6.1.3. Bugs

The REST API for creating, changing, and getting the details of bugs.

This part of the Bugzilla REST API allows you to file new bugs in Bugzilla and to get information about existing bugs.

6.1.3.1. Get Bug

Gets information about particular bugs in the database.

Request

To get information about a particular bug using its ID or alias:

GET /rest/bug/(id_or_alias)

You can also use Search Bugs to return more than one bug at a time by specifying bug IDs as the search terms.

GET /rest/bug?id=12434,43421
name type description
id_or_alias mixed An integer bug ID or a bug alias string.

Response

{
  "faults": [],
  "bugs": [
    {
      "assigned_to_detail": {
        "id": 2,
        "real_name": "Test User",
        "name": "user@bugzilla.org",
        "email": "user@bugzilla.org"
      },
      "flags": [
        {
          "type_id": 11,
          "modification_date": "2014-09-28T21:03:47Z",
          "name": "blocker",
          "status": "?",
          "id": 2906,
          "setter": "user@bugzilla.org",
          "creation_date": "2014-09-28T21:03:47Z"
        }
      ],
      "resolution": "INVALID",
      "id": 35,
      "qa_contact": "",
      "version": "1.0",
      "status": "RESOLVED",
      "creator": "user@bugzilla.org",
      "cf_drop_down": "---",
      "summary": "test bug",
      "last_change_time": "2014-09-23T19:12:17Z",
      "platform": "All",
      "url": "",
      "classification": "Unclassified",
      "cc_detail": [
        {
          "id": 786,
          "real_name": "Foo Bar",
          "name": "foo@bar.com",
          "email": "foo@bar.com"
        },
      ],
      "priority": "P1",
      "is_confirmed": true,
      "creation_time": "2000-07-25T13:50:04Z",
      "assigned_to": "user@bugzilla.org",
      "flags": [],
      "alias": [],
      "cf_large_text": "",
      "groups": [],
      "op_sys": "All",
      "cf_bug_id": null,
      "depends_on": [],
      "is_cc_accessible": true,
      "is_open": false,
      "cf_qa_list_4": "---",
      "keywords": [],
      "cc": [
        "foo@bar.com",
      ],
      "see_also": [],
      "deadline": null,
      "is_creator_accessible": true,
      "whiteboard": "",
      "dupe_of": null,
      "target_milestone": "---",
      "cf_mulitple_select": [],
      "component": "SaltSprinkler",
      "severity": "critical",
      "cf_date": null,
      "product": "FoodReplicator",
      "creator_detail": {
        "id": 28,
        "real_name": "hello",
        "name": "user@bugzilla.org",
        "email": "namachi@netscape.com"
      },
      "cf_free_text": "",
      "blocks": []
    }
  ]
}

bugs (array) Each bug object contains information about the bugs with valid ids containing the following items:

These fields are returned by default or by specifying _default in include_fields.

