Perforce Defect Tracking Integration Project


Perforce Defect Tracking Integration Administrator's Guide

Richard Brooksby, Ravenbrook Limited, 2000-08-10

Contents

1. Introduction

This manual is the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration Administrator's Guide. It explains how to install, configure, maintain, and administer the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration (P4DTI).

This document is intended for P4DTI administrators. Ordinary users of the defect tracker or Perforce should read the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration User's Guide. (For ideas on how to train your users on the P4DTI, see section 8, "Training and documentation".)

This guide does not describe the basics of using the P4DTI, Perforce, or the defect tracker. Read the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration User's Guide to understand the P4DTI from a user's perspective.

2. Overview of the P4DTI

2.1. Installation, configuration, and maintenance

To install and run the P4DTI, you must:

  1. Get and install the required software (section 3).
  2. Ensure you have met the procedural prerequisites for Perforce and your defect tracker (section 3).
  3. Download and install the P4DTI software (section 4).
  4. Configure the P4DTI software (section 5).
  5. Migrate defect tracking data from your defect tracker to the integrated system (section 6).
  6. Test the installation (section 7).
  7. Train the users (section 8).
  8. Go live (section 9).
  9. Maintain the installation (section 9).

2.2. How the P4DTI works

The P4DTI works by taking over the job tracking system of Perforce and making the defect tracker's records appear as Perforce jobs. Perforce users can work with jobs more or less as described in the Perforce manuals, and their changes are reflected in the defect tracker. For more information on how Perforce handles jobs, see the Perforce Command Line User's Guide.

Perforce has a mechanism for linking jobs to changelists (the p4 fix command), to enable you to record the work done for a particular reason. The P4DTI makes these links appear in the defect tracker, making it easy to see what was done or is currently being done to resolve a defect.

The P4DTI replicator is a process that copies data between a defect tracker and a Perforce server to keep each one up to date with changes made in the other. This approach allows developers to do their routine defect resolution work entirely from their Perforce client, without using the defect tracker's interface. It also allows developers to relate their changes to defect tracking issues.

Figure 1 shows how the replicator communicates with the defect tracking server and the Perforce server.

The replicator maintains a one-to-one relationship between issues in the defect tracker's database and jobs in the Perforce repository. (An issue is a unit of work that the defect tracker tracks; some examples are bugs, change requests, and enhancement requests.) In other words, each issue has a corresponding job, and vice versa. The replicator keeps the contents of a configurable set of fields in the defect tracker's issues the same as the contents of the corresponding Perforce job, so that editing one edits the other.

The replicator also copies Perforce's links between jobs and changelists (called "fixes") to the defect tracker's database, and makes them visible in the defect tracker's user interface. Replication of links from Perforce to the defect tracker makes it possible to track, record, and check a number of things; in particular, it makes it possible to track and record the changes made for each issue, and find out why a change was made in terms of issues.

The replicator polls the defect tracking server and the Perforce server at regular intervals to get a list of recent changes, and attempts to propagate these changes to the other system. If a defect tracker issue is changed at the same time as the corresponding Perforce job, the replicator sends an e-mail with the overwritten Perforce job data to the following people:

  1. The person who changed the job in Perforce.
  2. The owner of the defect tracker issue.
  3. The P4DTI administrator.

Most defect trackers have an idea of workflow--a set of rules that control who can do what to which issues. The replicator enforces the defect tracker's workflow by rejecting changes to jobs in Perforce that are illegal in the defect tracker. When it comes across such a change, it undoes the change and sends an e-mail message to the user.

The defect tracker manages the defect tracker records (and therefore the job contents), while Perforce manages the changelists. Neither side controls the "fixes" relationship--the links between jobs and changelists.

Figure 1 shows how the replicator connects to the Perforce and defect tracker servers.

Figure 1. The replication architecture

Diagram of the replication architecture

2.3. Limitations: will the P4DTI work for your organization?

The P4DTI won't work well for every organization. In particular, it has the following limitations:

  1. If you're using TeamTrack and your workflow is very complex then the P4DTI may make mistakes when translating actions in Perforce into actions in TeamTrack.

    (This is because TeamTrack supports operations that can't be represented in Perforce, such as a "transition" between two states in a workflow. When someone edits a job in Perforce, the P4DTI tries to guess which TeamTrack transition was meant by looking at the state you started with and the state you ended up in. However, if you have multiple transitions between the same two states, then it may guess wrongly. See section 3.3.2, item 6 for details of workflows that the P4DTI may have trouble with.)

  2. If you have automation that makes very frequent changes to records in the defect tracker, then users may be unable to edit jobs from Perforce.

    (This is because the P4DTI works by polling the databases every 10 seconds (by default). If there are many updates to the defect tracker in this period then the data in Perforce will be out of date; any attempt to edit out-of-date data is rejected by the P4DTI because that would introduce inconsistencies.)

3. Prerequisites for installing the P4DTI

3.1. Required experience

To administer the P4DTI, you must have the following experience:

  1. Perforce: You need at least two months of Perforce administration experience, including a working knowledge of Perforce's command line interface. Read both the Perforce Command Line User's Guide and the Perforce System Administrator's Guide.
  2. The Python programming language: You need to know how to use Python to assign values to variables, but you do not need to be an expert Python programmer. To acquire a basic familiarity with Python, read the Python tutorial at <http://www.python.org/doc/current/tut/tut.html>.
  3. The defect tracker: You must understand how to administer the defect tracker and how it is configured at your organization, or have someone with that knowledge on hand when installing, configuring, and testing the P4DTI.

3.2. Perforce prerequisites

3.2.1. Software prerequisites

Before installing the P4DTI, you must obtain and install the following software:

  1. Perforce server software of version 2000.2 or later. You can download server and client upgrades from the Perforce FTP server at <ftp://ftp.perforce.com/pub/perforce/>. Be sure to read the release notes (available from <http://www.perforce.com/>) before you install. Contact Perforce technical support if you need help.
  2. Perforce client software of version 2000.2 or later for every P4DTI user who will be running Perforce, and for the P4DTI itself.
  3. Perforce licenses for every defect tracker user who is going to work in Perforce.
  4. A background user license for the replicator. This is a license for an automatic process, rather than a person. Perforce provides background licenses free of charge; contact Perforce Customer Service to get one.

3.2.2. Procedural prerequisites

Before installing the P4DTI, you must do the following:

  1. Back up your Perforce repository. For instructions, see the Perforce System Administrator's Guide.
  2. Copy out of Perforce any jobs that you want to keep. The P4DTI takes over the jobs subsystem of Perforce and rewrites the Perforce jobspec, and you must delete all jobs from your Perforce repository as part of configuring the P4DTI. For more information, see section 5.2.3, "Deleting Perforce jobs". You might want to enter any active jobs into the defect tracking system.
  3. Determine the address and port number of your Perforce server. You will need this information when you configure the P4DTI in section 5, "Configuring the P4DTI, Perforce, and the defect tracker".

3.3. TeamTrack prerequisites

3.3.1. Software prerequisites

Before installing the P4DTI, you must obtain and install the following software:

  1. TeamTrack version 4.5 or TeamTrack version 5.0. TeamTrack is available for download from TeamShare's web site <http://www.teamshare.com/>.
  2. TeamTrack licenses for every Perforce user who will be assigned issues.
  3. An extra TeamTrack license for the replicator. TeamShare provides licenses free of charge for this purpose. Contact your TeamShare sales representative to get one.
  4. Python 2.0 for Windows, installed on the TeamTrack server machine. Python 2.0 is available from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/2000-10-18/Python-2.0/BeOpen-Python-2_0.exe>.
  5. The Python interface to Windows, installed on the TeamTrack server machine. This is available from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/2000-05-06/python-win32all-132/win32all-132.exe>. (You can omit this step if you don't plan to log activity to the Windows Event Log; see the use_windows_event_log) configuration parameter.)

3.3.2. Procedural prerequisites

Before installing the P4DTI, you must do the following:

  1. Back up your TeamTrack database. For instructions, see the Administrator Manual for your version of TeamTrack.
  2. Obtain Administrator-level access to the TeamTrack server machine.
  3. Ensure you have at least 5MB of free disk space for the P4DTI, plus space for logs.
  4. Ensure that your TeamTrack users do not have TeamShare's SourceBridge plug-in installed. SourceBridge prevents the P4DTI from working properly.
  5. Ensure that your TeamTrack server is not running on a secure web server (that is, the URL to connect to TeamTrack starts with http:, not https:). The P4DTI does not support TeamTrack running on a secure web server.
  6. Check the workflows defined in your TeamTrack database to make sure that they will work well with the P4DTI. In particular:
    1. Make sure you don't have two states with the same name in a project. For example, when using the workflow in figure 2, there's no way for a developer using Perforce to resolve the issue and assign it to the tester. The developer would normally resolve the issue by changing the status field, but in this workflow the status field doesn't change. You should rename states so that the workflow has unique state names. For example, in figure 2 you could name the second "Assigned" state "Resolved" or "In testing".

      Figure 2. Workflow with two states with the same name

      Workflow with two states with the same
name
    2. Make sure you don't have two transitions between the same two states, in the same direction. For example, when using the workflow in figure 3, when the developer using Perforce changes the state of the job from "assigned" to "resolved", the P4DTI has no way to work out which transition to apply. You should simplify the workflow so that the transition can be deduced from the start state and the end state. For example, in figure 3 you could have a single transition from "Assigned" to "Resolved" and require developers to specify how they resolved the problem in a field in the defect.

      Figure 3. Workflow with two transitions between the same two states (in the same direction)

      Workflow with two transitions between the
same two states (in the same direction)
    3. Make sure you don't have "Update" transitions (transitions from a state to itself) that are necessary in your workflow. For example, when using the workflow in figure 4, there's no way for the developer to cause the "Assign to tester" transition using Perforce. The developer would normally resolve the issue by changing the status field, but in this workflow the status field doesn't change. Simplify the workflow so that it doesn't rely on "Update" transitions.

      Figure 4. Workflow with a necessary "Update" transition

      Workflow with a necessary
"Update" transition

    In fact these problems only matter when the problematic part of the workflow needs to be carried out in Perforce. As long as you know that the problematic part of workflow will only be carried out from TeamTrack, then the P4DTI will work fine.

  7. Ensure that the workflows defined in your TeamTrack database do not require more than one transition in quick succession from Perforce. The P4DTI can't infer more than one transition at once. To avoid this problem, design your workflow only with only single steps in Perforce. This is usually straightforward: developers using the Perforce interface will usually only need to transition issues from, for example, "assigned" to "closed", and not through a series of states.
  8. Ensure that your users have the same e-mail address in TeamTrack and in Perforce; see section 3.5, "Matching users".

3.4. Bugzilla prerequisites

3.4.1. Software prerequisites

Before installing the P4DTI, you must obtain and install the following software:

  1. Bugzilla 2.10, 2.12, or 2.14. You can download Bugzilla 2.10 from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/2000-05-09/bugzilla-2.10/bugzilla-2.10.tar.gz>, Bugzilla 2.12 from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/2001-04-27/bugzilla-2.12/bugzilla-2.12.tar.gz>, or Bugzilla 2.14 from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/2001-08-29/bugzilla-2.14/bugzilla-2.14.tar.gz>. Note: If you've changed your Bugzilla code, see section 5.4.1, "Patching Bugzilla".
  2. MySQL 3.22.19 or later. You must be using Bugzilla with this database manager. Note that Bugzilla itself may not work with MySQL 3.23.29.
  3. Python 1.5.2 or later, installed on the Bugzilla server machine. Python 1.5.2 sources are available from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/1999-04-13/python-1.5.2/python-1.5.2.tar.gz>. If you build Python from the sources, note that the P4DTI requires the optional syslog module. An RPM of Python 1.5.2 for RedHat Linux 6.2 is available from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/1999-04-13/python-1.5.2/python-1.5.2-13.i386.rpm>. An RPM of Python 1.5.2 for RedHat Linux 7.0 is available from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/1999-04-13/python-1.5.2/python-1.5.2-27.i386.rpm>.
  4. The MySQLdb Python package 0.2.2 or later, installed on the Bugzilla server machine. The P4DTI has been tested with MySQLdb 0.2.2 and 0.3.0. MySQLdb 0.2.2 is available from <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/2000-08-09/python-mysqldb-0.2.2/MySQLdb-0.2. 2.tar.gz>. To build MySQLdb, you will need the Python header files, which come with Python 1.5.2 but are not included in the Python 1.5.2 RPMs mentioned above. They are included in the python-devel RPMs for RedHat Linux 6.2: <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/1999-04-13/python-1.5.2/python-devel-1.5.2-13.i386.rpm> or for RedHat Linux 7.0: <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/import/1999-04-13/python-1.5.2/python-devel-1.5.2-27.i386.rpm>.

