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by Thomas Guest.
Original Post: Trac -- not just a pretty interface
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I’ve been using trac for a project at work recently, and it really
does seem to be every bit as good as it looks.
Tools you can trust
I’ve noted before how important it is to like the tools you use every day.
Until now, most project management tools left me cold: the
bug-trackers that provide clunky and restrictive front-ends to a
database, the meeting schedulers that only run on Windows XP, the
project planning tools that are so expensive only higher management
can afford them, and so sophisticated noone can get them to do what
they want.
Trac, though, is different. As you can see, the trac project team
eat their own dog food – the trac home page is a trac project – which
as always is a good sign.
Trac is a pleasure to use.
Killer Features
Trac grabbed my attention because it looks so good, and I suppose that
remains one of its killer features.
Actually using it, though, what I really like is the way the tools
integrate with the version control system. Want to link from a wiki
page to a repository URL? No problem. Want to link to a changeset
associated with a repository revision? Easy peasy. Want a page which
displays the difference between any two repository revisions? Yep, it
can do that too.
trac was fiddly to install. I needed to get hold of
SWIG, then build the python/subversion
bindings, then choose a database, then install the relevant python
database bindings, then clearsilver, then … well, you get the
picture.
trac tries to do everything. It’s the source browser which thinks
it’s a wiki which thinks it’s a bug-tracker which thinks it’s a project
planner.
the only version control system trac works with is Subversion.
To answer these points in turn.
Yes, that is a concern. The lack of a one-click installer may put
off some users. Trac does not stand alone: it builds on proven
technologies – Python, relational databases, web servers.
Besides, you probably can just grab a trac package for certain Linux
distributions.
I haven’t seen any problems (yet). As a product, it feels stable and well-tuned.
You don’t need to use all of trac’s features. As a Subversion
repository browser alone it pays its way. As a repository browser combined
with a wiki, it’s peerless.
You can make this an upside by upgrading to Subversion!
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