BugZappers/UnderstandingBugzilla

Here are some quick tips and tricks on how to use bugzilla. Bugzilla may do some things from time to time that help or hinder, so knowing what they are when they happen can be useful.

Who can add comments

 * Anyone can add a comment to a bug in the "Additional Comments" box, so long as they have created a bugzilla account.

What the reporter can do
The reporter of a bug can modify any aspect of their own bug (e.g. close it, reopen it, etc.)

Automatic changes bugzilla makes to comments

 * The text "bug xxxxxx" (where xxxxxx is the number of some bug report) is transformed to a hyperlink to the appropriate bug report.
 * The text "comment xx" (where xx is the number of a comment to a bug report) is transformed into a hyperlink to the comment. This can also be used together with "bug xxxxxx" to link specific comments of other bug reports.
 * Any text starting with "http://" in it is transformed into a hyperlink to the listed website.

Comments that bugzilla automatically adds to reports
When one bug is marked as a duplicate of another, both bugs get an extra comment:
 * The duplicate gets a comment that looks like "This has been marked as a duplicate of bug xxxxxx"
 * The duplicated bug gets a comment that looks like "Bug xxxxxx has been marked as a duplicate of this bug."

Mid-air Collisions
If you and someone else both try to modify the same bug, the second person to submit their changes will be notified of a "Mid-air collision". You will be given the option to erase the other person's changes and keep your own, or to throw away your changes and revisit the bug. Unless you have an extremely good reason to do so, you should not erase the other person's changes. There are two ways that I handle these. If the first person's comments and changes make mine unnecessary, then I'll just throw my changes away; otherwise, I hit the back button on the browser, hit the reload button (which will update the bug but leave the boxes filled in with my comments), double check to make sure everything is updated correctly, and then submit again.

Bug report history
The Modified section (click on history) in the upper right corner of each bug report often contains useful information about the history of the bug and how it has changed since first reported.

What do these states mean?
BugZappers/BugStatusWorkFlow explains the meanings of states like NEW, ASSIGNED, MODIFIED, etc.

Credits
Most of the text on this page was directly lifted from http://developer.gnome.org/projects/bugsquad/bugzilla-tips-and-tricks.html