Bugzilla used to build shuttle bug-tracking package
NASA has built a new software package to track problems with the Space Shuttle using open source tools from Mozilla. The Space Shuttle Endeavor launched successfully last night, so the new system is being used today to track any problems which may crop up in the current mission. The system is available to both the astronauts on the shuttle and the technicians at mission control, giving them wide interactive problem reporting and solving capabilities.
The software package is known as the Problem Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action system, or PRACA for short, and is getting its first live usage on this shuttle mission. It was developed by the Human-Computer Interaction Group at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Equally important, the system is replacing a complex set of forty database systems that have been used to track problems in the past.
The lead of the NASA Ames Human-Computer Interaction Group, Alonso Vera, told CNET that the system was developed for less money because of Open Source tools. Although he did not quote definitive costs, he said that the new system cost closer to $100,000 than the $1 million that would have been expected if the system had been built using proprietary software tools.
The primary Open Source package used was Bugzilla, from the Mozilla Foundation. According to Vera, not only is the new system much less expensive and more streamlined than the software it replaces, it is also much easier to maintain. Rather than having to submit desired changes to the developers of proprietary problem tracking systems and wait for the revisions to be returned, NASA developers can make changes to PRACA on their own, often on the fly.
It is refreshing to see a government agency make use of Open Source tools to develop better software, and is especially satisfying when the resulting system makes it possible to provide better and safer conditions more quickly for astronauts on a live mission. A system like this could save more than money; it could save lives.
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November 15th, 2008
PRACA was also co-developed by my company, Everything Solved! :-) I’m also one of the primary developers of Bugzilla, so I’m really happy to see all my work being used for the shuttle!! :-)
-Max
November 17th, 2008
Max -
How very cool. You and your team deserve an enormous amount of credit for what you do. Bugzilla is a very impressive package, and PRACA looks like a real winner. Kudos to you and the rest of the teams.