name type description
actual_time double The total number of hours that this bug has taken so far. If you are not in the time-tracking group, this field will not be included in the return value.
alias array The unique aliases of this bug. An empty array will be returned if this bug has no aliases.
assigned_to string The login name of the user to whom the bug is assigned.
assigned_to_detail object An object containing detailed user information for the assigned_to. To see the keys included in the user detail object, see below.
blocks array The IDs of bugs that are "blocked" by this bug.
cc array The login names of users on the CC list of this bug.
cc_detail array Array of objects containing detailed user information for each of the cc list members. To see the keys included in the user detail object, see below.
classification string The name of the current classification the bug is in.
component string The name of the current component of this bug.
creation_time datetime When the bug was created.
creator string The login name of the person who filed this bug (the reporter).
creator_detail object An object containing detailed user information for the creator. To see the keys included in the user detail object, see below.
deadline string The day that this bug is due to be completed, in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
depends_on array The IDs of bugs that this bug "depends on".
dupe_of int The bug ID of the bug that this bug is a duplicate of. If this bug isn't a duplicate of any bug, this will be null.
estimated_time double The number of hours that it was estimated that this bug would take. If you are not in the time-tracking group, this field will not be included in the return value.
flags array An array of objects containing the information about flags currently set for the bug. Each flag objects contains the following items
groups array The names of all the groups that this bug is in.
id int The unique numeric ID of this bug.
is_cc_accessible boolean If true, this bug can be accessed by members of the CC list, even if they are not in the groups the bug is restricted to.
is_confirmed boolean true if the bug has been confirmed. Usually this means that the bug has at some point been moved out of the UNCONFIRMED status and into another open status.
is_open boolean true if this bug is open, false if it is closed.
is_creator_accessible boolean If true, this bug can be accessed by the creator of the bug, even if they are not a member of the groups the bug is restricted to.
keywords array Each keyword that is on this bug.
last_change_time datetime When the bug was last changed.
op_sys string The name of the operating system that the bug was filed against.
platform string The name of the platform (hardware) that the bug was filed against.
priority string The priority of the bug.
product string The name of the product this bug is in.
qa_contact string The login name of the current QA Contact on the bug.
qa_contact_detail object An object containing detailed user information for the qa_contact. To see the keys included in the user detail object, see below.
remaining_time double The number of hours of work remaining until work on this bug is complete. If you are not in the time-tracking group, this field will not be included in the return value.
resolution string The current resolution of the bug, or an empty string if the bug is open.
see_also array The URLs in the See Also field on the bug.
severity string The current severity of the bug.
status string The current status of the bug.
summary string The summary of this bug.
target_milestone string The milestone that this bug is supposed to be fixed by, or for closed bugs, the milestone that it was fixed for.
update_token string The token that you would have to pass to the process_bug.cgi page in order to update this bug. This changes every time the bug is updated. This field is not returned to logged-out users.
url string A URL that demonstrates the problem described in the bug, or is somehow related to the bug report.
version string The version the bug was reported against.
whiteboard string The value of the "status whiteboard" field on the bug.

Custom fields:

Every custom field in this installation will also be included in the return value. Most fields are returned as strings. However, some field types have different return values.

Normally custom fields are returned by default similar to normal bug fields or you can specify only custom fields by using _custom in include_fields.

Extra fields:

These fields are returned only by specifying _extra or the field name in include_fields.

name type description
tags array Each array item is a tag name. Note that tags are personal to the currently logged in user and are not the same as comment tags.

User object:

name type description
id int The user ID for this user.
real_name string The 'real' name for this user, if any.
name string The user's Bugzilla login.
email string The user's email address. Currently this is the same value as the name.

Flag object:

name type description
id int The ID of the flag.
name string The name of the flag.
type_id int The type ID of the flag.
creation_date datetime The timestamp when this flag was originally created.
modification_date datetime The timestamp when the flag was last modified.
status string The current status of the flag.
setter string The login name of the user who created or last modified the flag.
requestee string The login name of the user this flag has been requested to be granted or denied. Note, this field is only returned if a requestee is set.

Custom field object:

You can specify to only return custom fields by specifying _custom or the field name in include_fields.

  • Bug ID Fields: (int)
  • Multiple-Selection Fields: (array of strings)
  • Date/Time Fields: (datetime)

6.1.3.2. Bug History

Gets the history of changes for particular bugs in the database.

Request

To get the history for a specific bug ID:

GET /rest/bug/(id)/history

To get the history for a bug since a specific date:

GET /rest/bug/(id)/history?new_since=YYYY-MM-DD
name type description
id mixed An integer bug ID or alias.
new_since datetime A datetime timestamp to only show history since.

Response

{
  "bugs": [
    {
      "alias": [],
      "history": [
        {
          "when": "2014-09-23T19:12:17Z",
          "who": "user@bugzilla.org",
          "changes": [
            {
              "added": "P1",
              "field_name": "priority",
              "removed": "P2"
            },
            {
              "removed": "blocker",
              "field_name": "severity",
              "added": "critical"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "when": "2014-09-28T21:03:47Z",
          "who": "user@bugzilla.org",
          "changes": [
            {
              "added": "blocker?",
              "removed": "",
              "field_name": "flagtypes.name"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "id": 35
    }
  ]
}

bugs (array) Bug objects each containing the following items:

name type description
id int The numeric ID of the bug.
alias array The unique aliases of this bug. An empty array will be returned if this bug has no aliases.
history array An array of History objects.

