Flyspray Technology Intelligence

What is Flyspray?

Flyspray is a free, open-source bug tracking system written in PHP. It provides a lightweight alternative to larger issue trackers, offering essential bug tracking functionality without the complexity of enterprise solutions. The project emphasizes simplicity, ease of installation, and minimal server requirements.

First released in 2003, Flyspray has served as a practical bug tracker for small to medium teams who need organized issue management without significant infrastructure investment. While not as feature-rich as commercial alternatives or larger open-source projects like Redmine or Mantis, Flyspray appeals to teams seeking straightforward bug tracking with low maintenance overhead.

Features

Core Bug Tracking

• Task Management: Create, assign, and track bugs with status workflows
• Multiple Projects: Manage bugs across different projects from one installation
• User Roles: Configurable permissions for administrators, developers, and reporters
• File Attachments: Attach screenshots, logs, and documents to tasks
• Task Dependencies: Link related bugs and define blocking relationships
• Custom Fields: Add project-specific attributes to tasks

Notifications

Email notifications alert team members of new bugs, comments, and status changes. Users can configure which events trigger notifications and subscribe to specific tasks or projects.

Search and Filtering

Advanced search with filters by status, priority, category, assignee, and date ranges. Saved searches enable quick access to frequently-used queries.

Reporting

• Task lists exportable to CSV
• Activity history for auditing
• RSS feeds for project activity

Technical Requirements

PHP 5.6+ and MySQL/PostgreSQL database. Minimal server requirements make Flyspray suitable for shared hosting environments.

Use Cases

Small Development Teams

Teams of 2-10 developers use Flyspray to track bugs without the complexity of enterprise solutions. The simple interface reduces onboarding time, and self-hosting eliminates per-user licensing costs.

Open Source Projects

Smaller open-source projects needing public bug tracking without GitHub dependency. Contributors can report issues while maintainers manage triage and assignment.

Internal IT Support

IT departments tracking internal support requests and system issues. The straightforward workflow suits help desk scenarios without requiring service desk-specific tools.

Freelancers and Consultants

Individual developers managing client bug reports across multiple projects. The lightweight footprint runs on inexpensive hosting, and separate projects keep client work organized.

Legacy System Maintenance

Teams maintaining older applications track defects and enhancements. Flyspray's simple setup means it can run alongside legacy infrastructure without complex integrations.

Educational Projects

Students learning software development practices use Flyspray to understand bug tracking workflows without commercial tool complexity.

Installation and Configuration

Basic Installation

# Download Flyspray
wget https://github.com/Flyspray/flyspray/archive/v1.0-rc10.tar.gz
tar -xzf v1.0-rc10.tar.gz
mv flyspray-1.0-rc10 /var/www/flyspray

# Set permissions
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/flyspray
chmod -R 755 /var/www/flyspray
chmod -R 777 /var/www/flyspray/attachments
chmod -R 777 /var/www/flyspray/cache

Database Setup (MySQL)

-- Create database and user
CREATE DATABASE flyspray CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'flyspray'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'secure_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON flyspray.* TO 'flyspray'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Apache Virtual Host

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName bugs.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/flyspray

    <Directory /var/www/flyspray>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/flyspray_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/flyspray_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Email Configuration (flyspray.conf.php)

$conf['smtp_server'] = 'smtp.example.com';
$conf['smtp_port'] = 587;
$conf['smtp_user'] = '[email protected]';
$conf['smtp_pass'] = 'email_password';
$conf['admin_email'] = '[email protected]';
$conf['email_from'] = '[email protected]';

Benefits and Current Status

Benefits

• Free and Open Source: No licensing costs, full access to source code
• Lightweight: Runs on minimal server resources
• Easy Installation: Standard PHP application setup
• Self-Hosted: Complete control over data and configuration
• Simple Interface: Low learning curve for team adoption
• Multi-Project: Single installation handles multiple projects

Limitations

• Limited integration options compared to modern tools
• No built-in Agile/Scrum workflow support
• Dated user interface compared to contemporary alternatives
• Smaller community than major open-source alternatives
• Infrequent updates and releases

Project Status

Flyspray development has slowed in recent years. While functional for basic bug tracking, teams starting new projects might consider more actively maintained alternatives like Mantis Bug Tracker, Redmine, or hosted solutions like GitHub Issues or GitLab Issues.

Alternatives

• Mantis Bug Tracker: More features, larger community
• Redmine: Full project management with bug tracking
• Bugzilla: Enterprise-grade open-source bug tracker
• GitHub/GitLab Issues: Integrated with code repositories