuration and data files.
(Sub-) Commands
All sub-commands have their own option --help, that shows a specific help message. To get the help message for the sub-command sync for example, type:
bsync sync --help
init
Create a configuration file in the current directory.
bsync init
The generated configuration file must be edited, so that it refers to your bug repositories. The file format is documented quite extensively in the generated file itself.
info
Show status of the project, and test the configuration file.
bsync info
sync
Synchronize the repositories.
bsync sync
This sub-command has further options:
- --since DATE_TIME
Consider changes since this date (and time).
- --dry-run
Don’t change the repositories, instead show what the program would do.
Bug Reports, Wishes, and Hacking
Bugs reports and wishes can be filed in Launchpad, or in the Trac site on Sourceforge. Use the repository that is convenient for you, as both repositories are synchronized.
https://launchpad.net/bug-repo-syncer
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/bug-repo-syncer/report/6
The program is written in the Python programming language. Development is coordinated on Launchpad, Bazaar is the version control system, the developer uses Eclipse and Vim. (Vim mainly for English text, such as this README). The Trac site lets developers see the bugs in the Mylyn component of Eclipse.
To check out the sources, type:
bzr branch lp:bug-repo-syncer