History object:

name type description
when datetime The date the bug activity/change happened.
who string The login name of the user who performed the bug change.
changes array An array of Change objects which contain all the changes that happened to the bug at this time (as specified by when).

Change object:

name type description
field_name string The name of the bug field that has changed.
removed string The previous value of the bug field which has been deleted by the change.
added string The new value of the bug field which has been added by the change.
attachment_id int The ID of the attachment that was changed. This only appears if the change was to an attachment, otherwise attachment_id will not be present in this object.

6.1.3.3. Search Bugs

Allows you to search for bugs based on particular criteria.

Request

To search for bugs:

GET /rest/bug

Unless otherwise specified in the description of a parameter, bugs are returned if they match exactly the criteria you specify in these parameters. That is, we don't match against substrings--if a bug is in the "Widgets" product and you ask for bugs in the "Widg" product, you won't get anything.

Criteria are joined in a logical AND. That is, you will be returned bugs that match all of the criteria, not bugs that match any of the criteria.

Each parameter can be either the type it says, or a list of the types it says. If you pass an array, it means "Give me bugs with any of these values." For example, if you wanted bugs that were in either the "Foo" or "Bar" products, you'd pass:

GET /rest/bug?product=Foo&product=Bar

Some Bugzillas may treat your arguments case-sensitively, depending on what database system they are using. Most commonly, though, Bugzilla is not case-sensitive with the arguments passed (because MySQL is the most-common database to use with Bugzilla, and MySQL is not case sensitive).

In addition to the fields listed below, you may also use criteria that is similar to what is used in the Advanced Search screen of the Bugzilla UI. This includes fields specified by Search by Change History and Custom Search. The easiest way to determine what the field names are and what format Bugzilla expects is to first construct your query using the Advanced Search UI, execute it and use the query parameters in they URL as your query for the REST call.

name type description
alias array The unique aliases of this bug. An empty array will be returned if this bug has no aliases.
assigned_to string The login name of a user that a bug is assigned to.
component string The name of the Component that the bug is in. Note that if there are multiple Components with the same name, and you search for that name, bugs in all those Components will be returned. If you don't want this, be sure to also specify the product argument.
creation_time datetime Searches for bugs that were created at this time or later. May not be an array.
creator string The login name of the user who created the bug. You can also pass this argument with the name reporter, for backwards compatibility with older Bugzillas.
id int The numeric ID of the bug.
last_change_time datetime Searches for bugs that were modified at this time or later. May not be an array.
limit int Limit the number of results returned. If the limit is more than zero and higher than the maximum limit set by the administrator, then the maximum limit will be used instead. If you set the limit equal to zero, then all matching results will be returned instead.
offset int Used in conjunction with the limit argument, offset defines the starting position for the search. For example, given a search that would return 100 bugs, setting limit to 10 and offset to 10 would return bugs 11 through 20 from the set of 100.
op_sys string The "Operating System" field of a bug.
platform string The Platform (sometimes called "Hardware") field of a bug.
priority string The Priority field on a bug.
product string The name of the Product that the bug is in.
resolution string The current resolution--only set if a bug is closed. You can find open bugs by searching for bugs with an empty resolution.
severity string The Severity field on a bug.
status string The current status of a bug (not including its resolution, if it has one, which is a separate field above).
summary string Searches for substrings in the single-line Summary field on bugs. If you specify an array, then bugs whose summaries match any of the passed substrings will be returned. Note that unlike searching in the Bugzilla UI, substrings are not split on spaces. So searching for foo bar will match "This is a foo bar" but not "This foo is a bar". ['foo', 'bar'], would, however, match the second item.
tags string Searches for a bug with the specified tag. If you specify an array, then any bugs that match any of the tags will be returned. Note that tags are personal to the currently logged in user.
target_milestone string The Target Milestone field of a bug. Note that even if this Bugzilla does not have the Target Milestone field enabled, you can still search for bugs by Target Milestone. However, it is likely that in that case, most bugs will not have a Target Milestone set (it defaults to "---" when the field isn't enabled).
qa_contact string The login name of the bug's QA Contact. Note that even if this Bugzilla does not have the QA Contact field enabled, you can still search for bugs by QA Contact (though it is likely that no bug will have a QA Contact set, if the field is disabled).
url string The "URL" field of a bug.
version string The Version field of a bug.
whiteboard string Search the "Status Whiteboard" field on bugs for a substring. Works the same as the summary field described above, but searches the Status Whiteboard field.
quicksearch string Search for bugs using quicksearch syntax.