3.4.2. Procedural prerequisites

Before installing the P4DTI, you must do the following:

  1. Back up your Bugzilla database. For instructions, see the MySQL manual (under "Database Backups", section 21.2 at the time of writing).
  2. Back up your Bugzilla code. As part of P4DTI installation, you must apply a patch to Bugzilla (for details, see section 5.4.1, "Patching Bugzilla"). A backup of your Bugzilla code is useful if you need to uninstall the P4DTI.
  3. Ensure that you have at least 2MB of free disk space on the Bugzilla server machine for the P4DTI, plus space for logs.
  4. Ensure that your users have the same e-mail address in Bugzilla and in Perforce; see section 3.5, "Matching users".

3.5. User accounts

You must ensure that the P4DTI can work out how users in the defect tracker correspond to users in Perforce, as follows:

  1. Create an account in each system for each user who needs to use the integrated system.

    If you are using Bugzilla then you should create a Bugzilla account for every user in Perforce.

    If you are using TeamTrack, then you must make sure that every Perforce user who needs to edit or fix defects has an account in TeamTrack. (If you're short of licenses, then there's no need for other TeamTrack users to have accounts in Perforce, or for Perforce users who don't do defect resolution to have accounts in TeamTrack.)

  2. Make sure that each user has the same e-mail address in the defect tracker and in Perforce. The P4DTI uses e-mail address to match up users between the two systems.

    (This design is necessary in the Bugzilla integration where your e-mail address is used as your userid. In the TeamTrack integration this allows the P4DTI to work in organizations where users have been assigned different userids in the two systems.)

There are three problems that can occur if the P4DTI can't match up users properly:

  1. If someone changes a job in Perforce but the P4DTI can't find a matching user in the defect tracker, then the change to the job will be disallowed (because the defect tracker requires that changes be made only by users with the right privileges).
  2. If two users in Perforce have the same e-mail address then the P4DTI will choose the first one it finds when matching a user from the defect tracker. This choice is likely to be incorrect.
  3. If two users in TeamTrack have the same e-mail address then the P4DTI will choose the first one it finds when matching a user from Perforce. This choice is likely to be incorrect.

To help you prevent these problems, each time you start the P4DTI it sends an e-mail message to the administrator containing a report listing the unmatched and duplicate users. An example report is shown in figure 5. You should read the report and fix the problems.

Figure 5. Example e-mail sent when the P4DTI starts

Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 15:26:12 +0100 (BST)
From: p4dti-replicator0@company.domain
To: P4DTI administrator <p4dti-admin@company.domain>
Subject: (P4DTI-8669)  The P4DTI replicator has started.

(P4DTI-8658)  This is an automatically generated e-mail from the Perforce Defect
Tracking Integration replicator 'replicator0'.

(P4DTI-8669)  The P4DTI replicator has started.
1 
(P4DTI-867X)  The following Perforce users do not correspond to defect tracker
users.  The correspondence is based on the e-mail addresses in the defect
tracker and Perforce user records.

(P4DTI-6302)  These Perforce users will appear in TeamTrack as the user (None).
It will not be possible to assign issues to these users.

  User   E-mail address
  -----------------------
  nickb  nickb@client
2 
(P4DTI-8705)  The following defect tracker users do not correspond to Perforce
users.  The correspondence is based on the e-mail addresses in the defect
tracker and Perforce user records.

(P4DTI-6299)  These TeamTrack users will appear as themselves in Perforce even
though there is no such Perforce user.

  User  E-mail address
  ------------------------
  nb    nb@company.domain
3 
(P4DTI-6379)  These Perforce users have duplicate e-mail addresses.  They may
have been matched with the wrong TeamTrack user.

  User  E-mail address
  ------------------------
  root  ndl@company.domain
  ndl   ndl@company.domain
4 
(P4DTI-6368)  These TeamTrack users have duplicate e-mail addresses.  They may
have been matched with the wrong Perforce user.

  User   E-mail address
  ------------------------
  admin  rb@company.domain
  rb     rb@company.domain

Notes on figure 5:

  1. Section 1 lists Perforce users that couldn't be matched to a user in the defect tracker (here TeamTrack). Here the user hasn't set their e-mail address in Perforce: they still have the default.

  2. Section 2 lists defect tracker users that couldn't be matched to a user in Perforce.

  3. Section 3 lists Perforce users with duplicate e-mail addresses. In this case, if a defect tracker user had the address ndl@company.domain then the P4DTI may have matched them wrongly. You should give each Perforce user a distinct e-mail address.

  4. Section 4 lists defect tracker users with duplicate e-mail addresses. You should give each defect tracker user a distinct e-mail address.

4. Installing the P4DTI

Note: You might want to practice installing and configuring the P4DTI using a test Perforce repository and a test defect tracking database before you try it with your real data. A copy of your real Perforce repository would be ideal; for instructions on how to make a copy of your repository, see the Perforce System Administrator's Guide.

The P4DTI can be installed on any machine that can communicate with the defect tracker's server and the Perforce server. To keep administration simple and reduce network traffic, install and run the P4DTI on the same machine as the defect tracker's server. The rest of this manual assumes that you do this.

4.1. Upgrading from an earlier version

For instructions on how to upgrade from an earlier version of the P4DTI, see the readme.txt file.

4.2. Windows installation

The P4DTI is distributed as a self-extracting executable called p4dti-DT-RELEASE.exe (where DT is the defect tracker, such as "teamtrack", and RELEASE is the release number, such as "1.0.2").

To install the P4DTI, run this executable on the machine where the defect tracker server is installed. The installer unpacks the P4DTI into C:\Program Files\P4DTI-RELEASE\ by default.

4.3. Linux installation

The P4DTI is distributed as an RPM called p4dti-RELEASE-1.i386.rpm where DT is the defect tracker, such as "bugzilla", and RELEASE is the release number, such as "1.0.2").

To install the P4DTI, run the following command as root on the defect tracker server machine:

rpm -i p4dti-RELEASE-1.i386.rpm

This will install the P4DTI files into /opt/p4dti and a startup script in the /etc/rc.d/init.d directory.

If you prefer not to use RPMs, you can follow the procedure in section 4.4, "Solaris installation".

4.4. Solaris installation

The P4DTI is distributed as a gzipped tar file called p4dti-DT-RELEASE.tar.gz (where DT is the defect tracker, such as "bugzilla", and RELEASE is the release number, such as "1.0.2").

To install the P4DTI, unpack this tar file on the defect tracker server machine, using the following command:

gunzip -c p4dti-DT-RELEASE.tar.gz | tar xvf -

You must determine where to put the files. You can put the files wherever you want.

5. Configuring the P4DTI, Perforce, and the defect tracker

Work through the subsections in the order in which they appear. Do not attempt to run the P4DTI until you have reached the end of this section, or you might end up with a non-working installation.

To configure the P4DTI with Perforce and your defect tracker, you must:

  1. Specify the location of servers and the data you want to appear in Perforce (section 5.1).
  2. Configure Perforce to accept information from the replicator and, optionally, install triggers to implement access controls (section 5.2).
  3. Enable P4DTI features, such as the ability to view fixes and changelists from the defect tracker user interface (section 5.3 for TeamTrack or section 5.4 for Bugzilla).
  4. Start the replicator (section 5.5).
  5. Set up the replicator to start automatically when the server machine is rebooted (section 5.6).

5.1. P4DTI configuration

To configure the P4DTI, you edit definitions of Python variables in the file config.py in the installation directory. Edit these definitions according to the notes below. All variables in the file must have a value.

5.1.1. Essential configuration parameters

dt_name

Description: The name of the defect tracking system you're integrating with. Either "TeamTrack" or "Bugzilla".

Example: "TeamTrack"

Make sure that this variable is set to the appropriate value for your defect tracker.

administrator_address

Description: The e-mail address of the P4DTI administrator.

Example: "p4dti-admin@company.domain"

The replicator sends error reports to this address. If this is None, then the replicator will never send e-mail.

p4_port

Description: The address and port of the Perforce server with which the replicator communicates.

Example: "perforce.company.domain:1666"

p4_user

Description: The userid that the replicator uses to log in to the Perforce server.

Example: "p4dti-replicator0"

For information about how the replicator logs in to Perforce, see section 5.2, "Perforce configuration". If you want to add more replicators later, incorporate the replicator identifier (rid) into this userid.

p4_password

Description: The password the replicator uses to log in to the Perforce server. If there is no password, specify "" (empty quotes).

Example: ""

For information about how the replicator logs in to Perforce, see section 5.2, "Perforce configuration".

replicator_address

Description: The e-mail address from which the replicator sends e-mail. This address is used in the "From" field of e-mail that the replicator sends.

Example: "p4dti-replicator0@company.domain"

To make it easier for users to get assistance, make this address an alias for the administrator e-mail address (administrator_address). If you are using Bugzilla, this e-mail address is also used for the replicator's Bugzilla account; see section 5.4.2, "Creating a Bugzilla user for the replicator".

smtp_server

Description: The address of the SMTP server that the replicator uses to send e-mail.

Example: "smtp.company.domain"

If this is None, then the replicator will never send e-mail.

If you need to run the P4DTI without being connected to a network (for example, if you want to set it up on a laptop so that you can give a demonstration), you should set smtp_server = None so that the replicator doesn't try to send e-mail.

start_date

Description: The starting point in time for replication.

Example: "2001-02-10 00:00:00"

Issues modified after this date will be replicated; issues unchanged after this date will be ignored. Must be a string in the form "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS".

5.1.2. TeamTrack configuration parameters

teamtrack_version

Description: The version of your TeamTrack server. This must be either "4.5" or "5.0".

Example: "5.0"

closed_state

Description: The TeamTrack that maps to the "closed" state in Perforce. Specify None if you want the ordinary state mapping rules to apply.

Example: "Resolved".

Mapping the TeamTrack state that developers use most often to the "closed" state in Perforce makes using the P4DTI easier for the developers, because the Perforce user interfaces make it easier to fix a job to "closed" than any other state. However, if your workflow already has a state called "Closed", then you can't use this feature; set closed_state = None.

replicated_fields

Description: A list of the database names of TeamTrack fields that are replicated in Perforce. The fields STATE, OWNER, and TITLE are always replicated, so omit those fields when setting this variable.

Example: ["DESCRIPTION", "PRIORITY", "SEVERITY"]

For advice on which fields to replicate, and how to find out their database names, see section 5.1.5, "Choosing which fields to replicate".

teamtrack_server

Description: The TeamTrack server hostname and (optionally) port with which the replicator communicates.

Example: "teamtrack.company.domain"

If your TeamTrack server is reached on a path other than /tmtrack/tmtrack.dll? then you must specify the full path to the server in this variable. For example, "http://server.company.domain/infosystem/teamtrack/tmtrack.dll?".

(Note that "localhost" won't work, even if the TeamTrack server is on the local host.)

teamtrack_user

Description: The user name that the replicator uses to log into TeamTrack.

Example: "P4DTI-replicator0"

See section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator".

teamtrack_password

Description: The password that the replicator uses to log into TeamTrack. If there is no password, specify "" (empty quotes).

Example: ""

See section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator".

use_windows_event_log

Description: The replicator logs activity to the Windows event log if (and only if) this is 1.

Example: 1

If you set this to 1, you must make sure to install the Python interface to Windows (item 5 in section 3.3.1, "Software prerequisites").

Regardless of the setting of this parameter, the replicator also logs activity to to the standard output and to the log file (log_file).

