Pachno development blog

Sim9

Ah, that's cool! 🙂

zegenie

Here are a couple of screenshots of the ongoing development. Please note that most of this is not final, but it should give you an indication of the updated look and feel, as well as the kind of handholding and onboarding experience that will be present.

Updated "find issues" page

Updated boards

Improved configuration

If you've used The Bug Genie before, you'll probably immediately notice the difference in these screenshots. They're all still very much a work-in-progress, so please post any feedback.

bmudda

Would it be possible to migrate already existing projects and issues from TBG over to Pachno?

zegenie

Hey @bmudda, the current plan is to make migration instructions for anyone who wants to migrate, and our current TBG setup runs on Pachno using these instructions 👍️

bmudda

This is great news @zegenie I look forward to migrate and trying out Pachno!!

ajayshantilal

When can we expect a production release . I am eager to start using the latest version , also had issues with seamless integration with our web application - interms of passing the session.

zegenie

Hey ajayshantilal - thanks for asking. We're still busy refactoring and rewriting a lot of the core functionality for how the next version works. One of the key features that needs to be implemented across the entire codebase is a unified and simplified way of handling data types such as issue types, options, project components and more. We're also adding a lot of helpful hints along the way and just in general trying to improve the system so it's less complicated to use.

We've come a long way, and we're getting closer and closer to a test release. In the meantime if you want to check out the current progress, feel free to checkout the master branch on github and have a try on a test machine.

zegenie

Hey again everyone. Here's a quick update with a bunch of screenshots!

I know you're all very eager to know when the new version is being released. Unfortunately I don't have a firm release date yet, but I can tell you it's moving along quite well. All parts of the system is being fine-tuned and polished, and I think the end result will be very good.

Much of the last few months have gone into polishing a standard way of interacting with data types, configuration screens and removing the complexity that had been piling up in the last few years. As a result, the refactored and rewritten system now feels a lot more pleasant to work with.

Here are a bunch of screenshots showing the updated looks of some screens you're probably familiar with if you've used TBG before. As you can see, a lot of effort has gone into making it pleasing and easier to work with.

Enjoy, and please post any feedback or comments!

Updated frontpage

Improved configuration screens

Updated project dashboard

Project configuration screens

bmudda

zegenie This is very exciting!!! I am really looking forward to working with Pachno. I wanted to setup a test instance of it on my local machine. Is there some rough migration instruction to use so I can import all the data from TBG to see how it looks in the Pachno?

zegenie

bmudda You can checkout the master branch and run bin/pachno migrate from the command line to run through the migrations.

Mythotical

Captcha in TBG is currently broken in Chrome and for some users in all browsers. Will there be a whole new captcha system or integration with Google Recaptcha or hCaptcha?

zegenie

Yes Mythotical we'll update the captcha to use a more common captcha service such as one of those.

zegenie

Hey people!

Another update from the development frontlines. A quick heads-up: If you're not already following our new twitter account, go do it now 👍️ 🐦️ @pachnopm - we're continuously posting development updates there 🤫

What's been going on since the last update?
Rebranding an entire application is a lot of work - in addition to the actual rebranding of what you use every day, there's new websites, backends and systems that needs to be updated as well. A lot of the time spent since the last update has been moving and preparing our current thebuggenie hosted environments to support Pachno when we launch. This includes setting up a new hosting infrastructure based on newer servers and improving the tooling and administration. Not very screenshot-friendly stuff, but we've made a lot of progress in this area, which we can hopefully show off soon ™️

New logo
One thing you may have noticed since last time is our brand new logo:
pachno logo

We've also chosen a typeface to go with it:
pachno logo typeface
The typeface is the beatiful Lilita One font. As we roll out our new sites and systems, you'll hopefully recognize the logo. Let us know what you think!

Modern javascript and css tooling
On the development side of things, we've made some huge improvements in the codebase. The Bug Genie has been carrying along some of its tooling from its inception in 2002, but it was time we moved to a more modern toolset. This means moving to the latest version of php (fairly easy), and moving to a modern frontend toolchain (not easy). The new frontend uses babel for modern javascript and SASS styles - this has also meant we had to rewrite a large part of our javascript and styling. Some of it can be lifted straight from the existing code, but some things have to be re-implemented.

Development status
During the refactoring, we've also taken the time to reimagine some of the features you already know. The best example is the planning / agile board which has been rewritten as a planning/agile board with features you probably know well from other systems. Here are a few screenshots showing off what it looks like (colors are customizable):

New chat server
If you're interested in helping out, chatting about development or just wanna hang out, feel free to join our new chat server: Pachno on zulipchat

Until next time!

zegenie

Hey again

So much has happened since the last development update, and we're super eager to show it off. Firstly, we worked with several talented designers to land a new logo and brand - keeping the ideas from the old logo, but moving forward with a more modern look and feel. If you've been watching the forums,you've already seen the logo, and tomorrow we're launching the new landing page for downloading the alpha.

Which brings us to: tomorrow! One day to go!We Tomorrow is the alpha release day. Finally,wwe're in a place where we can say we're ready to move forward with confidence.We will "What's taken so long?", we hear you say.

Rebranding and restructuring a project the scope and size of thebuggenie is no easy feat. Finding a new identity takes time and effort, and doing the necessary changes to the software stack is/was a monumental task. After years of changes, trying and failing, we've landed on something we're proud of, and we think is the right next step.

The project management, issue tracking space is a different universe than it was a few years ago. Never before has the need for a real open platform for a JIRA/Jetbrains/Trello alternative been more clear. We're ready and up for the task.

Tomorrow, the journey starts. Or continues.

Join us.