Response

The same as Get Bug.

6.1.3.4. Create Bug

This allows you to create a new bug in Bugzilla. If you specify any invalid fields, an error will be thrown stating which field is invalid. If you specify any fields you are not allowed to set, they will just be set to their defaults or ignored.

You cannot currently set all the items here that you can set on enter_bug.cgi.

The WebService interface may allow you to set things other than those listed here, but realize that anything undocumented here may likely change in the future.

Request

To create a new bug in Bugzilla.

POST /rest/bug
{
  "product" : "TestProduct",
  "component" : "TestComponent",
  "version" : "unspecified",
  "summary" : "'This is a test bug - please disregard",
  "alias" : "SomeAlias",
  "op_sys" : "All",
  "priority" : "P1",
  "rep_platform" : "All"
}

Some params must be set, or an error will be thrown. These params are marked in bold.

Some parameters can have defaults set in Bugzilla, by the administrator. If these parameters have defaults set, you can omit them. These parameters are marked (defaulted).

Clients that want to be able to interact uniformly with multiple Bugzillas should always set both the params marked required and those marked (defaulted), because some Bugzillas may not have defaults set for (defaulted) parameters, and then this method will throw an error if you don't specify them.

name type description
product string The name of the product the bug is being filed against.
component string The name of a component in the product above.
summary string A brief description of the bug being filed.
version string A version of the product above; the version the bug was found in.
description string (defaulted) The initial description for this bug. Some Bugzilla installations require this to not be blank.
op_sys string (defaulted) The operating system the bug was discovered on.
platform string (defaulted) What type of hardware the bug was experienced on.
priority string (defaulted) What order the bug will be fixed in by the developer, compared to the developer's other bugs.
severity string (defaulted) How severe the bug is.
alias array One or more brief aliases for the bug that can be used instead of a bug number when accessing this bug. Must be unique in all of this Bugzilla.
assigned_to string A user to assign this bug to, if you don't want it to be assigned to the component owner.
cc array An array of usernames to CC on this bug.
comment_is_private boolean If set to true, the description is private, otherwise it is assumed to be public.
groups array An array of group names to put this bug into. You can see valid group names on the Permissions tab of the Preferences screen, or, if you are an administrator, in the Groups control panel. If you don't specify this argument, then the bug will be added into all the groups that are set as being "Default" for this product. (If you want to avoid that, you should specify groups as an empty array.)
qa_contact string If this installation has QA Contacts enabled, you can set the QA Contact here if you don't want to use the component's default QA Contact.
status string The status that this bug should start out as. Note that only certain statuses can be set on bug creation.
resolution string If you are filing a closed bug, then you will have to specify a resolution. You cannot currently specify a resolution of DUPLICATE for new bugs, though. That must be done with Update Bug.
target_milestone string A valid target milestone for this product.
flags array Flags objects to add to the bug. The object format is described in the Flag object below.

Flag object:

To create a flag, at least the status and the type_id or name must be provided. An optional requestee can be passed if the flag type is requestable to a specific user.

name type description
name string The name of the flag type.
type_id int The internal flag type ID.
status string The flags new status (i.e. "?", "+", "-" or "X" to clear flag).
requestee string The login of the requestee if the flag type is requestable to a specific user.

In addition to the above parameters, if your installation has any custom fields, you can set them just by passing in the name of the field and its value as a string.

Response

{
  "id" : 12345
}
name type description
id int This is the ID of the newly-filed bug.

6.1.3.5. Update Bug

Allows you to update the fields of a bug. Automatically sends emails out about the changes.

Request

To update the fields of a current bug.

