[PLUG] OSS for change control

Aaron Burt aaron at bavariati.org
Mon Jun 6 22:34:46 UTC 2005


On Mon, Jun 06, 2005 at 12:46:24PM -0700, Matt Alexander wrote:
> I'm looking for an Open Source app for our in-house developers to use
> for submitting changes to the Server Admins such as upgrading a
> package, modifying config files, running SQL commands, etc.  Managers
> would need to be in the loop for approving these changes before the
> Admins see them.  Being able to search a history of changes per system
> would be needed too.

Sounds a lot like a job-ticket system.  Request Tracker is my favourite.

In this case, devs would either email requests to RT or create tickets
in the web interface.  If managers need to approve, let them take
requests from the incoming ticket queue and either deny each ticket or
assign it to a tech (or even to an "approved" ticket queue.)

Heck, you could give each manager or department its own "approval"
queue, with its own email address.

RT is nice because folks get a decent amount of email feedback about how
their request is being handled, without it being overwhelming.
It's also pretty configurable, with permissions, custom fields and such.

I've found a ticket system to be essential.  Just make sure someone is
repsonsible for making sure tickets don't back up in the queue or get
stale.  We did this on a rotating basis at OSDL.

Actually, I'm kinda surprised RT hasn't caught on in other areas
besides IT.  It's a great way to keep track of who's handling what,
and how it's all going.

Maybe if it cost $5000 per seat and only ran on AS/400,
  Aaron



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