Flags are a way to attach a specific status to a bug or attachment, either \u201c+\u201d or \u201c-\u201d. The meaning of these symbols depends on the text the flag itself, but contextually they could mean pass\/fail, accept\/reject, approved\/denied, or even a simple yes\/no. If your site allows requestable flags, then users may set a flag to \u201c?\u201d as a request to another user that they look at the bug\/attachment, and set the flag to its correct status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Simple Example<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n A developer might want to ask their manager, \u201cShould we fix this bug before we release version 2.0?\u201d They might want to do this for a lot of bugs, so it would be nice to streamline the process…<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Bugzilla, it would work this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n About Flags<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Values<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flags can have three values:<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? A user is requesting that a status be set. (Think of it as ‘A question is being asked’.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n – The status has been set negatively. (The question has been answered \u201cno\u201d.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n + The status has been set positively. (The question has been answered \u201cyes\u201d.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, there’s a fourth value a flag can have — \u201cunset\u201d — which shows up as a blank space. This just means that nobody has expressed an opinion (or asked someone else to express an opinion) about this bug or attachment<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using flag requests<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n If a flag has been defined as ‘request able’, and a user has enough privileges to request it (see below), the user can set the flag’s status to \u201c?\u201d. This status indicates that someone (a.k.a. \u201cthe requester\u201d) is asking someone else to set the flag to either \u201c+\u201d or \u201c-\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a flag has been defined as ‘specifically request able’, a text box will appear next to the flag into which the requester may enter a Bugzilla username. That named person (a.k.a. \u201cthe requestee\u201d) will receive an email notifying them of the request, and pointing them to the bug\/attachment in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a flag has not been defined as ‘specifically requestable’, then no such text-box will appear. A request to set this flag cannot be made of any specific individual, but must be asked \u201cto the wind\u201d. A requester may \u201cask the wind\u201d on any flag simply by leaving the text-box blank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Types of Flags<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flags can go in two places: on an attachment, or on a bug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Attachment Flags<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Attachment flags are used to ask a question about a specific attachment on a bug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many Bugzilla installations use this to request that one developer \u201creview\u201d another developer’s code before they check it in. They attach the code to a bug report, and then set a flag on that attachment called \u201creview\u201d to review?boss@domain.com. boss@domain.com is then notified by email that he has to check out that attachment and approve it or deny it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a Bugzilla user, attachment flags show up in three places:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bug Flags<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bug flags are used to set a status on the bug itself. You can see Bug Flags in the \u201cShow Bug\u201d and \u201cRequests\u201d screens, as described above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only users with enough privileges (see below) may set flags on bugs. This doesn’t necessarily include the assignee, reporter, or users with the edit bugs permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Administering Flags<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have the \u201cedit components\u201d permission, you can edit Flag Types from the main administration page. Clicking the \u201cFlags\u201d link will bring you to the \u201cAdminister Flag Types\u201d page. Here, you can select whether you want to create (or edit) a Bug flag, or an Attachment flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter which you choose, the interface is the same, so we’ll just go over it once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Editing a Flag<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n To edit a flag’s properties, just click the flag’s name. That will take you to the same form as described below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creating a Flag<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you click on the \u201cCreate a Flag Type for…\u201d link, you will be presented with a form. Here is what the fields in the form mean:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Name<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the name of the flag. This will be displayed to Bugzilla users who are looking at or setting the flag. The name may contain any valid Unicode characters except commas and spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Description<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The description describes the flag in more detail. It is visible in a tooltip when hovering over a flag either in the \u201cShow Bug\u201d or \u201cEdit Attachment\u201d pages. This field can be as long as you like, and can contain any character you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Category<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Default behaviour for a newly-created flag is to appear on products and all components, which is why \u201c__Any__:__Any__\u201d is already entered in the \u201cInclusions\u201d box. If this is not your desired behaviour, you must either set some exclusions (for products on which you don’t want the flag to appear), or you must remove \u201c__Any__:__Any__\u201d from the Inclusions box and define products\/components specifically for this flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To create an Inclusion, select a Product from the top drop-down box. You may also select a specific component from the bottom drop-down box. (Setting \u201c__Any__\u201d for Product translates to, \u201call the products in this Bugzilla\u201d. Selecting \u201c__Any__\u201d in the Component field means \u201call components in the selected product.