The replicator can generate very many log messages. So if you set this parameter to 1, you should either specify "Overwrite events as needed" in the Windows Event Viewer on the machine running the replicator, or else set the log level (log_level) to a restrictive value like message.LOG_WARNING.

5.1.3. Bugzilla configuration parameters

closed_state

Description: The Bugzilla state that maps to the "closed" state in Perforce. Specify None if you want the ordinary state mapping rules to apply.

Example: "RESOLVED".

Mapping the defect tracker state that developers use most often to the "closed" state in Perforce makes using the P4DTI easier for the developers, because the Perforce user interfaces make it easier to fix a job to "closed" than any other state. If you specify a closed_state then the "CLOSED" state in Bugzilla maps to "bugzilla_closed" in Perforce.

replicated_fields

Description: A list of the names of Bugzilla fields that are replicated in Perforce. The fields "bug_status", "short_desc", "assigned_to" and "resolution" are always replicated, so omit those fields when setting this variable.

Example: ["longdesc", "priority", "bug_severity", "product"]

For advice on which fields to replicate, see section 5.1.5, "Choosing which fields to replicate".

dbms_host

Description: The host on which the Bugzilla MySQL server is running.

Example: "localhost"

Set this value to "localhost" if the P4DTI and the Bugzilla MySQL server run on the same machine.

dbms_port

Description: The port number on which the Bugzilla MySQL server listens on the database host (dbms_host).

Example: 3306

MySQL normally listens on port 3306. Change this setting only if you have set up MySQL differently. Note that this parameter is expressed as a number, not as a string.

dbms_database

Description: The name of the MySQL database in which Bugzilla stores its data.

Example: "bugs"

Normally set to "bugs" during Bugzilla installation (see the Bugzilla README file). Change this setting only if you have set up Bugzilla differently.

dbms_user

Description: The user name that the replicator uses to log in to MySQL to use the Bugzilla database.

Example: "bugs"

Bugzilla normally logs in to MySQL as user "bugs" (see the Bugzilla README file). Change this setting only if you have configured Bugzilla differently, or if you want to set up the replicator to log in as a different user.

dbms_password

Description: The password that the replicator uses to log in to MySQL to use the Bugzilla database.

Example: ""

Bugzilla normally logs in with no password (see the Bugzilla README file). Change this setting if you have configured Bugzilla differently, or you want to set up the replicator to log in as a different user and use a password.

bugzilla_directory

Description: The directory in which Bugzilla is installed, or None if you don't want e-mail processed.

Example: "/home/httpd/html/bugzilla"

Bugzilla sends e-mail to its users when it notices that a bug has been changed. If the P4DTI is running on the Bugzilla server, it is able to use Bugzilla's processmail script to promptly send e-mail in the same way. This configuration parameter allows the P4DTI to locate processmail. Set it to None if the P4DTI is not running on the Bugzilla server or if you don't want the P4DTI to send these e-mail messages.

5.1.4. Other configuration parameters

These parameters support advanced or rarely-used features. Most organizations can leave these parameters at their default values, at least to start with, and then set them later if necessary.

changelist_url

Description: A format string used to build a URL for change descriptions. Specify None if there is no URL for change descriptions.

Example: "http://info.company.domain:8080/%d?ac=10"

The string is a format string valid for passing to sprintf(); it must have one %d format specifier, for which the change number is substituted. (Note that because it gets passed to sprintf(), you must specify other percent signs twice.) Defect trackers that support this feature list the changelists that fix each issue, and make a link from each changelist to this URL, with the change number substituted. If you are using perfbrowse, then a valid format string looks like "http://info.company.domain/cgi/perfbrowse.cgi?@describe+%d". If you are using P4Web, then a valid format string looks like "http://info.company.domain:8080/%d?ac=10"

job_url

Description: A format string used to build a URL for job descriptions. Specify None if there is no URL for job descriptions.

Example: "http://info.company.domain/cgi/perfbrowse.cgi?@job+%s"

The string is a format string valid for passing to sprintf(); it must have one %s format specifier, for which the job name is substituted. (Note that because it gets passed to sprintf(), you must specify other percent signs twice.) Defect trackers that support this feature give the jobname of the job replicated to an issue, with a link from the jobname to the job description page.

log_file

Description: The name of the replicator's log file. If log messages should not be sent to a file, specify None.

Example: "C:\\Program Files\\P4DTI-RELEASE\\p4dti.log"

The replicator generates log messages to record its actions. These log messages are sent to all of the following locations:

  1. The standard output of the replicator.
  2. The system log (under UNIX and Linux).
  3. The event log (under Windows, if use_windows_event_log is 1).
  4. The file that this variable is set to, unless the setting is None.

log_level

Description: The minimum priority level of messages to log. Messages with this priority or a higher priority will appear in the replicator's log.

Example: message.INFO

This parameter should be one of these constants:.

message.ERR Errors.
message.WARNING Warnings; that is, features of your system that the replicator can work around, but which you should pay attention to. For example, "Table 'PROJECTS' has two entries called 'Compiler'.".
message.NOTICE Significant but expected events. For example, "Issue 'BUG00001' overwritten by job 'BUG00001'.".
message.INFO Informational messages. For example, "Replicating issue '123' to job 'BUG000123'."
message.DEBUG Debugging messages. For example, "Perforce command: 'p4 -G -u p4dti-replicator0 -p perforce:1666 job -o BUG00001'."

p4_client_executable

Description: The location of the Perforce client executable.

Example: "C:\\Program Files\\Perforce\\p4.exe"

This setting doesn't need to be an absolute path name if the directory is on the replicator user's path. On Windows this setting might be "C:\\Program Files\\Perforce\\p4.exe". On UNIX it might be just "p4".

The client executable named by this parameter must be of version 2000.2 or later (type p4 -V to check the client version).

p4_server_description

Description: A description of the Perforce server. This might be used by the defect tracker to show which Perforce server an issue is replicated to.

Example: "Hardware development group Perforce server"

poll_period

Description: The period of time between the end of one poll of the servers and the start of the next, in seconds.

Example: 10

replicate_p

Description: A function that selects which issues to start replicating. Normally, the P4DTI replicates all issues created or modified after the start_date, but you can modify this function to further restrict the issues. Some Python programming is required.

Example for TeamTrack that restricts replication to issues belong to the project whose ID is 6:

def replicate_p(self):
  return self['PROJECTID'] == 6

Example for Bugzilla that restricts replication to unresolved issues in the "nosebag" product:

def replicate_p(self):
  return self.bug['product'] == 'nosebag' and self.bug['resolution'] == ''

Note that once an issue starts being replicated it remains replicated, even if is no longer matches the criteria.

rid

Description: The replicator identifier.

Example: "replicator0"

Must be 32 characters or less, start with a letter or underscore, and consist only of letters, numbers, and underscores.

The replicator identifier is used to distinguish between replicators when multiple replicators are being used to replicate issues from a defect tracker to different Perforce servers. If you have only one replicator, it doesn't matter what you use for the replicator identifier; "replicator0" is a good choice since it allows you to add more replicators later.

If you change the replicator identifier then your currently replicated defect tracker issues will stop being replicated. The replicator will believe they are being handled by another replicator.

sid

Description: The Perforce server identifier.

Example: "perforce0"

Must be 32 characters or less, start with a letter or underscore, and consist only of letters, numbers and underscores. You might want to use the hostname of your Perforce server, if it is stable.

5.1.5. Choosing which fields to replicate

Here's some advice on which fields to replicate:

  1. Replicate any fields that the developers are required to fill in, or they won't be able to use Perforce to do their work.
  2. Replicate any other fields that the developers need to do their work; see the suggestions below.
  3. Don't replicate other fields--the less information developers need to enter, the better the quality of that information. Keeping the number of replicated fields low might mean modifying your workflows so that unnecessary fields can be omitted. For example, you might have a FIX_DESCRIPTION field for developers to explain what they did. Now that you're running the P4DTI, you don't need that field--you can look in the change comments of the associated changelists to find out what the developer did--so leave it out.
  4. Note that Perforce has no protections for jobs. This means that any user of Perforce can read all fields of all the jobs. So if you have confidential information in jobs, you should not replicate it, for example by separating it out into a field that is not replicated.

If you're using TeamTrack's sample database, you might want to replicate the following fields:

  1. DESCRIPTION, so that developers can understand what the problem is.
  2. SEVERITY, so that developers can prioritize their work.
  3. PRIORITY, so that developers can prioritize their work.

To find out the database name of a TeamTrack field, follow these steps:

  1. Run the TeamTrack administrator. (Under Windows, choose Start > Programs > TeamShare > TeamTrack Administrator.)
  2. Select the Projects tab.
  3. Select a project from the list (but not the base project).
  4. Click the Edit button.
  5. Select the Default Fields tab.
  6. Select the desired field from the list.
  7. Click the Edit button.
  8. Look in the Database Field Name field in the dialog.

Table 1 shows the field types in TeamTrack and indicates which ones may be replicated by the P4DTI.

Table 1. Supported field types in TeamTrack

Field type Field contents Replicable by P4DTI?
NUMERIC Numeric field, integer or floating-point Yes
TEXT Text field up to 255 characters Yes
MEMO Memo field Yes
DATETIME Date/Time field Yes
SELECTION Drop down selection field, one selectable Yes
BINARY Binary (two-state) field Yes
STATE The system-defined state field Yes
USER A drop down selection field containing user names Yes
PROJECT System-defined project field Yes
SUMMATION Calculated summation fields No
MULTIPLE_SELECTION Multi-select selection field No
CONTACT Contact selection field No
COMPANY Company selection field Yes
INCIDENT Incident selection field No
PRODUCT Product selection field Yes
SERVICEAGREEMENT Service Agreement Yes
FOLDER Folder link selection field No
KEYWORDLIST Keyword multi-select field No
PRODUCTLIST Product multi-select field No
PROBLEM Problem selection field. No
RESOLUTION Resolution selection field No
MERCHANDISE Merchandise selection field No
RELATIONAL Relational selection field No
SUBRELATIONAL Sub-relational selection field No
SYSTEM System field No
MULTIPLE_RELATIONAL Multiple relational selection field. No

Attachments such as notes are stored in separate tables in TeamTrack and are not replicated by the P4DTI. If you need to have supplementary information replicated to Perforce, you should use a memo field like "Additional Notes". In TeamTrack 5.0 you can turn any memo field into a "journal" field which consists of a list of entries, each headed with the date of the entry and the name of user who added it.

If you're using Bugzilla, you might want to replicate the following fields:

  1. "longdesc", so that developers can understand what the problem is.
  2. "bug_severity", so that developers can prioritize their work.
  3. "priority", so that developers can prioritize their work.
  4. "target_milestone", if you use target milestones, so that developers can prioritize their work.
  5. "product" (optional), so that developers can categorize their work.
  6. "component" (optional), so that developers can categorize their work.
  7. "version" (optional), so that developers can categorize their work.
  8. "op_sys" (optional), for additional developer information.
  9. "rep_platform" (optional), for additional developer information.
  10. "status_whiteboard" (optional), for additional developer information.
  11. "keywords" (optional), for additional developer information.

If you're using Bugzilla, the replicator rejects the following types of changes from within Perforce:

  1. Any changes to the following types of field:
    1. Fields that cannot be changed in Bugzilla, such as "creation_ts", "delta_ts", and "lastdiffed".
    2. Fields that can only be changed in Bugzilla in very restricted ways, such as "groupset", "product", "version", "component", "target_milestone", and "everconfirmed".
    3. Fields that, when changed in Bugzilla, have complex side-effects that the replicator can't sensibly reproduce, such as "votes" and "keywords".
  2. Changes that do anything to the "longdesc" field other than appending to it. This field can be used for long descriptions of the bug. Perforce users can only modify this field by appending to it; any text that they append is replicated to Bugzilla as an additional comment.
  3. Invalid changes to fields that must contain Bugzilla users, such as "assigned_to", "qa_contact", and "reporter". These fields may only contain a Perforce user name, if the Perforce user corresponds to a Bugzilla user, or a Bugzilla user's e-mail address. If a Perforce user changes one of these fields to some other string, the replicator rejects the change.

