Genie Bugs (Opens in a new tab) It is an open source project management tool first released in 2003. Aimed mostly at software developers who work in a team, The Bug Genie supports issue tracking, source code management, and custom workflows with visualization. It can be used with popular version control systems such as SVN and Git.
Although development of The Bug Genie stopped in 2019, the name of the new version has been changed to Pachno (Opens in a new tab)– Under development since 2021.
However, since updates have not been made to The Bug Genie for a few years, you have to take a few extra steps to get the program to work on modern web hosts with the latest versions of PHP.
This guide will show you how to do that on Hostinger (Opens in a new tab), a low-cost, high-performance web hosting provider. We’ve partnered with Hostinger to offer our readers an amazing free hosting deal, so you can try The Bug Genie at no cost.
Step 1: Enable the APCu PHP extension
Bug Genie requires the PHP APCu extension to be installed and enabled on your web host. Many web hosts, including Hostinger, have APCu disabled by default.
Fortunately, on Hostinger, it’s very easy to enable APCu. In Hostinger’s admin panel, go to Advanced. Choose PHP Configuration. Select PHP Extensions, and check the apcu box. Click Save.
APCu is now enabled on your hosting and you can go to the next step.
Step 2: Downgrade Your PHP Version (If Necessary)
Bug Genie will not work if you are running a version of PHP newer than 7.3.99. Most web hosting providers, including Hostinger, run a newer version of PHP, usually 7.4, 8.0, or 8.1, so you’ll need to downgrade from PHP to use The Bug Genie.
Go to Advanced and choose PHP Configuration. Select the version of PHP you want from the radio box and hit update. We suggest version 7.2.
Downgrading the PHP version will also affect other PHP applications you have installed on your server. In some cases, this may cause them to stop working, so be sure to check the PHP version requirements for other applications you have previously installed.
Step 3: Install Bug Genie with Auto Installer
Go to Auto Installer in the website menu. Click Other, and select The Bug Genie from the drop-down list.
On the first page of the wizard, you are tasked with creating an administrator username and password. In the advanced settings, you can choose to install The Bug Genie in a subdirectory. You can also choose to create a new database for The Bug Genie or use a MySQL database you have already created.
On the second and last page of Auto Installer, choose which version of The Bug Genie you want to install and how often you want it to update automatically.
Step 4: Log into The Bug Genie as an administrator
On the Auto Installer page in the Hostinger admin panel, right-click on The Bug Genie and choose Manage. This will take you to The Bug Genie. Click the user icon at the top right of the interface. Enter the administrator username and password you created earlier to log in.
Fifth step: Create a new project
Click Create Project and name your new project. Select your project type from the list of templates. These are: the classic software project, the distributed team project, the classic open source project, the agile project, the help desk, and the personal to-do list.
Designate yourself as the project manager and click Create project.
Sixth Step: Build your project
From the dashboard, you can create and expand your project and its goals. Add people to the project team and assign them different roles. You can also create a project roadmap, add milestones and assign them to your team members. Each project contains a wiki to which you can add articles, documents, and files.
As your project progresses, you can add issues that need to be fixed and a feature list for the project. Workflows can be used to define the life cycle of issues. This allows each issue to be viewed by the appropriate people and dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible.
summary
In this guide, we’ve shown you how to install The Bug Genie, a popular project management tool. Setup requires a few extra steps compared to most, but thanks to the Auto Installer on Hostinger, it’s still relatively easy to get The Bug Genie up and running.
Bug Genie is one of many online collaboration tools (Opens in a new tab) We’ve got you covered. We discuss alternative options in our list of best project management software (Opens in a new tab)We also listed the best free and paid productivity tools (Opens in a new tab) You can use it today.
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