PUT /rest/bug/(id_or_alias)
{
  "ids" : [35],
  "status" : "IN_PROGRESS",
  "keywords" : {
    "add" : ["funny", "stupid"]
  }
}

The params to include in the PUT body as well as the returned data format, are the same as below. You can specify the ID or alias of the bug to update either in the URL path and/or in the ids param. You can use both and they will be combined so you can edit more than one bug at a time.

name type description
id_or_alias mixed An integer bug ID or alias.
ids array The IDs or aliases of the bugs that you want to modify.

All following fields specify the values you want to set on the bugs you are updating.

name type description
alias object

These specify the aliases of a bug that can be used instead of a bug number when acessing this bug. To set these, you should pass a hash as the value. The object may contain the following items:

  • add (array) Aliases to add to this field.
  • remove (array) Aliases to remove from this field. If the aliases are not already in the field, they will be ignored.
  • set (array) An exact set of aliases to set this field to, overriding the current value. If you specify set, then add and remove will be ignored.

You can only set this if you are modifying a single bug. If there is more than one bug specified in ids, passing in a value for alias will cause an error to be thrown.

For backwards compatibility, you can also specify a single string. This will be treated as if you specified the set key above.

assigned_to string The full login name of the user this bug is assigned to.
blocks object (Same as depends_on below)
depends_on object

These specify the bugs that this bug blocks or depends on, respectively. To set these, you should pass an object as the value. The object may contain the following items:

  • add (array) Bug IDs to add to this field.
  • remove (array) Bug IDs to remove from this field. If the bug IDs are not already in the field, they will be ignored.
  • set (array of) An exact set of bug IDs to set this field to, overriding the current value. If you specify set, then add and remove will be ignored.
cc object

The users on the cc list. To modify this field, pass an object, which may have the following items:

  • add (array) User names to add to the CC list. They must be full user names, and an error will be thrown if you pass in an invalid user name.
  • remove (array) User names to remove from the CC list. They must be full user names, and an error will be thrown if you pass in an invalid user name.
is_cc_accessible boolean Whether or not users in the CC list are allowed to access the bug, even if they aren't in a group that can normally access the bug.
comment object

A comment on the change. The object may contain the following items:

  • body (string) The actual text of the comment. For compatibility with the parameters to Create Comments, you can also call this field comment, if you want.
  • is_private (boolean) Whether the comment is private or not. If you try to make a comment private and you don't have the permission to, an error will be thrown.
comment_is_private object

This is how you update the privacy of comments that are already on a bug. This is a object, where the keys are the int ID of comments (not their count on a bug, like #1, #2, #3, but their globally-unique ID, as returned by Get Comments and the value is a boolean which specifies whether that comment should become private (true) or public (false).

The comment IDs must be valid for the bug being updated. Thus, it is not practical to use this while updating multiple bugs at once, as a single comment ID will never be valid on multiple bugs.

component string The Component the bug is in.
deadline date The Deadline field is a date specifying when the bug must be completed by, in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
dupe_of int The bug that this bug is a duplicate of. If you want to mark a bug as a duplicate, the safest thing to do is to set this value and not set the status or resolutio fields. They will automatically be set by Bugzilla to the appropriate values for duplicate bugs.
estimated_time double The total estimate of time required to fix the bug, in hours. This is the total estimate, not the amount of time remaining to fix it.
flags array An array of Flag change objects. The items needed are described below.
groups object

The groups a bug is in. To modify this field, pass an object, which may have the following items:

  • add (array) The names of groups to add. Passing in an invalid group name or a group that you cannot add to this bug will cause an error to be thrown.
  • remove (array) The names of groups to remove. Passing in an invalid group name or a group that you cannot remove from this bug will cause an error to be thrown.
keywords object

Keywords on the bug. To modify this field, pass an object, which may have the following items:

  • add (array) The names of keywords to add to the field on the bug. Passing something that isn't a valid keyword name will cause an error to be thrown.
  • remove (array) The names of keywords to remove from the field on the bug. Passing something that isn't a valid keyword name will cause an error to be thrown.
  • set (array) An exact set of keywords to set the field to, on the bug. Passing something that isn't a valid keyword name will cause an error to be thrown. Specifying set overrides add and remove.
op_sys string The Operating System ("OS") field on the bug.
platform string The Platform or "Hardware" field on the bug.
priority string The Priority field on the bug.
product string

The name of the product that the bug is in. If you change this, you will probably also want to change target_milestone, version, and component, since those have different legal values in every product.