\u201d) Selections made, press \u201cInclude\u201d, and your Product\/Component pairing will show up in the \u201cInclusions\u201d box on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To create an Exclusion, the process is the same; select a Product from the top drop-down box, select a specific component if you want one, and press \u201cExclude\u201d. The Product\/Component pairing will show up in the \u201cExclusions\u201d box on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This flag will and can be set for any products\/components that appearing in the \u201cInclusions\u201d box (or which fall under the appropriate \u201c__Any__\u201d). This flag will not appear (and therefore cannot be set) on any products appearing in the \u201cExclusions\u201d box. IMPORTANT: Exclusions override inclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may select a Product without selecting a specific Component, but you can’t select a Component without a Product, or to select a Component that does not belong to the named Product. If you do so, Bugzilla will display an error message, even if all your products have a component by that name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example:<\/strong> Let’s say you have a product called \u201cJet Plane\u201d that has thousands of components. You want to be able to ask if a problem should be fixed in the next model of plane you release. We’ll call the flag \u201cfixInNext\u201d. But, there’s one component in \u201cJet Plane,\u201d called \u201cPilot.\u201d It doesn’t make sense to release a new pilot, so you don’t want to have the flag show up in that component. So, you include \u201cJet Plane:__Any__\u201d and you exclude \u201cJet Plane:Pilot\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sort Key<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flags normally show up in alphabetical order. If you want them to show up in a different order, you can use this key set the order on each flag. Flags with a lower sort key will appear before flags with a higher sort key. Flags that have the same sort key will be sorted alphabetically, but they will still be after flags with a lower sort key, and before flags with a higher sort key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example: I have AFlag (Sort Key 100), BFlag (Sort Key 10), CFlag (Sort Key 10), and DFlag (Sort Key 1). These show up in the order: DFlag, BFlag, CFlag, AFlag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Active<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, you might want to keep old flag information in the Bugzilla database, but stop users from setting any new flags of this type. To do this, uncheck \u201cactive\u201d. Deactivated flags will still show up in the UI if they are ?, +, or -, but they may only be cleared (unset), and cannot be changed to a new value. Once a deactivated flag is cleared, it will completely disappear from a bug\/attachment, and cannot be set again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Request able<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n New flags are, by default, \u201crequest able\u201d, meaning that they offer users the \u201c?\u201d option, as well as \u201c+\u201d and \u201c-\u201d. To remove the ? option, uncheck \u201crequest able\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically Request able<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n By default this box is checked for new flags, meaning that users may make flag requests of specific individuals. Unchecking this box will remove the text box next to a flag; if it is still requestable, then requests may only be made \u201cto the wind.\u201d Removing this after specific requests have been made will not remove those requests; that data will stay in the database (though it will no longer appear to the user).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Multipliable<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Any flag with \u201cMultipliable\u201d set (default for new flags is ‘on’) may be set more than once. After being set once, an unset flag of the same type will appear below it with \u201caddl.\u201d (Short for \u201cadditional\u201d) before the name There is no limit to the number of times a Multipliable flags may be set on the same bug\/attachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CC List<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want certain users to be notified every time this flag is set to ?, -, +, or unset, add them here. This is a comma-separated list of email addresses that need not be restricted to Bugzilla usernames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grant Group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When this field is set to some given group, only users in the group can set the flag to \u201c+\u201d and \u201c-\u201d. This field does not affect who can request or cancel the flag. For that, see the \u201cRequest Group\u201d field below. If this field is left blank, all users can set or delete this flag. This field is useful for restricting which users can approve or reject requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Request Group<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n When this field is set to some given group, only users in the group can request or cancel this flag Note that this field has no effect if the \u201cgrant group\u201d field is empty. You can set the value of this field to a different group, but both fields have to be set to a group for this field to have an effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deleting a Flag<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you are at the \u201cAdminister Flag Types\u201d screen, you will be presented with a list of Bug flags and a list of Attachment Flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To delete a flag, click on the \u201cDelete\u201d link next to the flag description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you delete a flag, it is gone from your Bugzilla. All the data for that flag will be deleted. Everywhere that flag was set, it will disappear, and you cannot get that data back. If you want to keep flag data, but don’t want anybody to set any new flags or change current flags, unset \u201cactive\u201d in the flag Edit form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A great career is just a certification away. So, practice and validate your skills to become Certified Bugzilla Testing Professional<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flags are a way to attach a specific status to a bug or attachment, either \u201c+\u201d or \u201c-\u201d. The meaning of these symbols depends on the text the flag itself, but contextually they could mean pass\/fail, accept\/reject, approved\/denied, or even a simple yes\/no. If your site allows requestable flags, then users may set a flag…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8203],"tags":[8221],"class_list":["post-71102","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-bugzilla","tag-flags"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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