The following table lists the field names for Bugzilla 2.10, 2.12, and 2.14. If you have modified Bugzilla, your field names may differ. To display the set of Bugzilla field names, type mysqlshow bugs bugs at a shell prompt.

Table 2. Bugzilla field names

Field name Name on Bugzilla form Replication policy
bug_id Bug # always, read only
bug_status Status always, read/write
assigned_to Assigned To always, read/write, user
short_desc Summary always, read/write
resolution Resolution always, read/write
bug_file_loc URL read/write
bug_severity Severity read/write
op_sys OS read/write
priority Priority read/write
rep_platform Platform read/write
reporter Reporter read/write, user
qa_contact - read/write, user
status_whiteboard Status Whiteboard read/write
longdesc Description append only
groupset - read only
creation_ts Opened read only
delta_ts - read only
product Product read only
version Version read only
component Component read only
target_milestone Target Milestone read only
votes Votes read only
keywords Keywords read only
lastdiffed - read only
everconfirmed - read only

The following fields are displayed on the Bugzilla bug form but are kept in separate database tables and cannot be replicated:

  1. "Cc"
  2. "Attachments"
  3. "Depends on"
  4. "Blocks"

If you need to change the list of replicated fields after you've started using the P4DTI, see section 9, "Maintaining the P4DTI".

5.2. Perforce configuration

To configure Perforce, you must:

  1. Create a Perforce user for the replicator (section 5.2.1).
  2. Install Perforce triggers to enforce workflow (optional; section 5.2.2).
  3. Delete all Perforce jobs, if you have not already done so (section 5.2.3).

5.2.1. Creating a Perforce user for the replicator

Create a user in Perforce for the replicator; for instructions, see the Perforce System Administrator's Guide. The replicator user must have the following properties:

  1. The userid must be the same as the replicator Perforce userid (p4_user) that you specified in the P4DTI configuration.
  2. The e-mail address must match the replicator e-mail address (replicator_address).
  3. If you're using the Perforce protections, make the replicator a super user so that it can set the jobspec. For instructions, see the Perforce System Administrator's Guide. You'll need to add a line like

    super user p4dti-replicator0 * //...

    to the protections list.

For information on getting a license from Perforce Software for this extra user, see section 3.2, "Perforce prerequisites".

5.2.2. Installing Perforce triggers to enforce workflow

You can use the P4DTI in combination with a Perforce trigger to enforce extra workflow restrictions. For example, if your organization assigns priorities to issues, you can prevent changes being made to areas of the repository unless they resolve at least one defect of priority 3 or higher.

The P4DTI comes with an example trigger script that you can adapt for your needs, installed as example_trigger.py in the default installation directory.

To enforce workflow restrictions, follow these steps:

  1. Configure the P4DTI to replicate the defect tracker fields that you want to check. For example, you can check that, say, the "priority" or "severity" is above a certain level, or that a manager has set the "approval" field. See the list of replicated fields (replicated_fields) configuration parameter.
  2. Adapt the trigger script for your needs. You must be able to do a small amount of Python programming to adapt the trigger script. The example script contains comments to help you.
  3. Install the trigger script. For instructions on installing and managing trigger scripts, see the Perforce System Administrator's Guide.

5.2.3. Deleting Perforce jobs

You must delete all jobs from your Perforce installation. The P4DTI takes over the jobs subsystem of Perforce and rewrites the Perforce jobspec.

For instructions, see the Perforce Command Line User's Guide.

If you already use Perforce jobs and have significant tools that depend on your jobspec, the configuration options described in section 5.1, "P4DTI configuration", might not be flexible enough to support your requirements. However, you might be able to write your own configuration and use your own jobspec. To write your own configuration, you must understand the P4DTI configuration architecture and be fluent in the Python programming language. See the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration Integrator's Guide for details of how to configure the P4DTI and guidance on developing your own configuration. Note that neither Perforce nor the manufacturer of your defect tracker can support a configuration that you write yourself.

5.3. TeamTrack configuration

To configure TeamTrack, you must:

  1. Update the Windows Registry (section 5.3.1).
  2. Create a TeamTrack user for the replicator (section 5.3.2).
  3. Provide field descriptions (section 5.3.3).

5.3.1. Updating the Windows Registry

You need to add a TeamTrack value to the Windows Registry to tell TeamTrack that the P4DTI is present. To do this, double-click the p4dti.reg file that comes with the P4DTI (it's installed in c:\program files\p4dti\p4dti.reg by default).

5.3.2. Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator

You need to create a TeamTrack user for the replicator. This user corresponds to the replicator TeamTrack userid (teamtrack_user) parameter you set in section 5.1, "P4DTI configuration".

To create a TeamTrack user for the replicator, follow these steps:

  1. Run the TeamTrack Administrator. (Under Windows, choose Start > Programs > TeamShare > TeamTrack Administrator.)
  2. Select the Users tab.
  3. Click the Add button.
  4. On the General tab, in the Login ID field, enter the replicator user name (see the replicator Teamtrack userid (teamtrack_user) parameter).
  5. Click the User product access radio button (see Figure 6).
  6. On the Privileges tab, select the System tab and then select the "Connect using the API" check box (see Figure 7).
  7. On the Privileges tab, select the Item tab and then select the "Submit New Items", "Update All Items" and "Transition All Items" check boxes (see Figure 8).
  8. Click OK to add the user.

For information on getting a license from TeamShare for this extra user, see section 3.3, "TeamTrack prerequisites".

Figure 6. New user: General tab

Screen shot showing the general tab for creating a new user in TeamTrack Administrator

Figure 7. New user: Privileges tab, System tab

Screen shot showing the System tab on the Privileges tab for creating a new user in TeamTrack Administrator

Figure 8. New user: Privileges tab, Item tab

Screen shot showing the Item tab on the Privileges tab for creating a new user in TeamTrack Administrator

5.3.3. Providing field descriptions

The replicator uses TeamTrack issue field descriptions as the source for the Perforce job field descriptions. These job field descriptions appear in comments in every job form (if you're using the Perforce command line) and as tooltips for the fields in the job editing dialog (if you're using P4Win, the Perforce Windows GUI).

TeamTrack leaves field descriptions blank when you create a database, so you must provide descriptions of fields that your developers edit. For example, you might describe the TITLE field as "A one-sentence statement of the problem from the user's perspective", and the DESCRIPTION field as "A detailed description of the problem from the user's perspective, including how to reproduce it."

To enter field descriptions, follow these steps:

  1. Run the TeamTrack Administrator. (Under Windows, choose Start > Programs > TeamShare > TeamTrack Administrator.)
  2. Select the Workflows tab.
  3. Select the Issue Workflow.
  4. Click the Edit button.
  5. Select the Default Fields tab.
  6. Select the field you want to describe.
  7. Click the Edit button.
  8. Enter the description in the Description field.
  9. Click OK to save your entries.
  10. Repeat steps 6 to 9 until you're done.
  11. Click the OK button.

5.4. Bugzilla configuration

To configure Bugzilla, you must:

  1. Patch Bugzilla (section 5.4.1).
  2. Create a Bugzilla user for the replicator (section 5.4.2).
  3. Enable the Bugzilla extensions (section 5.4.3).

5.4.1. Patching Bugzilla

You need to make some minor modifications to the Bugzilla code so that users can see Perforce information on Bugzilla bug forms. These modifications are distributed as patchfiles for versions 2.10, 2.12, and 2.14 of Bugzilla.

If you have modified Bugzilla at your site, you might still be able to apply the patch successfully. Changes to the database schema, the permissions rules, or the workflow rules are likely to cause the P4DTI to malfunction. You might need to modify the P4DTI if you have changed these parts of Bugzilla.

The patch for all Bugzilla versions changes the following Bugzilla files:

  1. bug_form.pl, adding a Perforce section to the bug form.
  2. defparams.pl, adding a parameter to control whether or not the Perforce section appears.

The patch for Bugzilla 2.14 also changes this file:

  1. globals.pl, deleting unsafe environment variables so that the processmail script can be run by the P4DTI.

These changes are small and self-contained. If your changes do not affect these files or only affect them in minor ways, the patch should operate correctly. If the patch program fails because of your Bugzilla modifications, it might still be possible to introduce the changes by hand. If you cannot apply the patch, the replicator might still work, but the Bugzilla bug form will not show Perforce-specific information (for example, changelists that are linked to the bug by a "fix"). The operation of the replicator itself is affected only if you have made drastic changes to Bugzilla (for example, if you have completely removed the "bug_status" column from the "bugs" table).

To apply the patch, follow these steps:

  1. Make a copy of your Bugzilla code so that you can uninstall the P4DTI if necessary.
  2. Go to your Bugzilla installation directory.
  3. Enter the following command:
    patch < p4dti-install-dir/bugzilla-bugzilla-version-patch
    (where p4dti-install-dir is your P4DTI installation directory) and bugzilla-version is your version of Bugzilla (2.10, 2.12, or 2.14).
  4. Check the output of the patch program carefully to ensure it succeeded.

5.4.2. Creating a Bugzilla user for the replicator

You need to create a Bugzilla user for the replicator. The replicator uses e-mail addresses to work out which Perforce user corresponds to which Bugzilla user. A Perforce user that does not correspond to a Bugzilla user is translated to the replicator's Bugzilla user, except for user fields (for example, "AssignedTo") in jobs. The replicator rejects a change when there is no Bugzilla user corresponding to a changed user field.

To create a Bugzilla user for the replicator, follow these steps:

  1. In a Web browser, go to <http://your-bugzilla-path/editusers.cgi>.
  2. Log in if prompted.
  3. Click Submit to display the user list.
  4. At the bottom of the user list, click "Add a new user".
  5. In the "Login name" field, enter the replicator e-mail address (replicator_address).
  6. In the "Real name" field, enter a name like "Perforce defect tracking integration".
  7. Enter a password.
  8. In the "Disable text" field, enter something like "This user can access Bugzilla only as the P4DTI replicator process" to prevent access through the Bugzilla user interface.
  9. Click Add to create the user.

5.4.3. Enabling the Bugzilla extensions

After patching the Bugzilla code, you need to enable the P4DTI extensions. To enable the extensions, follow these steps:

  1. In a Web browser, go to <http://your-bugzilla-path/editparams.cgi>.
  2. Log in if prompted.
  3. Set the "p4dti" parameter to "on".
  4. Click "Submit changes" to enable the extensions.

To disable use of the P4DTI from the Bugzilla user interface, switch the extensions off.

5.5. Starting and stopping the replicator manually

To start the replicator, follow these steps from the operating system command line:

  1. Go to the P4DTI installation directory.
  2. Run the command python run.py.

Alternatively, on Linux you may wish to start the script using the automatic startup script:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/p4dti start

The first time you start the replicator, it displays log output explaining how the replicator is setting up the defect tracker schema extensions, as shown in the following figure:

Figure 9. Example replicator log output on startup (TeamTrack integration)

2001-03-12 20:05:45 UTC  (P4DTI-6018)  Installing field 'P4DTI_RID' in the TS_CASES table.
2001-03-12 20:05:45 UTC  (P4DTI-6018)  Installing field 'P4DTI_SID' in the TS_CASES table.
2001-03-12 20:05:45 UTC  (P4DTI-6018)  Installing field 'P4DTI_JOBNAME' in the TS_CASES table.
2001-03-12 20:05:46 UTC  (P4DTI-603X)  Installed all new fields in the TS_CASES table.
2001-03-12 20:05:47 UTC  (P4DTI-6040)  Put 'LAST_CHANGE' parameter in replicator configuration with value '0'.
2001-03-12 20:05:47 UTC  (P4DTI-6040)  Put 'SERVER' parameter in replicator configuration with value '"{'sid': 'perforce0', 'description': 'Perforce server on sandpiper'}"'.
2001-03-12 20:05:47 UTC  (P4DTI-6040)  Put 'STATUS_VALUES' parameter in replicator configuration with value '"{'sid': 'perforce0', 'description': '_new/assigned/closed/verified/deferred'}"'.
2001-03-12 20:05:47 UTC  (P4DTI-6040)  Put 'CHANGELIST_URL' parameter in replicator configuration with value '"{'sid': 'perforce0', 'description': 'http://sandpiper.ravenbrook.com:8080/%d?ac=10'}"'.
2001-03-12 20:05:48 UTC  (P4DTI-8002)  Mailing 'P4DTI administrator <gdr+admin@ravenbrook.com>' re: '(P4DTI-8669)  The P4DTI replicator has started.'.
...

