Does your Bug Tracking tool suit your needs? A Study on Open Source Bug Tracking tools

TL;DR

This study evaluates 31 open source bug tracking tools, analyzing their features, developer preferences, and challenges to guide open source projects in selecting suitable tools and identifying missing functionalities.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive feature-based categorization of bug tracking tools and insights from developer surveys and forums, highlighting gaps and recommendations.

Findings

Identified key features valued by developers

Compared effectiveness of different bug tracking tools

Highlighted missing features in current tools

Abstract

Bug tracking tools are vital for managing bugs in any open source as well as proprietary commercial projects. Considering the significance of using an appropriate bug tracking tool, we assess the features offered by 31 open source bug tracking tools and their significance of usage in open source projects. We have categorized these tools into different classes based on their features. We have also conducted a developer survey by working with open source software practitioners to understand the effectiveness of these tools in their day-to-day software development. We also explored StackOverFlow - a developer Q & A forum to understand the developer experiences and challenges while using open source bug tracking tools. Our observations generated encouraging results that can used as a recommendation guide for open source software community to choose the best bug tracking tool based on their functional needs. Additionally, we have identified few features that are needed but not offered by most of these bug tracking tools.