Finding Bugs
************
Bugzilla has a number of different search options.
Note: Bugzilla queries are case-insensitive and accent-insensitive
when used with either MySQL or Oracle databases. When using Bugzilla
with PostgreSQL, however, some queries are case sensitive. This is
due to the way PostgreSQL handles case and accent sensitivity.
Quicksearch
===========
Quicksearch is a single-text-box query tool. You'll find it in
Bugzilla's header or footer.
Quicksearch uses metacharacters to indicate what is to be searched.
For example, typing
"foo|bar"
into Quicksearch would search for "foo" or "bar" in the summary and
status whiteboard of a bug; adding
":BazProduct"
would search only in that product.
You can also use it to go directly to a bug by entering its number or
its alias.
Simple Search
=============
Simple Search is good for finding one particular bug. It works like
internet search engines - just enter some keywords and off you go.
Advanced Search
===============
The Advanced Search page is used to produce a list of all bugs fitting
exact criteria. You can play with it on Landfill.
Advanced Search has controls for selecting different possible values
for all of the fields in a bug, as described above. For some fields,
multiple values can be selected. In those cases, Bugzilla returns bugs
where the content of the field matches any one of the selected values.
If none is selected, then the field can take any value.
After a search is run, you can save it as a Saved Search, which will
appear in the page footer. If you are in the group defined by the
"querysharegroup" parameter, you may share your queries with other
users; see Saved Searches for more details.
Custom Search
=============
Highly advanced querying is done using the Custom Search feature of
the Advanced Search page.
The search criteria here further restrict the set of results returned
by a query, over and above those defined in the fields at the top of
the page. It is thereby possible to search for bugs based on elaborate
combinations of criteria.
The simplest custom searches have only one term. These searches permit
the selected *field* to be compared using a selectable *operator* to a
specified *value.* Much of this could be reproduced using the standard
fields. However, you can then combine terms using "Match ANY" or
"Match ALL", using parentheses for combining and priority, in order to
construct searches of almost arbitrary complexity.
There are three fields in each row (known as a "term") of a custom
search:
* *Field:* the name of the field being searched
* *Operator:* the comparison operator
* *Value:* the value to which the field is being compared
The list of available *fields* contains all the fields defined for a
bug, including any custom fields, and then also some pseudofields like
Assignee Real Name, Days Since Bug Changed, Time Since Assignee
Touched and other things it may be useful to search on.
There are a wide range of *operators* available, not all of which may
make sense for a particular field. There are various string-matching
operations (including regular expressions), numerical comparisons
(which also work for dates), and also the ability to search for change
informationâwhen a field changed, what it changed from or to, and who
did it. There are special operators for is empty and is not empty,
because Bugzilla can't tell the difference between a value field left
blank on purpose and one left blank by accident.
You can have an arbitrary number of rows, and the dropdown box above
them defines how they relateâMatch ALL of the following separately,
Match ANY of the following separately, or Match ALL of the following
against the same field. The difference between the first and the third
can be illustrated with a comment search. If you have a search:
Comment contains the string "Fred"
Comment contains the string "Barney"
then under the first regime (match separately) the search would return
bugs where "Fred" appeared in one comment and "Barney" in the same or
any other comment, whereas under the second (match against the same
field), both strings would need to occur in exactly the same comment.
Advanced Features
-----------------
If you click Show Advanced Features, then more capabilities appear.
You can negate any row with a checkbox (see below) and also group
lines of the search with parentheses to determine how different search
terms relate. Within each bracketed set, you get the choice of
combining them using ALL (i.e. AND) or ANY (i.e. OR).
Negation
--------
At first glance, negation seems redundant. Rather than searching for:
NOT ( summary contains the string "foo" )
one could search for:
summary does not contain the string "foo"
However, the search:
CC does not contain the string "@mozilla.org"
would find every bug where anyone on the CC list did not contain
"@mozilla.org" while:
NOT ( CC contains the string "@mozilla.org" )
would find every bug where there was nobody on the CC list who did
contain the string. Similarly, the use of negation also permits
complex expressions to be built using terms OR'd together and then
negated. Negation permits queries such as:
NOT ( ( product equals "Update" )
OR
( component equals "Documentation" )
)
to find bugs that are neither in the Update product or in the
Documentation component or:
NOT ( ( commenter equals "%assignee%" )
OR
(component equals "Documentation" )
)
to find non-documentation bugs on which the assignee has never
commented.
Pronoun Substitution
--------------------
Sometimes, a query needs to compare a user-related field (such as
Reporter) with a role-specific user (such as the user running the
query or the user to whom each bug is assigned). For example, you may
want to find all bugs that are assigned to the person who reported
them.
When the Custom Search operator is either equals or notequals, the
value can be "%reporter%", "%assignee%", "%qacontact%", or "%user%".
These are known as "pronouns". The user pronoun refers to the user who
is executing the query or, in the case of whining reports, the user
who will be the recipient of the report. The reporter, assignee, and
qacontact pronouns refer to the corresponding fields in the bug.
This feature also lets you search by a user's group memberships. If
the operator is either equals, notequals or anyexact, you can search
for whether a user belongs (or not) to the specified group. The group
name must be entered using "%group.foo%" syntax, where "foo" is the
group name. So if you are looking for bugs reported by any user being
in the "editbugs" group, then you can use:
reporter equals "%group.editbugs%"
Bug Lists
=========
The result of a search is a list of matching bugs.
The format of the list is configurable. For example, it can be sorted
by clicking the column headings. Other useful features can be accessed
using the links at the bottom of the list:
Long Format:
this gives you a large page with a non-editable summary of the
fields of each bug.
XML (icon):
get the buglist in an XML format.
CSV (icon):
get the buglist as comma-separated values, for import into e.g. a
spreadsheet.
Feed (icon):
get the buglist as an Atom feed. Copy this link into your favorite
feed reader. If you are using Firefox, you can also save the list
as a live bookmark by clicking the live bookmark icon in the status
bar. To limit the number of bugs in the feed, add a limit=n
parameter to the URL.
iCalendar (icon):
Get the buglist as an iCalendar file. Each bug is represented as a
to-do item in the imported calendar.
Change Columns:
change the bug attributes which appear in the list.
Change Several Bugs At Once:
If your account is sufficiently empowered, and more than one bug
appears in the bug list, this link is displayed and lets you easily
make the same change to all the bugs in the list - for example,
changing their assignee.
Send Mail to Bug Assignees:
If more than one bug appear in the bug list and there are at least
two distinct bug assignees, this links is displayed which lets you
easily send a mail to the assignees of all bugs on the list.
Edit Search:
If you didn't get exactly the results you were looking for, you can
return to the Query page through this link and make small revisions
to the query you just made so you get more accurate results.
Remember Search As:
You can give a search a name and remember it; a link will appear in
your page footer giving you quick access to run it again later.
======================================================================
This documentation undoubtedly has bugs; if you find some, please file
them here.