Each log entry consists of the date of the entry, a message identifier, and the message text. You can use the message identifier of an error message to look it up in section 11.2, "Error messages by identifier".

During its startup sequence, the replicator creates Perforce jobs corresponding to every defect tracker issue created or modified after the (start_date). It then polls for changes every poll_period seconds and replicates those changes. Figure 10 shows typical replicator log output when it is replicating a change.

Figure 10. Example replicator log output on replication (TeamTrack integration)

2001-03-12 19:59:29 UTC  (P4DTI-8057)  Replicating job 'CHG00003' to issue 'CHG00003'.
2001-03-12 19:59:30 UTC  (P4DTI-824X)  -- Changed fields: {'SEVERITY': 46, 'VERSION': 53, 'STATE': 2, 'PRIORITY': 17}.
2001-03-12 19:59:30 UTC  (P4DTI-6007)  -- Transition: 3; User: rb.
2001-03-12 19:59:30 UTC  (P4DTI-8261)  -- Defect tracker made changes as a result of the update: {'Owner': 'gdr'}.

To stop the replicator on Windows, follow these steps:

  1. Select the command window in which the replicator is running.
  2. Press Control-C and wait for the replicator to next poll (this takes up to poll_period seconds).

To stop the replicator on Linux, assuming you installed the RPM (see section 4.3, "Linux installation"), run the stop script:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/p4dti stop

To stop the replicator on other Unix systems, or if you didn't install the RPM, kill the replicator process. If it's running in a shell, bring it to the foreground and type Control-C. If not, find out the process id of the replicator process and run the command kill -TERM replicator-process-id.

5.6. Setting up the replicator to start automatically

If you installed the P4DTI using the Linux RPM as described in section 4.3, "Linux installation", a startup script is automatically created in /etc/rc.d/init.d directory, so that the replicator starts when the machine is booted.

On Solaris or other Unixes, you might want to adapt the Linux startup script. It is in the file named startup-script in the installation directory.

On Windows, you must manually start the P4DTI whenever you reboot the machine. You might want to make this easier by creating a shortcut in the "Startup" folder of the "Start" menu of the Administrator.

5.7. Advanced configuration

Not all of the flexibility of the P4DTI is available using the configuration options described in this section. Advanced configuration of the P4DTI is possible, but beyond the scope of this manual. Here are some of the things that are possible with advanced configuration:

  1. Connecting a defect tracker to multiple Perforce servers.
  2. Working with an existing Perforce jobs database and an existing Perforce jobspec.
  3. Fine control over which defect tracker issues are replicated to Perforce.
  4. Fine control over which issue fields are replicated, and their names.
  5. Arbitrary translation of issue data between the defect tracker and Perforce.
  6. Queries based on combined defect tracker and Perforce data.
  7. Working with locally customized versions of Bugzilla.
  8. Redirection or fine control of logging.
  9. Arbitrary mappings between Perforce and defect tracker user names.
  10. Alternative policies for handling conflicts between defect tracker and Perforce changes to issues.

Contact Perforce technical support if you need any of these facilities.

6. Migrating your defect tracking data to the integrated system

6.1. Migrating from the defect tracker

You do not need to take any special action to migrate defect tracking data from your defect tracker to the integrated system. The replicator starts replicating defect tracker issues as soon as it starts up. Only issues that are created or modified after the start_date are replicated to Perforce.

6.2. Migrating to the defect tracker from Perforce jobs

The P4DTI does not support migration to the defect tracker from Perforce jobs.

7. Testing the P4DTI

7.1. Testing your configuration

Test the P4DTI configuration by creating a test issue and taking it through a complete life-cycle (that is, through the workflow) as described in the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration User's Guide. You might need to adapt the use cases described in the user's guide to your organization's workflow.

Test the P4DTI from both Perforce and the defect tracker. In Perforce, test the P4DTI using the interface that your developers are most likely to use. The main Perforce interfaces are:

  1. P4, the Perforce command line.
  2. P4Win, the Perforce GUI.
  3. The Perforce IDE integrations, if you use them.

7.2. Checking data consistency

To run the consistency checker and manage its output, follow these steps:

  1. Change to the P4DTI installation directory.
  2. Run the command python check.py.

You can also examine the database using a database application (for example, Microsoft Access or the mysql command) to ensure the Perforce data is in there.

8. Training and documentation

You might want to provide training for Perforce and defect tracker users before they adopt the P4DTI for everyday use. If so, consider preparing training materials that walk them through the workflow for an issue, using the procedures that are documented in the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration User's Guide.

Even if you don't have a formal training session for your users, ensure that they:

  1. Read the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration User's Guide.
  2. Upgrade their Perforce clients to version 2001.1 or later.
  3. Uninstall SourceBridge, if it's installed on their machines.
  4. Know not to edit the P4DTI-* fields in jobs.

9. Maintaining the P4DTI

9.1. Maintaining the configuration

You must stop and restart the replicator as described in section 5.5, "Starting the replicator manually" after changing any of the configuration parameters described in section 5.1, "P4DTI configuration".

You must also refresh Perforce jobs, as described in section 9.2, "Refreshing jobs in Perforce", after changing either:

  1. the list of replicated fields (replicated_fields), or
  2. the start date for replication (start_date).

Perforce uses the field number in the jobspec to find data, not the field name (for more information, see the Perforce System Administrator's Guide). If you change the list of replicated fields, then the field numbers change, which means that the fields of existing jobs in Perforce will be mixed up. Refreshing the jobs re-creates them from the defect tracker with the correct fields.

9.2. Refreshing jobs in Perforce

Refreshing jobs deletes all the existing jobs in Perforce and replicates them from the defect tracker's database. This procedure is useful if:

  1. The Perforce jobs become corrupted.
  2. You change the set of replicated fields in the replicator's configuration. For details, see section 9.1, "Maintaining the configuration".
  3. You change the start date of replication in the replicator's configuration. For details, see section 9.1.

To refresh the Perforce jobs, follow these steps from the operating system command line:

  1. Stop the replicator.
  2. Go to the P4DTI installation directory.
  3. Run the command python refresh.py.
  4. Start the replicator again by running the command python run.py.

10. Uninstalling the P4DTI

To uninstall the P4DTI, follow these steps:

  1. Tell your staff. Ask them to stop using either Perforce jobs or the defect tracking, whichever you're not planning to use in future.
  2. Remove any hooks that you created in section 5.5, "Starting the replicator manually", such as Windows services, entries in /etc/rc.d, and so on.
  3. Stop the replicator by pressing Control-C and waiting for the replicator to exit.
  4. If you're using Bugzilla:
    1. Disable the Bugzilla extensions that were enabled in section 5.4.3, "Enabling the Bugzilla extensions".
    2. Delete the replicator's Bugzilla user that was created in section 5.4.2, "Creating a Bugzilla user for the replicator".
    3. optionally, restore the unpatched copy of Bugzilla made in section 5.4.1, "Patching Bugzilla".
  5. If you're using TeamTrack:
    1. Delete the replicator's TeamTrack user that was created in section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator".
  6. Remove any Perforce triggers that were added in section 5.2.2, "Installing Perforce triggers to enforce workflow".
  7. Delete the replicator's Perforce user created in section 5.2.1, "Creating a Perforce user for the replicator".
  8. If you installed using the Linux RPM, as described in section 4.3, "Linux installation", uninstall using the command
    rpm -e p4dti
    Otherwise, delete the contents of the P4DTI installation directory.

11. Troubleshooting and error messages

11.1. Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot a problem with the P4DTI, follow these steps:

  1. Look in the P4DTI log. If you find an error message, see if it is listed in section 11.2, "Error messages".

  2. Check your configuration against section 5.1, "P4DTI configuration". Are the hostnames, userids, and passwords correct? Most problems with the P4DTI are caused by incorrect or inconsistent configuration.

  3. See if there is any online support for your problem. Visit the P4DTI issue reports page <http://www.ravenbrook.com/project/p4dti/issue/>, choose your release and select the "Support information" report.

  4. If you can't solve the problem, contact Perforce support (for details, see <http://www.perforce.com/perforce/support.html>). Provide the following information:

    1. What you did immediately prior to the error's occurrence.
    2. What you think should have happened.
    3. What actually happened.
    4. The P4DTI release you are using (look in the readme.txt that came with your P4DTI distribution to identify the release).
    5. The Perforce release you are using. To determine your Perforce release, enter "p4 info" at the operating system command line.
    6. The name and release of the defect tracker you are using. To determine your TeamTrack release, click the information symbol in the top right of the page; include the Version, Browser, Web Server and Database entries in your problem report. To determine your Bugzilla release, check the top of a bug form.
    7. A section of the P4DTI log that includes the error that you're reporting and some context around that error.
    8. Copies of any related e-mail messages generated by the P4DTI.
    9. A copy of your config.py file.

11.2. Error messages by identifier

This isn't a complete list, but it covers the errors that have been seen in testing, or which are reasonably likely to come up, or which need some explanation. If you see a message not covered in this section or section 11.3, "Other error messages" and which is not self-explanatory, please contact Perforce support (see section 11.1, "Troubleshooting").

(P4DTI-1058) Given '%s' when expecting a string or integer.
(P4DTI-1069) Select '%s' of %s returns no rows.
(P4DTI-107X) Select '%s' of %s expecting one row but returns %d.
(P4DTI-1080) Trying to fetch a row from non-select '%s'.
(P4DTI-1091) Select '%s' of %s returned an unfetchable row.
(P4DTI-1105) Trying to fetch rows from non-select '%s'.
(P4DTI-1116) Select '%s' of %s returned unfetchable rows.
(P4DTI-1127) Select '%s' of %s expecting no more than one row but returns %d.
(P4DTI-1138) Select '%s' of %s returns %d keys but %d values.
(P4DTI-115X) Select '%s' of %s returns %d keys but %d columns.
(P4DTI-1160) Couldn't insert row in table '%s'.
(P4DTI-1171) Couldn't update row in table '%s' where %s.
(P4DTI-1229) Nothing in p4dti_replications table: database corrupted?
(P4DTI-1273) Bugzilla's fielddefs table does not include '%s'.

The replicator has had an unexpected difficulty in accessing the Bugzilla database. Possibly there is a problem with MySQL or MySQLdb. Possibly you are running a version of Bugzilla which is incompatible with the P4DTI, or have customized Bugzilla in such a way that the P4DTI has become confused. Please contact Perforce support (see section 11.1, "Troubleshooting").

(P4DTI-1207) Unknown or future P4DTI/Bugzilla schema version %s detected.

It looks as though you've been running with a later release of the P4DTI and then downgraded to an older release. We don't support downgrading; use the most recent release.

(P4DTI-123X) Bugzilla version %s is not supported by the P4DTI.

The P4DTI doesn't support your version of Bugzilla. You should upgrade to a support release. See section 3.4.1 for supported Bugzilla versions.

(P4DTI-2006) Configuration parameter '%s' must be 0 or 1.
(P4DTI-2017) Configuration parameter '%s' (value '%s') is not a valid date. The right format is 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'.
(P4DTI-2028) Configuration parameter '%s' (value '%s') is not a valid e-mail address.
(P4DTI-2039) Configuration parameter '%s' must be a function.
(P4DTI-204X) Configuration parameter '%s' must be an integer.
(P4DTI-2050) Configuration parameter '%s' must be a list.
(P4DTI-2061) Configuration parameter '%s' must be a list of %s.
(P4DTI-2072) Configuration parameter '%s' must be a string.
(P4DTI-2083) Configuration parameter '%s' must be None or a string.
(P4DTI-2094) Configuration parameter '%s' (value '%s') must be from 1 to 32 characters long, start with a letter or number, and consist of letters, numbers and underscores only.
(P4DTI-2108) Configuration parameter '%s' (value '%s') must contain exactly one %%d format specifier, any number of doubled percents, but no other format specifiers.
(P4DTI-2119) Configuration parameter '%s' (value '%s') must contain exactly one %%s format specifier, any number of doubled percents, but no other format specifiers.

