Mantis is a free security web application (bug tracking system) written in PHP. It stores all found bugs in a database.

No software can be bug free. There is a phase in SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) of Testing. Testing is very important phase of any software. It is important to formally maintain bugs. Normally in most of the companies, Bugs are recorded with a bug tracking system and on release of each version, all old bugs are rechecked.

Mantis, BugZilla, Jira are some of the bug tracking system commonly used by the companies.

Mantis is free and open source under GPL license. It can use MySQL, MS SQL Server and PostgreSQL as a database for storing the bugs. It can be installed on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and OS/2. Last but not least, as it is web based application - it is obvious that it needs web server. It can be either IIS or Apache.

Installing Mantis
If I write how to install Mantis, this paper will go on and on… and it is not necessary as it is already well written at mantis official site. I don’t see any point in reinventing wheel. Installation in easy steps is -

• Install prerequisites
  • Web Server
  • Database
  • PHP
• Get Latest version of Mantis
• Configure Mantis
• Login to admin application
• Create project and users
• Assign permissions to users

Features of Mantis
Mantis is very rich in the features and that is what makes it popular amongst companies. There are many features, though I am pointing out some of the key features here.

Features for Developer/Testing Professional

• Very simple Interface and easy to use
• Supports RSS feeds
• Ability to send mail to users
• Ability to integrate chatting
• Ability of integration with famous source code repository (SVN & CVS)
• Ability to upload files with bugs (This is very useful as reporter can upload screen shot of the bug)
• Ability to define role based on project. (This is very useful in the case of small companies, where one person have multiple roles in different projects).

Features for Top Management

• Reporting ability for managers and high management
• Ability to export report in CSV, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word

Features for Administrator

• Very easy to administration. Creating new project or user is only some clicks.
• Give flexibility of choosing OS, Web Server and Database Server
• Ability to integrate authentication with LDAP and Active directory
• No installation at client end (it is web based so only browser is necessary at client side)
• Easy to customize as per the companies requirement

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