User Preferences

Once logged in, you can customize various aspects of Bugzilla via the “Preferences” link in the page footer. The preferences are split into five tabs:

General Preferences

This tab allows you to change several default settings of Bugzilla.

  • Bugzilla’s general appearance (skin) – select which skin to use. Bugzilla supports adding custom skins.
  • Quote the associated comment when you click on its reply link – sets the behavior of the comment “Reply” link. Options include quoting the full comment, just reference the comment number, or turn the link off.
  • Language used in email – select which language email will be sent in, from the list of available languages.
  • After changing a bug – This controls what page is displayed after changes to a bug are submitted. The options include to show the bug just modified, to show the next bug in your list, or to do nothing.
  • Enable tags for bugs – turn bug tagging on or off.
  • Zoom textareas large when in use (requires JavaScript) – enable or disable the automatic expanding of text areas when text is being entered into them.
  • Field separator character for CSV files – Select between a comma and semi-colon for exported CSV bug lists.
  • Automatically add me to the CC list of bugs I change – set default behavior of CC list. Options include “Always”, “Never”, and “Only if I have no role on them”.
  • When viewing a bug, show comments in this order – controls the order of comments. Options include “Oldest to Newest”, “Newest to Oldest” and “Newest to Oldest, but keep the bug description at the top”.
  • Show a quip at the top of each bug list – controls whether a quip will be shown on the Bug list page.

Email Preferences

This tab allows you to enable or disable email notification on specific events.

In general, users have almost complete control over how much (or how little) email Bugzilla sends them. If you want to receive the maximum amount of email possible, click the “Enable All Mail” button. If you don’t want to receive any email from Bugzilla at all, click the “Disable All Mail” button.

A Bugzilla administrator can stop a user from receiving bug mail by clicking the “Bug mail Disabled” checkbox when editing the user account. This is a drastic step best taken only for disabled accounts, as it overrides the user’s individual mail preferences.

There are two global options — “Email me when someone asks me to set a flag” and “Email me when someone sets a flag I asked for”. These define how you want to receive bug mail with regards to flags. Their use is quite straightforward; enable the checkboxes if you want Bugzilla to send you mail under either of the above conditions.

If you’d like to set your bug mail to something besides ‘Completely ON’ and ‘Completely OFF’, the “Field/recipient specific options” table allows you to do just that. The rows of the table define events that can happen to a bug — things like attachments being added, new comments being made, the priority changing, etc. The columns in the table define your relationship with the bug:

  • Reporter – Where you are the person who initially reported the bug. Your name/account appears in the “Reporter:” field.
  • Assignee – Where you are the person who has been designated as the one responsible for the bug. Your name/account appears in the “Assigned To:” field of the bug.
  • QA Contact – You are one of the designated QA Contacts for the bug. Your account appears in the “QA Contact:” text-box of the bug.
  • CC – You are on the list CC List for the bug. Your account appears in the “CC:” text box of the bug.
  • Voter – You have placed one or more votes for the bug. Your account appears only if someone clicks on the “Show votes for this bug” link on the bug.

Some columns may not be visible for your installation, depending on your site’s configuration.

To fine-tune your bug mail, decide the events for which you want to receive bug mail; then decide if you want to receive it all the time (enable the checkbox for every column), or only when you have a certain relationship with a bug (enable the checkbox only for those columns). For example: if you didn’t want to receive mail when someone added themselves to the CC list, you could uncheck all the boxes in the “CC Field Changes” line. As another example, if you never wanted to receive email on bugs you reported unless the bug was resolved, you would un-check all boxes in the “Reporter” column except for the one on the “The bug is resolved or verified” row.

Bugzilla adds the “X-Bugzilla-Reason” header to all bugmail it sends, describing the recipient’s relationship (AssignedTo, Reporter, QAContact, CC, or Voter) to the bug. This header can be used to do further client-side filtering.

Bugzilla has a feature called “Users Watching”. When you enter one or more comma-delineated user accounts (usually email addresses) into the text entry box, you will receive a copy of all the bugmail those users are sent (security settings permitting). This powerful functionality enables seamless transitions as developers change projects or users go on holiday.

The ability to watch other users may not be available in all Bugzilla installations. If you don’t see this feature, and feel that you need it, speak to your administrator.

Each user listed in the “Users watching you” field has you listed in their “Users to watch” list and can get bugmail according to your relationship to the bug and their “Field/recipient specific options” setting.

Saved Searches

On this tab you can view and run any Saved Searches that you have created, and also any Saved Searches that other members of the group defined in the “querysharegroup” parameter have shared. Saved Searches can be added to the page footer from this screen. If somebody is sharing a Search with a group she or he is allowed to assign users to, the sharer may opt to have the Search show up in the footer of the group’s direct members by default.

Name and Password

On this tab, you can change your basic account information, including your password, email address and real name. For security reasons, in order to change anything on this page you must type your current password into the “Password” field at the top of the page. If you attempt to change your email address, a confirmation email is sent to both the old and new addresses, with a link to use to confirm the change. This helps to prevent account hijacking.

Permissions

This is a purely informative page which outlines your current permissions on this installation of Bugzilla.

A complete list of permissions is below. Only users with editusers privileges can change the permissions of other users.

admin

Indicates user is an Administrator.

bz_canusewhineatothers

Indicates user can configure whine reports for other users.

bz_canusewhines

Indicates user can configure whine reports for self.

bz_quip_moderators

Indicates user can moderate quips.

bz_sudoers

Indicates user can perform actions as other users.

bz_sudo_protect

Indicates user cannot be impersonated by other users.

canconfirm

Indicates user can confirm a bug or mark it a duplicate.

creategroups

Indicates user can create and destroy groups.

editbugs

Indicates user can edit all bug fields.

editclassifications

Indicates user can create, destroy, and edit classifications.

editcomponents

Indicates user can create, destroy, and edit components.

editkeywords

Indicates user can create, destroy, and edit keywords.

 editusers

Indicates user can edit or disable users.

tweakparams

Indicates user can change Parameters.

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