Preliminary checking of the parameters set in config.py has found a problem. Correct the named parameter and start the P4DTI again.

(P4DTI-3009) Two Bugzilla states '%s' and '%s' map to the same Perforce state '%s'.

You are running a version of Bugzilla with different bug statuses from those in Bugzilla 2.10, 2.12, or 2.14. The P4DTI has attempted to choose a sensible translation of these bug statuses to Perforce job states, but has failed. You may be able to fix this by changing the closed_state parameter. Otherwise you must modify your Bugzilla configuration.

The P4DTI chooses the names of states of Perforce jobs based on the status names in Bugzilla. It uses the following translation system:

  1. To avoid user confusion in the Perforce interface, the P4DTI translates all state names to lower case.
  2. Perforce job states can't contain spaces and various other characters, so the P4DTI translates spaces to underscores, and translates other special characters using an encoding similar to that used in URLs.
  3. If the closed_state parameter is not None, the P4DTI translates this status to "closed" and translates "CLOSED" to "bugzilla_closed".
  4. Perforce jobs can't have the state "new" or "ignore", because these states have special meaning to the Perforce server. The P4DTI prefixes a Bugzilla status which would translate to either of these with "bugzilla_", so (in particular) "NEW" translates to Perforce state "bugzilla_new".

For instance, if the closed_state parameter is 'RESOLVED', the P4DTI will use the following translation table for the default Bugzilla statuses:

Bugzilla status Perforce state
UNCONFIRMED unconfirmed
NEW bugzilla_new
ASSIGNED assigned
RESOLVED closed
VERIFIED verified
CLOSED bugzilla_closed
REOPENED reopened

Alternatively, if the closed_state parameter is 'CLOSED' or None, the P4DTI will use the following translation table for the default Bugzilla statuses:

Bugzilla status Perforce state
UNCONFIRMED unconfirmed
NEW bugzilla_new
ASSIGNED assigned
RESOLVED resolved
VERIFIED verified
CLOSED closed
REOPENED reopened

(P4DTI-301X) You specified the closed_state '%s', but there's no such Bugzilla state.

Check the closed_state parameter. It must be a valid Bugzilla state.

(P4DTI-3020) The '%s' column of Bugzilla's 'bugs' table is not an enum type.

The P4DTI is incompatible with the version of Bugzilla which you are running. You are running a very old version of Bugzilla, or have customized Bugzilla.

(P4DTI-3031) Configuration parameter 'bugzilla_directory' does not name a directory.
(P4DTI-3042) Configuration parameter 'bugzilla_directory' does not name a directory containing a processmail script.

Check the bugzilla_directory parameter. It must either be None or a string naming the Bugzilla installation directory.

(P4DTI-3053) Bugzilla's table 'profiles' does not have a 'login_name' column.
(P4DTI-3064) The 'login_name' column of Bugzilla's 'profiles' table does not have a 'text' type.
(P4DTI-3075) Bugzilla's table 'bugs' does not have a '%s' column.
(P4DTI-3086) The 'bug_status' column of Bugzilla's 'bugs' table is not an enum type.
(P4DTI-3097) The 'resolution' column of Bugzilla's 'bugs' table is not an enum type.
(P4DTI-3100) The 'resolution' column of Bugzilla's 'bugs' table does not have a 'FIXED' value.

The P4DTI is incompatible with the version of Bugzilla which you are running. You are running a very old version of Bugzilla, or have customized Bugzilla.

(P4DTI-3111) Field '%s' specified in 'replicated_fields' is a system field: leave it out!

Some fields are always replicated. For details, see the replicated_fields parameter.

Remove the system fields from your list of replicated fields and start the P4DTI again.

(P4DTI-3122) Field '%s' appears twice in 'replicated_fields'.

Each replicated field must only appear once in the replicated_fields parameter. Remove the duplicate and start the P4DTI again.

(P4DTI-3133) Field '%s' specified in 'replicated_fields' list not in Bugzilla 'bugs' table.

The replicated_fields parameter specifies a field which is not in Bugzilla.

(P4DTI-3144) Field '%s' specified in 'replicated_fields' list has type '%s': this is not yet supported by P4DTI.
(P4DTI-3155) Field '%s' specified in 'replicated_fields' list has floating-point type: this is not yet supported by P4DTI.

The P4DTI doesn't support all Bugzilla field types. One of the fields in your replicated_fields parameter has an unsupported type.

Remove the field from your replicated_fields and start the replicator again.

If you really need this field to be replicated, see the advice for (P4DTI-4067).

(P4DTI-3166) You can't have a field called 'code' in the Perforce jobspec.

You are running a version of Bugzilla with different bug fields from those in Bugzilla 2.10, 2.12, or 2.14, and are trying to replicate a field called "code". Perforce doesn't allow a job field called "code". You should remove the "code" field from the replicated_fields parameter or modify your Bugzilla configuration to rename the field.

(P4DTI-3177) Too many fields to replicate: Perforce jobs can contain only 99 fields.

Reduce the number of fields that you replicate by removing items from the replicated_fields parameter.

(P4DTI-4001) Two TeamTrack states '%s' and '%s' map to the same Perforce state '%s'.

The P4DTI chooses the names of states of Perforce jobs based on the state names in TeamTrack. It uses the following mapping system:

  1. Perforce job states can't contain spaces and various other characters, so the P4DTI maps spaces to underscores, and translates other special characters using an encoding similar to that used in URLs.
  2. To avoid user confusion in the Perforce interface, the P4DTI maps all state names to lower case, which means that you can't have defect tracker states which are only distinguished by differences in case. (But note that in TeamTrack, which has different issue workflows for different projects, it's OK to have states with the same name as long as they are in different projects.)
  3. Perforce jobs can't have the state "new" or "ignore", because these states have special meaning to the Perforce server. The P4DTI maps a defect tracker state "new" (or "New", "NEW", and so on) to Perforce state "_new" and a defect tracker state "ignore" to Perforce state "_ignore". This mapping system means that you also can't have states called " new" or " ignore" with an initial space (or " New", " Ignore", and so on) in the defect tracker at the same time as one called "new" or "ignore".

Resolve this problem by making the state names distinct in TeamTrack. Do not use spaces at the beginning of state names.

(P4DTI-4012) You specified the closed_state '%s', but there's no such TeamTrack state.

See (P4DTI-301X).

(P4DTI-4023) Couldn't get descriptions for TeamTrack system fields STATE, OWNER, and TITLE.

You may be using TeamTrack 5.0 with a release of the P4DTI that doesn't support it. If so, upgrade to a release that does.

This could happen if you don't have a tTrack solution in your TeamTrack database. If so, create one.

(P4DTI-4034) Field '%s' specified in 'replicated_fields' list not in TeamTrack FIELDS table.

You can specify a list of fields for the P4DTI to replicate into jobs; for details, see the replicated_fields parameter. This error means that the P4DTI couldn't find one of the fields in the list. This problem might happen if you change the set of fields in TeamTrack.

Double-check the field names you specified as the replicated_fields. If you're changing fields in TeamTrack, see section 9, "Maintaining the P4DTI", for important information.

(P4DTI-4045) Field '%s' specified in 'replicated_fields' list is a system field: leave it out!

See (P4DTI-3111).

(P4DTI-4056) Field '%s' appears twice in 'replicated_fields'.

See (P4DTI-3122).

(P4DTI-4067) Field '%s' has type %d: this is not supported by P4DTI.

The P4DTI doesn't support all TeamTrack field types. One of the fields in your replicated_fields parameter has an unsupported type.

You can determine the list of supported types from the type_table in configure_teamtrack.py. The most notable unsupported type is "MULTIPLE_SELECTION", because Perforce does not provide any kind of multiple selection interface.

If you really need to have the field replicated, you have the following options:

  1. Change the set of fields in TeamTrack to avoid the type.
  2. Change your workflow to avoid needing that particular field from the Perforce interface.
  3. Submit a request to Perforce.
  4. Implement a new subclass of replicator.translator to handle the field type (for the existing translators, see dt_teamtrack.py). For instructions on how to extend the P4DTI, and how to contribute your extensions back to the community, see the Perforce Defect Tracking Integration Integrator's Guide.

(P4DTI-4078) You can't have a field called 'code' in the Perforce jobspec.

Perforce uses the field "code" to pass internal status information to clients.

In TeamTrack, change the logical name of the field to something other than "code" by following these steps:

  1. Run the TeamTrack Administrator. (Under Windows, choose Start > Programs > TeamShare > TeamTrack Administrator.)
  2. Select the Workflow tab.
  3. Select the workflow containing the field called "code".
  4. Click the Edit button.
  5. Select the Default Fields tab.
  6. Select the "code" field.
  7. Click the Edit button.
  8. Change the Logical Field Name.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Click OK again.

(P4DTI-4089) Too many fields to replicate: Perforce jobs can contain only 99 fields.

See (P4DTI-3177).

(P4DTI-5004) User %d isn't in the right bug group to change field '%s' of bug %d to %s.

A Perforce user has made a change to a bug which Bugzilla would not allow them to view or edit.

Bugzilla bugs can be grouped into "bug groups", which restrict the ability of users to view or edit them. Perforce protections cannot express these bug groups, so the replicator must enforce the Bugzilla restrictions by rejecting changes made by users outside the necessary bug group.

(P4DTI-5015) User %d doesn't have permission to change field '%s' of bug %d to %s.

A Perforce user has made a change which Bugzilla would not have permitted them to make.

Bugzilla has complex access controls which prohibit some users from making some changes to bugs. Perforce protections cannot express these controls so the replicator enforces these controls by rejecting changes to jobs which would not be permitted by Bugzilla.

(P4DTI-5026) The P4DTI does not support marking bugs as DUPLICATE from Perforce.

A Perforce user has changed a job's status to "duplicate".

When a bug is marked as a duplicate in Bugzilla, the number of the other bug is provided and a message identifying it is appended to the long description. The Perforce job interface provides no easy way of expressing this, so the replicator does not allow it.

(P4DTI-5037) Bugzilla does not allow a transition from status '%s' to '%s'.

A Perforce user has changed the 'status' field of a bug in a way not permitted by Bugzilla. For instance, moving a bug directly from UNCONFIRMED to CLOSED. These transitions are not allowed in Bugzilla, and the replicator enforces that prohibition by rejecting such a change.

It is difficult but possible to cause this error by making more than one change to the status in rapid succession (between two consecutive replicator polls). The replicator can't tell if that has happened, so has to reject the change anyway.

(P4DTI-5048) Cannot change Bugzilla field '%s'.

A Perforce user has made a change to a field which the replicator treats as read-only. See section 5.1.5, "Choosing which fields to replicate".

(P4DTI-5059) Can only append to Bugzilla field '%s'.

A Perforce user has changed the long description text in some way other than appending to it. See section 5.1.5, "Choosing which fields to replicate".

(P4DTI-506X) Updating non-existent Bugzilla field '%s'.
(P4DTI-5092) No Perforce status corresponding to Bugzilla status '%s'.
(P4DTI-5106) No Bugzilla status corresponding to Perforce status '%s'.

These errors indicate a serious configuration error; someone's changed configure_bugzilla.py and broken it.

(P4DTI-5070) Bugzilla does not have a group called '%s'.
(P4DTI-5081) Bugzilla's fielddefs table does not include '%s'.

The P4DTI is incompatible with the version of Bugzilla which you are running. You are running a very old version of Bugzilla, or have customized Bugzilla.

(P4DTI-5117) Perforce field value '%s' could not be translated to a number for replication to Bugzilla.

A Perforce user has set a field, which corresponds to a numeric field in Bugzilla, to something which couldn't be converted to a number.

(P4DTI-5128) Bugzilla P4DTI user '%s' has e-mail address matching Perforce user '%s', not Perforce P4DTI user '%s'.

The replicator Perforce user (p4_user parameter) has an e-mail address that does not match the replicator_address parameter. See section 5.2.1, "Creating a Perforce user for the replicator".

