launchpad helpLaunchpad Help > Bugs > Launchpad-Bugzilla plugin
Overview
Launchpad can communicate directly with bug trackers that use Bugzilla through the bugzilla-launchpad plugin.
If you run a Bugzilla instance, you can use the plugin to:
- share comment histories between bugs that are tracked both in your Bugzilla tracker and also in Launchpad
- reduce the server load of bug watches from Launchpad.
To start using the plugin, you need to install it in your Bugzilla environment and also tell Launchpad that you're now using the plugin.
Version numbers
The version number of the plugin shows two things:
<plugin version>-<bugzilla version>
<plugin version> is the version of the plugin.
<bugzilla version> is the version of Bugzilla that the plugin is compatible with.
So, a plugin instance with a version number of 0.9-3.2 means that this is version 0.9 of the plugin and it is compatible with Bugzilla version 3.2.
Getting the plugin
You can download the plugin from its Launchpad project page. Make sure you get the right plugin for your version of Bugzilla.
Installation
(Wherever it says <version> in these instructions, we mean "the plugin version number goes here".)
Step 1: Untar the package:
tar -xzf bugzilla-launchpad-<version>.tar.gz
Step 2: Change to your Bugzilla directory:
cd /path/to/bugzilla
Tip: That's probably /var/www/html/bugzilla if you followed the standard Bugzilla installation instructions.
Step 3: Apply the patch to your Bugzilla installation:
patch -p0 -i /path/to/bugzilla-launchpad-<version>/patch.diff
It's worth noting that the patch was written and reviewed by core Bugzilla developers. If you're running Red Hat or an older Fedora, you might have to fix the SELinux permissions on the files after applying the patch:
/sbin/restorecon -Rv ./
Step 4: Install the extension:
mv /path/to/bugzilla-launchpad-<version>/launchpad extensions/
Step 5: Run checksetup.pl to install the plugin:
./checksetup.pl
Step 6: checksetup.pl will direct you to a URL to finish the installation.
And now the plugin should be working!
Getting Launchpad to work with your bugtracker
Once the plugin is installed and working you need to register your bugtracker with Launchpad, if it isn't already registered.
This is really simple to do:
Step 1: Visit https://launchpad.net/bugs/bugtrackers
Step 2: Check to see if your bugtracker is registered. If it isn't, click the Register another bugtracker link at the bottom of the page.
Step 3: Enter your bugtracker's details and click the Add button.
Step 4: Your bug tracker should now show up in the list of registered bugtrackers.
Step 5: Look through Launchpad to find bugs that are being tracked in Launchpad that are also tracked in your instance of Bugzilla and then link the Launchpad bug reports to your reports in Bugzilla. For example: if there's an Ubuntu package of your software, look to see if there are any bugs filed against that package that you're also tracking upstream.
What to do if you can't find suitable bugs in Launchpad
If you can't see any suitable bugs already in Launchpad, you can create some test bugs in Launchpad's staging environment.
Note: The database for staging is reset every day with a fresh copy of Launchpad's live production database. This can have two impacts:
- your test bugs will disappear from staging within the next 24 hours
- if you've added your bug tracker to Launchpad's production environment in the past 24 hours, you need to add it manually to staging.
Next steps
Once you've installed the plugin, file a question using Launchpad Answers to let the Launchapd team know that you're running the plugin. This will allow the Launchpad Bugs developers and sys admins to finish the setup from their end.
If you'd like to write a Launchpad plugin for another bug tracker, follow our plugin API spec.
