Getting started with IssueZilla

User accounts
About permissions
Admin setup

User Accounts

When you join a hosted development project on this site, you automatically get an IssueZilla account for access to project issues.

Information about your account is available under "Edit prefs" in the IssueZilla toolbar. You have several options to change how your account is configured.

Account settings
  Contains username and password information
Email settings
  Controls your automatic email notification settings.
Page footers
  Include/exclude "My issues" or your named, custom queries in every IssueZilla page footer.

You can also view a list of IssueZilla permissions assigned to you.

About permissions

Once you become a member of a project, you gain additional IssueZilla permissions beyond querying the issue database. You can view your permissions using the "Edit prefs" link in the IssueZilla tool bar. Your permissions depend upon your role in a project:

- If you are an observer, you can report new issues and modify issues, but you can only make changes to your own issues. You can, however, comment on any issue.

- If you are a developer (code or content), you can report and modify your own and other project members' issues. If you have the "Can edit all aspects of any issue" permission, then you can tweak anything about any issue, including milestones and issue assignments.

- If you are a project owner, you are an administrative level IssueZilla user who can assign permissions to other project members. (See more about administrative permissions below.)

Whatever your role in a project, if you really feel that you ought to have additional IssueZilla permissions, the project owner is the right person to ask (via private email, please!). You may need to request a new role.

Permissions are important because they are linked to the lifecycle and resolution of issues. For example, if you have the "Can confirm an issue" permission, then you can change the status of any UNCONFIRMED issue to NEW. This is critical because it serves as a green light to the person the issue is assigned to (and anyone else connected with the issue) by confirming that the issue is "real." To understand more about issue status, read more about the lifecycle of an issue.

Admin Setup

If you are a project owner, you automatically have administrative permissions in IssueZilla to manage and track your project's issues. Admin options appearing in the IssueZilla tool bar allow you to:

- modify IssueZilla's overall configuration for your project, including adding custom pages
- conduct "sanity checks" to identify any anomalies in your project's issues database
- enter and modify project components
- edit user information and privileges
- define groups and assign users to groups

Probably the most significant permission you have as a project owner is the ability to edit the permissions of all other users on your project. This can include giving other users administrative permissions to delegate some of your issue management workload.

If a project member has submitted several issues that get confirmed, then this is probably a person who understands the project and the issue tracking system well, and deserves the "Can confirm an issue" permission. As a project owner, you should track this and proactively manage user permissions assignments accordingly.