(P4DTI-5139) Bugzilla P4DTI user '%s' is not a known Bugzilla user.

There is no Bugzilla user whose e-mail address matches the replicator_address parameter. See section 5.4.2, "Creating a Bugzilla user for the replicator".

(P4DTI-514X) There is no Bugzilla user corresponding to Perforce user '%s'.

You have changed a user field in a job to a Perforce user who does not have a Bugzilla user record. The replicator is unable to replicate that field back to Bugzilla.

(P4DTI-6142) No transition from state '%s' to state '%s'.

A user in Perforce has changed the state of a job in an illegal fashion (for example, changing the state from "assigned" to "verified", bypassing the state "resolved").

The user should go back to Perforce and change the state legally.

(P4DTI-6153) No login id in TeamTrack's USERS table corresponding to replicator's login id '%s'.

The replicator couldn't find an entry in TeamTrack's table of users for its own login id. Did you delete this user accidentally? If so, add it again and restart the P4DTI. If not, please contact Perforce support (see section 11.1, "Troubleshooting").

(P4DTI-6164) No LAST_CHANGE record for this replicator.

Someone has reconnected the TeamTrack server to a new TeamTrack database without first stopping the P4DTI. Either reconnect to the old TeamTrack database or restart the P4DTI.

(P4DTI-6175) TeamTrack database version %d is not supported by the P4DTI. The minimum supported version is %d.

You're running an old version of TeamTrack that isn't supported by the P4DTI. Upgrade your TeamTrack server to a supported version. See section 3.3.1, "TeamTrack software prerequisites".

(P4DTI-6186) Incorrect date in Perforce: '%s' is not in the format 'YYYY/mm/dd HH:MM:SS'.

You've entered something in a date/time field in Perforce that couldn't be recognized as a date and time. Date/time values in Perforce should be in the format year/month/day hour:minutes:seconds, with four digits for the year, and two digits for everything else, for example 2001/08/04 04:14:56.

(P4DTI-6197) Incorrect time in Perforce: '%s' is not in the format 'H:MM:SS'.

You've entered something in an elapsed time field in Perforce that couldn't be recognized as an elapsed time. Elapsed time values in Perforce should be in the format H:MM:SS, for example 4:14:56 or 100:00:00.

(P4DTI-6288) No TeamTrack state in project '%s' corresponding to Perforce state '%s'.

A user in Perforce changed the state of a job to a state that is not legal for the project to which the job belongs. (Note that the state is legal in some other project, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to set the job to that state.)

The user should go back to Perforce and set the job to a state that is legal for its project.

If you get this message frequently, this is a sign that your TeamTrack workflow is too complicated for people to follow accurately in Perforce. You should consider unifying the workflows for different projects, so that developers aren't confused about which states are legal for which jobs.

(Of course, it would be nice if Perforce only showed the states that are legal for the project to which the job belongs. But that requires Perforce to understand the full details of TeamTrack project, workflow and state definitions. Perforce does not have this capability.)

(P4DTI-7043) Perforce client changelevel %d is not supported by P4DTI. Client must be at changelevel %d or above.

The Perforce client executable specified by the p4_client_executable parameter is an old version not supported by the P4DTI. Install a supported version (see section 3.2.1, "Perforce software prerequisites") and set the p4_client_executable parameter to name it.

(P4DTI-7054) The command '%s' didn't report a recognizable version number. Check your setting for the 'p4_client_executable' parameter.

Your settting for the p4_client_executable parameter doesn't name a Perforce client executable (or doesn't name one that's supported by the P4DTI. Correct your setting.

(P4DTI-7076) The Perforce client exited with error code %d. Is the server down or the server address incorrect?

Check your setting for the p4_port parameter. Check that the Perforce server is running happily. Check that it has enough disk space.

(P4DTI-7087) %s

There's a problem with Perforce. Look up the text of the error message in section 11.3, "Other error messages", for advice.

(P4DTI-7098) The Perforce interface does not support the operating system '%s'.

You've installed the P4DTI on an unsupported operating system. See the release notes for details of the supported operating systems.

(P4DTI-7087) You don't have permission for this operation

You haven't given the replicator permission to edit the Perforce jobspec. The replicator needs to have superuser privileges in Perforce. For instructions, see section 5.2.1, "Creating a Perforce user for the replicator".

(P4DTI-8341) The Perforce server changelevel %d is not supported by the P4DTI. The server must be at changelevel %d or above.

You are running an old version of the Perforce server that is not supported by the P4DTI. Upgrade to a supported version; see section 3.2.1, "Perforce software prerequisites".

(P4DTI-891X) Defect tracker error (%s): %s

There's a problem in the defect tracker. Look up the text of the error message in section 11.3, "Other error messages", for advice.

(P4DTI-10037) TeamTrack version %s is not supported by the P4DTI.

Check your setting for the teamtrack_version parameter. See the release notes for the supported versions.

11.3. Other Error messages

_mysql.InternalError: (3, "Error writing file '%s' (Errcode: 28)")

We've seen this error when MySQL has run out of disk space.

_mysql.OperationalError: (1045, "Access denied for user: '%s@%s' (Using password: NO)")

The dbms_user parameter is set incorrectly or the dbms_password parameter is set to None when a password is required.

_mysql.OperationalError: (1045, "Access denied for user: '%s@%s' (Using password: YES)")

The dbms_password parameter is set incorrectly.

_mysql.OperationalError: (1049, "Unknown database '%s'")

The MySQL server on dbms_host doesn't serve a database whose name matches the dbms_database parameter.

_mysql.OperationalError: (2003, "Can't connect to MySQL server on '%s' (111)")

A MySQL connection couldn't be established to the host given by the dbms_host parameter on either the port given by the dbms_port parameter or the default MySQL port 3306. Possible causes include:

  1. The MySQL server is down.
  2. The MySQL server is configured to serve on a different port number

_mysql.OperationalError: (2005, "Unknown MySQL Server Host '%s' (2)")

The host given by the dbms_host parameter could not be located.

_mysql.OperationalError: (2006, 'MySQL server has gone away')

The connection to the MySQL server has been lost. The replicator will recover when the server connection is re-established.

Perforce error: Can't create a new user - over licence quota

You don't have a licence for the replicator. See section 3.2.1, "Perforce software prerequisites".

You will see this error if you changed the p4_user parameter but didn't delete the old userid.

Perforce error: Error detected at line 29. Value for field 'Options' must be one of noallwrite/allwrite,noclobber/clobber,nocompress/compress,unlocked/locked,nomodtime/modtime,normdir/rmdir.

You're using a Perforce client that's incompatible with the Perforce server (for example, you're using a Perforce 2000.2 client to connect to a Perforce 2001.1 server). Check your setting for the p4_client_executable parameter.

socket.error: (10222, 'invalid argument')

Your SMTP server may be refusing connections. Check your smtp_server parameter. Check that your SMTP server is up and running.

socket.error: host not found

You may have specified the wrong hostname for the SMTP server. Check your smtp_server parameter. Check that your SMTP server is up and running.

TeamShare API error: ERROR: (no message from the TeamShare API)

This means that TeamTrack reported an error, but provided no information about the cause of the error. The Windows Application Log on the TeamTrack server machine often contains more information about why problems are occurring. Use the Event Viewer to examine the Windows Application Log on that machine.

You will get this message if you are using TeamTrack version 5.0, but you specified teamtrack_version = "4.5". Check your setting for the teamtrack_version parameter.

TeamShare API error: ERROR: Unable to find transition 0.

The replicator user may not have the "Update All Issues" privilege. Check the privileges for the replicator user: see section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicatorCreating a TeamTrack user for the replicator".

TeamShare API error: SERVER_ERROR: Authentication Failed. Invalid user id or password

You haven't created a user in TeamTrack for the replicator (for instructions, see section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator"), or else you've given the replicator incorrect values for the teamtrack_user and teamtrack_password parameters.

TeamShare API error: SERVER_ERROR: Access Denied. You do not have API connect privileges.

The replicator's TeamTrack user lacks the "Connect using the API" privilege. You need to use the TeamTrack Administrator to assign this privilege. See section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator".

TeamShare API error: SERVER_ERROR: Server error: -1.

You may have tried to connect to a TeamTrack 4.5 server using the TeamTrack 5.0 API. Check your setting for the teamtrack_version parameter.

Or your TeamTrack server may be running on a secure web server (its address starts https:). The P4DTI does not support this.

TeamShare API error: SOCKET_CONNECT_FAILED: Socket Connect failed.

The P4DTI can't connect to the TeamTrack server. Check that TeamTrack is up and running. Check your setting for the teamtrack_server parameter.

TeamShare API error: SOCKET_READ_ERROR: Authentication Failed. No user information.

TeamTrack is not accepting authentication information from the HTTP header because you have turned off this feature.

Set up TeamTrack to accept authentication information from the HTTP header. In the TeamTrack Administrator, choose Options > Settings; choose the Server tab; click the "Accept Info From Browser/Header" checkbox. (Note that you do not have to turn off the "Accept Info From Form/URL/Cookie" checkbox. If both boxes are checked, TeamTrack will try to get the authentication information from a cookie first, then it will try the HTTP header.)

TeamShare API error: SOCKET_READ_ERROR: Socket error.

You may have tried to connect to a TeamTrack 5.0 server with an incorrect user id or password. Check your settings for the teamtrack_user and teamtrack_password parameters.

The replicator user may not have the "Connect using the API" privilege. Check the privileges for the replicator user: see section 5.3.2, "Creating a TeamTrack user for the replicator".

A. References

[BeOpen PythonLabs 2000-10-16] "Python Tutorial"; Guido van Rossum (Fred L. Drake, Jr., editor); BeOpen PythonLabs; 2000-10-16; <http://www.python.org/doc/current/tut/tut.html>.
[Bugzilla 1999-02-25] Bugzilla Installation README file; Ry4an Brase, Bryce Nesbitt, Dan Mosedale, Martin Pool, Terry Weissman; The Mozilla Organization; 1999-02-25
[GDR 2000-09-04] "TeamTrack database schema extensions for integration with Perforce"; Gareth Rees; Ravenbrook Limited; 2000-09-04; <http://www.ravenbrook.com/ project/p4dti/version/1.2/ design/teamtrack-p4dti-schema/>.
[MySQL 2000-07-02] "MySQL Reference Manual for version 3.23.20-beta"; MySQL; 2000-07-02.
[Perforce 2001-06-18a] "Perforce 2001.1 Command Line User's Guide"; Perforce Software; 2001-06-18; <http://www.perforce.com/perforce/doc.011/manuals/p4guide/>, <ftp://ftp.perforce.com/pub/perforce/r01.1/doc/manuals/p4guide/p4guide.pdf>.
[Perforce 2001-06-18b] "Perforce 2001.1 System Administrator's Guide"; Perforce Software; 2001-06-18; <http://www.perforce.com/perforce/doc.011/manuals/p4sag/>, <ftp://ftp.perforce.com/pub/perforce/r01.1/doc/manuals/p4sag/p4sag.pdf>.
[RB 2000-08-10] "Perforce Defect Tracking Integration User's Guide"; Richard Brooksby; Ravenbrook Limited; 2000-08-10.
[RB 2000-10-16] "Perforce Defect Tracking Integration Integrator's Guide"; Richard Brooksby; Ravenbrook Limited; 2000-10-16.
[TeamShare 2000-05] "tTrack 4.0 Administrator Manual"; TeamShare; 2000-05.

