Issue Tracker FAQ

The Google Project Hosting issue tracker uses only a minimal set of fields, and offers users the ability to store the information that they need as labels. This approach is possible because it uses Google's free-text search technology to search on all issue metadata.

• Issue Tracker FAQ
• What are issue labels?
• Nonsense labels & metadata
• Edit issue labels & metadata
• Change the set of predefined labels
• View closed issues
• File issues anonymously
• Triage duplicate issues
• Track blocking issues
• Provide guidance for users filing issues
• Custom issue queries
• Manage issue workflow
• Learn more about the issue tracker

What are issue labels?

Labels are simply strings that are meaningful to the project members, but that have no particular meaning to the issue tracker itself. For example, you could label an issue as "Hot" if you like.

When an issue label has a dash in it, e.g., "Priority-Medium", then that is interpreted as a key-value pair that can be used like a custom field. The prefix before the first dash is the key, and the part after it is the value. You can configure the issue list to show a column for any prefix. And, you can search for values within a specific custom field by using "prefix:value".

Nonsense labels & metadata

Only project owners and committers can edit issue metadata. Usually, if someone in the project uses an unexpected status or label, it is because the issue itself is a special case that does not follow the normal workflow. The issue tracker shows a brief warning whenever an uncommon status or label is used. If some project member goes out of their way to enter a nonsensical label, you can always see who did it, change it back, and send them an email.

Edit issue labels & metadata

Only project owners and committers can edit issue metadata. These users see additional fields when entering a new issue or adding a comment. The drop-down auto-complete menu for each field will help you enter commonly used values. However, for the labels, you are free to enter new or uncommon labels simply by typing them.

Change the set of predefined labels

Yes, to edit the predefined labels click the "Administer" tab and the "Issue tracking" sub-tab. Use the text fields to configure the set of issue statuses and labels that will be offered.

For example, if your project is building a graphics driver, maybe you would like to label some of your issues with Depth-16bit, Depth-24bit, and/or Depth-32bit.

View closed issues

Immediately under the "Issues" tab, there is a search box that can be used for searching. Each search takes place in a search context that is selected by a drop-down menu. By default, all searches only consider open issues; if you would like to search closed issues, select "All issues" from the search context drop-down menu.

File issues anonymously

No. To prevent abuse and improve report quality, Google Code requires a Google Account to post new issues and comments. Anyone who does not have a Google account may sign up for one at no cost. After an issue report has been entered, it is viewable by anyone without the need to sign in.

Triage duplicate issues

Sometimes users will file issues that have already been reported. When a duplicate issue is entered into the issue tracker, a project owner or committer can mark that issue as a 'Duplicate'.

To do this set the status of the duplicate issue to 'Duplicate'. Setting the status as 'Duplicate' will prompt the user to enter the issue id of the original issue. Marking an issue as 'Duplicate' adds the stars and copies cc email addresses to the original issue. This also closes the duplicate issue.

Track blocking issues

On occasion, an issue cannot be fixed until another issue is fixed first. Project members can track which issues the current issue is blocked on by adding the issue ids in the 'Blocked on' field.

Provide guidance for users filing issues

Projects can provide guidance to a users, prior to filing a new issue, by using an interstitial wiki page. Interstitial wiki pages can be added through Tab option in Administer settings.

For example, the following is a project that uses an interstitial page: http://code.google.com/p/rdv/wiki/Support?tm=3

Custom issue queries

Custom queries are simply urls that have been constructed with the appropriate search parameters.

For example, the following is a query of high priority issues: http://code.google.com/p/support/issues/list?can=2&q=Priority%3DHigh

Projects can provide custom queries on a wiki page, project homepage, or even an interstitial page for the issue tracker for their users convenience by simply linking to the appropriate url.

For example: Wiki High Priority | Assigned to Jason

Manage issue workflow

Large projects typically need to manage their workflow. For example, if the issue is marked with the Security label it should automatically be hidden, made Priority-High, and assigned to the team lead. Managing this type of workflow is possible through filter rules.

For more information: http://code.google.com/p/support/wiki/IssueTracker#Filter_rules

Learn more about the issue tracker

See the IssueTracker wiki page.