How can I set up Bugzilla to receive bugs via email?
July 23, 2007 1:46 PM

How can I set up Bugzilla 3.0 to receive bugs via email?

Yeah, I know, email_in.pl. But how. That is, how can I invoke email_in.pl -- how can I set it up so that something is actually being piped (or whatever) to email_in.pl whenever a message is sent to the correct bugzilla address? I assume I need to set up an MTA; how can I do this? I've scoured google and can't find any information on how to get the MTA set up, or even if Bugzilla is already set up to listen on a certain address, or anything. The documentation that comes with Bugzilla assumes that you somehow magically know how to pipe the email to Bugzilla. This is exactly what I don't know.

I'm running on a RedHat Linux box, and have root access so I can install whatever MTA runs your fancy.

If anyone out there has actually set this up, I desire your config files or whatever.

Incidentally, this work is for a very nice, friendly, and inoffensive non-profit organization in support of the arts. So your help is not going towards the promotion of evil or wanton profits, in case you have an issue with that.

And to forstall any derails: yeah, I know XXX is a much better project management tool, but I did my research and for what we need Bugzilla is what we have to go with. The email in feature seems really great and was a major selling (metaphorically speaking) point, but until I get it working Bugzilla is dead in the water. Thanks for your help.
PS: Yeah, I know perhaps this might be better posted to a specific forum, but I trust the answers of MeFites more. Furthermore, I figure if this hasn't been answered on those forums yet it's not likely that I'll have any luck. I'm hoping a MeFite has done this setup before and is feeling generous.
PPS: This is your chance for fame. As far as I can gather, a lot of people want to set this up but there is no actual information out there. If you can post something good, this page will be where everyone gets their setup information! Your chance to win Nobel Prize is assured!
posted by Deathalicious to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)
2.1.6. Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) is from the guide.

Bugzilla 3.0+ API Documentation: email_in.pl

hope this is a little bit helpful. fame not desired.
posted by shoesfullofdust at 7:24 PM on July 23, 2007


1) First part is for ougoing mail (you need to send out a message to authenticate a new user), not setting up incoming mail.
2) Yeah, I've totally read the email_in.pl documentation, thanks. I should have stressed this even more in my question, say by highlighting the link you sent me. That documentation explains what happens AFTER email_in.pl is invoked, which as I explain in my question is something I already understand.

I'm actually looking for people who have set this up, or know how to set it up.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:33 PM on July 23, 2007


1) Make sure all of the optional E-mail/MIME perl modules are installed per bugzilla/checksetup.pl
2) Make sure procmail is installed and the MTA of your choice.
3) Create a user to manage the processing of bugmail (ie, adduser bug-submit).
4) Add that user to a group that has can access the files in your bugzilla directory (ie, adduser bug-submit www-data [or bugzilla, if you've set up a special bugzilla group, etc]).
5) Add a .procmailrc to your user's account that includes:

LOGFILE=/home/bugmail/procmail_log

:0:
* ^To:.*bug-submit@.*yourdomain.com
|/path/to/bugzilla/email_in.pl -vvv

6) That's it, really. Works for me on Debian, haven't used Redhat in a while.
posted by I EAT TAPAS at 11:56 AM on July 25, 2007


Thanks, I finally got it working by figuring out, pretty much, the steps listed above (too bad I didn't get the post earlier; oh well!).

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) the email_in command seems to throw up issues if you don't include the op_sys and rep_platform values.
2) the "from" address has to be a registered user.
3) email_in.pl does not correctly filter out the signature off the end of the email as claimed, so either request that users remove the signature block when sending bug messages or fix the code that filters it. All I know is if you use the example as they give it, including the signature block, it gets put in the comments.
posted by Deathalicious at 5:29 AM on July 26, 2007


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