B. Document History

2000-08-10 RB Created placeholder.
2000-09-11 GDR Added instructions for demonstrating the integration and notes on version 0.2.
2000-09-20 RB Replaced demo instructions with full documentation outline from documentation plan.
2000-10-15 RB Added installation and uninstallation sections, and other sections discussed in [RB 2000-10-07]. Removed parts specific to Ravenbrook Information System.
2000-10-16 RB Merged with master sources and GDR's demonstration instructions for version 0.2. More edits required to make this consistent with the master sources.
2000-10-19 GDR Updated to fix defects in release 0.3.1 [GDR 2000-10-17a] and release 0.3.2 [RB 2000-10-18b].
2000-11-25 LMB Removed "system" from title. Made lots of minor formatting and transition edits. Moved Glossary to end of document. Reorganized Section 4.
2000-11-26 RB Improved prerequisites section. Added draft Bugzilla prerequisites. Formatted troubleshooting section. Updated version 0.3 references to version 0.4.
2000-11-27 RB Added readership. Removed some false statements.
2000-11-29 GDR Revised section 5 (configuration) to explain how to use the automatic configuration engine for TeamTrack. Moved material from sections 4 and 5 to make an appendix E for advanced configuration. Added section 4.6, a placeholder that will describe how to create a Perforce user for the replicator. The integration with TeamTrack now requires Python 2.0.
2000-11-29 RB Corrected overview and improved replicator diagram. Changed prerequisites to point at Perforce 2000.2 beta release. Added proper text to Bugzilla prerequisites section. Cross-referenced to User's Guide.
2000-11-29 LMB Changed "—" to "--" because the former doesn't display properly in Netscape. Made some minor edits in Sections 1-3.
2000-11-30 LMB Corrected figure numbers in the text that were off by one. Finished editing the AG. Swapped round Sections D and E. Searched the doc for "dfn" tags and incorporated those terms into the glossary. Deleted the list in Section 4.1 and folded its single entry into the preceding sentence. Added a short note to Section 4.4 to the effect that if you're using IIS, you don't need to stop and restart the TeamTrack server. Added a note to Section 4.6 that we need to tell admins to make the P4DTI user a Perforce super user and add it to the "p4 protect" table if they're using it.
2000-11-30 RB Added instructions to upgrade users Perforce clients and to stop using TeamShare SourceBridge. Told the administrator to check the Windows event log when things go wrong, because the TeamShare API doesn't tell the replicator about errors.
2000-11-30 GDR Added comments to the example jobspec in section D.2, and fixed the formatting. Added note saying that you may not have a field called "code". Listed the TeamTrack workflows that won't work well. Wrote advice on how to configure the integration. Added the changelist_url configuration parameter.
2000-12-01 RB Moved TeamTrack and Bugzilla configuration sections into the Configuration chapter, after the P4DTI configuration instructions. Added basic Linux installation instructions. Rewrote sections of the configuration instructions to go with the new flow. Deleted section on switching TeamTrack databases. Updated registry editing and Team Track privilege instructions. Added instructions for creating a Perforce user for the replicator. Explained multiple transition limitation. Updated screenshots.
2000-12-04 GDR Made list of configuration parameters in section 5.2 consistent with the configuration file (by alphabetizing both lists). Added missing configuration parameter closed_state. Added note in section 5.2 about checking the configuration.
2000-12-05 RB Changed figures to use "div" tags in line with the user manual and to allow more flexible use of material in figures. Added basic notes on Bugzilla configuration (more to come).
2000-12-06 RB Added section 2.3 about supported platform configurations.
2000-12-07 GDR Advised admin to make e-mail addresses or userids the same in TeamTrack and Perforce. Advised admin to restart when users are added or changed.
2000-12-07 RB Removed "TeamTrack only" notice from "replicated_fields" configuration parameter heading.
2000-12-08 GDR Documented translation of "ignore" state. Improved advice about what to do with a field called "code". Fixed table of contents.
2000-12-08 GDR Documented refresh_perforce.py.
2000-12-08 GDR Documented translation of "ignore" state. Improved advice about what to do with a field called "code". Fixed table of contents.
2000-12-08 GDR Documented refresh_perforce.py.
2000-12-08 RB Brought configuration section 5.2 up to date with Bugzilla configurator (see job000115).
2000-12-08 RB Updated to match unified configuration file and related re-organization of sources.
2000-12-11 GDR Noted that the changelist_url configuration parameter must be suitable for passing to sprintf().
2000-12-13 RB Updated for version 0.5 to cover Bugzilla supported platforms, configurations, and known issues. Added changelist_url for use with P4Web.
2000-12-13 RB Moving the Python 1.5.2 sources and Linux RPM to the project imports.
2000-12-15 NB Added verbose configuration item.
2000-12-15 NB Added more chat about bugzilla_user.
2000-12-15 NB More about e-mail addresses, python script names, and deleting jobs.
2000-12-22 LMB Started improving the manual as agreed in e-mail from RB (Documentation preparation meeting with LMB, 2000-12-20).
2001-01-01 LMB Continued improving the manual as agreed in e-mail from RB, modulo deleting things (Documentation preparation meeting with LMB, 2000-12-20). Removed spaces around em-dashes as per "Read Me First!"
2001-01-02 GDR The recommendation for administrator experience (section 3) is more realistic. Moved text from Appendix D to the Integrator's Guide, and replaced with a reference. Replaced "company.com" with "company.domain" since the former exists. Fixed typos and improved wording to fix defects recorded in [GDR 2000-12-08b], [GDR 2000-12-08c], and [GDR 2000-12-09]. Made cross-references consistent. Added two error messages to section 13.2. Added figures 5 and 6 showing example log output. Added section 5.4.3 about providing field descriptions.
2001-01-02 LMB Merged GDR's changes to master manuals with this branch. Got about two-thirds of the way through a heavy copyedit.
2001-01-03 LMB Made some changes suggested by GDR. Finished copyedit; noticed a number of things I didn't catch in the copyedit, so I'm sure there are other problems. Verified links. Indicated which comments I thought had been dealt with, in case GDR has time to work on this document tomorrow. Did a once-over in IE5 to make sure I didn't break anything too badly in the last two days.
2001-01-05 LMB Dealt with about half of the changes that TC@perforce suggested.
2001-01-06 LMB Procedurized and listed everything, as per TC@perforce's suggestions.
2001-01-07 LMB Edited references. Replaced Section 5.3.3.
2001-01-07 LMB Removed extraneous title material and Sections A and B. Removed comments and sent them in an e-mail to p4dti-staff. Did final copyedit and finished prepping manual to send to TC@perforce.
2001-01-20 LMB Incorporated TC's handwritten edits. Cut lots of stuff out of the glossary.
2001-01-21 LMB Re-added author, date, and other title material, and Sections A and B. Added comments on what I'd been doing to the manual in the interim (not much). Edited some new material from GDR. As per GDR's e-mail of 2001-01-18, point 5, deleted Section C and moved the material in Section D to Section 5.3.3. Fixed XREFS to Section 5; checked XREFS to Sections 12, 13, C, and D. Added material on when you might want to refresh jobs. Edited Section 10 slightly. Checked that procedure lead-ins and lists meet TC's specifications. Copied in Nick's changes to the info on patching Bugzilla and to the closed_state and replicated_fields parameters. Deleted mentions of bugzilla_user. Corrected internal XREFS. Copied over information on log files from master sources. Ran the spelling checker.
2001-01-22 LMB As per TC@perforce's request and GDR's instructions, added menu command for how to start the TeamTrack Administrator from Windows. Added upgrade instructions to Section 4.
2001-01-29 NB Added bugzilla_directory configuration parameter.
2001-02-01 RB Updated references to Perforce manuals to version 2000.2. Added steps to section 10, "Uninstalling the P4DTI", to undo all installation steps. Added missing information to section 9, "Maintaining the P4DTI", and clarified some of the existing instructions.
2001-02-02 RB Implemented paper review comments of 2001-01-25 by TC@perforce.
2001-02-12 GDR Added start_date configuration parameter. Renamed refresh_perforce.py to refresh.py.
2001-02-13 GDR Added note about security of jobs. Added socket.error error message to section 11.2. Alphabetized messages in section 11.2. Added note about "localhost" not working as a value for the teamtrack_server configuration parameter. Indicated that administrator_address and smtp_server can be None.
2001-02-14 RB Added Linux RPM instructions.
2001-02-15 RB Fixed "zcat" to "gunzip -c" to fool-proof unpacking.
2001-02-16 RB Added brief instructions for starting the P4DTI automatically.
2001-02-16 NB Added section 6.1, on migrating sets of issues. Also add some poll_period and start_date references.
2001-02-21 GDR Documented p4dti.reg in section 5.3.1.
2001-02-22 NB Documented MySQLdb and MySQL versions in section 3.4.1.
2001-02-22 GDR Gave instructions in section 11.1 on identifying the release that you're using. Added "Can't create a new user - over licence quota" to error messages in section 11.2. Wrote section 6.2 on migrating from Perforce jobs.
2001-02-26 NB Added Bugzilla-related errors to section 11.2.
2001-02-27 GDR Alphabetized the list of error messages in section 11.2. Gave full error messages, including prefixes, for each error. Improved error descriptions.
2001-03-02 RB Added missing contents entries. Fixed some HTML errors and tidied up some other HTML. Transferred copyright to Perforce under their license. Added section on advanced configuration.
2001-03-02 GDR Removed section 9.3 on tracking down TeamTrack errors section, since it's redundant with section 11.2.
2001-03-05 RB Added e-mail messages to the list of things we'd like in bug reports. Added some missing "abbr" tags.
2001-03-13 GDR Added message ids to the messages in section 11.2; moved messages without ids in section 11.3. Added some missing error messages. Removed verbose parameter; added log_level parameter. Alphabetized section 5.1.
2001-03-16 GDR Changed "daemon licence" to "background user licence" for consistency with Perforce's own terminology. Background user licences are available from Perforce Customer Service, not Technical Support.
2001-03-16 GDR Added text for messages 105-117, 200-209, 314, 315.
2001-04-11 RB Updated version to 1.1.
2001-04-20 RB Fixed reference to Bugzilla download at info.ravenbrook.com to point to www.ravenbrook.com.
2001-05-17 GDR Removed occurrences of messages 844-847, 607-612 from example replicator output (not produced any more).
2001-05-23 GDR Provided link to online support information.
2001-05-24 NB Updated for Bugzilla 2.12.
2001-07-03 GDR Added teamtrack_version configuration parameter. Added error messages from the TeamTrack 5.0 API and error message from the TeamTrack 4.5 API when connecting to a TeamTrack 5.0 server.
2001-07-09 GDR Updated TeamTrack screen shots to version 5.0.
2001-07-09 GDR RPM users should use the stop script to stop the replicator.
2001-07-09 NB Added job_url config parameter.
2001-07-14 GDR Updated references to Perforce manuals to 2001.1, since we now support that version.
2001-07-15 GDR Explained how to set up an integration without being connected to a network.
2001-07-17 GDR Added more error messages to troubleshooting section.
2001-07-24 GDR The P4DTI doesn't support TeamTrack on a secure web server. Added more troubleshooting advice for TeamTrack errors.
2001-07-25 NB Changed restarting instructions: Bugzilla users don't need to restart the replicator when adding a new user.
2001-07-25 GDR The replicator user needs submit, update and transition privileges in TeamTrack 5.0.
2001-07-28 GDR Reordered section 5.1 so that configuration parameters appear in the same order as in config.py.
2001-07-31 GDR Added error from incompatibility between Perforce client and server.
2001-08-07 GDR No need to restart the TeamTrack integration when you add a user.
2001-09-03 NB Added Bugzilla 2.14.
2001-09-12 GDR Added use_windows_event_log configuration parameter and prerequisite.
2001-09-13 GDR Added TeamTrack error message "SOCKET_READ_ERROR: Authentication Failed. No user information." to troubleshooting section.
2001-09-26 GDR Added section on limitations of the P4DTI.
2001-10-04 GDR Improved description of workflows that don't work well with the P4DTI. Added table of supported field types.
2001-10-18 GDR Added troubleshooting advice for messages 123, 127, 615, 618, 619.

Glossary

changelist An atomic change transaction in Perforce.
background user license
daemon license
A license for a process rather than a person.
fix A link between a job and a changelist.
issue A unit of work tracked by the defect tracker, for example, a bug, a change request, or an enhancement request.
job A unit of work tracked by Perforce.
replicator A process that copies (replicates) data between a defect tracker and a Perforce server in order to keep each one up to date with changes made in the other. Replication allows developers to do their routine defect resolution work entirely from their Perforce client, without needing to use the defect tracker's interface. It also allows developers to relate their changes to defect tracking issues.
workflow A set of rules that control who can do what to which issues.

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