If you cannot change the target_milestone field, it will be reset to the default for the product, when you move a bug to a new product.

You may also wish to add or remove groups, as which groups are valid on a bug depends on the product. Groups that are not valid in the new product will be automatically removed, and groups which are mandatory in the new product will be automaticaly added, but no other automatic group changes will be done.

Note

Users can only move a bug into a product if they would normally have permission to file new bugs in that product.

qa_contact string The full login name of the bug's QA Contact.
is_creator_accessible boolean Whether or not the bug's reporter is allowed to access the bug, even if they aren't in a group that can normally access the bug.
remaining_time double How much work time is remaining to fix the bug, in hours. If you set work_time but don't explicitly set remaining_time, then the work_time will be deducted from the bug's remaining_time.
reset_assigned_to boolean If true, the assigned_to field will be reset to the default for the component that the bug is in. (If you have set the component at the same time as using this, then the component used will be the new component, not the old one.)
reset_qa_contact boolean If true, the qa_contact field will be reset to the default for the component that the bug is in. (If you have set the component at the same time as using this, then the component used will be the new component, not the old one.)
resolution string

The current resolution. May only be set if you are closing a bug or if you are modifying an already-closed bug. Attempting to set the resolution to any value (even an empty or null string) on an open bug will cause an error to be thrown.

Note

If you change the status field to an open status, the resolution field will automatically be cleared, so you don't have to clear it manually.

see_also object

The See Also field on a bug, specifying URLs to bugs in other bug trackers. To modify this field, pass an object, which may have the following items:

  • add (array) URLs to add to the field. Each URL must be a valid URL to a bug-tracker, or an error will be thrown.
  • remove (array) URLs to remove from the field. Invalid URLs will be ignored.
severity string The Severity field of a bug.
status string The status you want to change the bug to. Note that if a bug is changing from open to closed, you should also specify a resolution.
summary string The Summary field of the bug.
target_milestone string The bug's Target Milestone.
url string The "URL" field of a bug.
version string The bug's Version field.
whiteboard string The Status Whiteboard field of a bug.
work_time double The number of hours worked on this bug as part of this change. If you set work_time but don't explicitly set remaining_time, then the work_time will be deducted from the bug's remaining_time.

You can also set the value of any custom field by passing its name as a parameter, and the value to set the field to. For multiple-selection fields, the value should be an array of strings.

Flag change object:

The following values can be specified. At least the status and one of type_id, id, or name must be specified. If a type_id or name matches a single currently set flag, the flag will be updated unless new is specified.

name type description
name string The name of the flag that will be created or updated.
type_id int The internal flag type ID that will be created or updated. You will need to specify the type_id if more than one flag type of the same name exists.
status string The flags new status (i.e. "?", "+", "-" or "X" to clear a flag).
requestee string The login of the requestee if the flag type is requestable to a specific user.
id int Use ID to specify the flag to be updated. You will need to specify the id if more than one flag is set of the same name.
new boolean Set to true if you specifically want a new flag to be created.

Response

{
  "bugs" : [
    {
      "alias" : [],
      "changes" : {
        "keywords" : {
          "added" : "funny, stupid",
          "removed" : ""
        },
          "status" : {
            "added" : "IN_PROGRESS",
            "removed" : "CONFIRMED"
        }
      },
      "id" : 35,
      "last_change_time" : "2014-09-29T14:25:35Z"
    }
  ]
}

bugs (array) This points to an array of objects with the following items:

name type description
id int The ID of the bug that was updated.
alias array The aliases of the bug that was updated, if this bug has any alias.
last_change_time datetime The exact time that this update was done at, for this bug. If no update was done (that is, no fields had their values changed and no comment was added) then this will instead be the last time the bug was updated.
changes object

The changes that were actually done on this bug. The keys are the names of the fields that were changed, and the values are an object with two keys:

  • added (string) The values that were added to this field, possibly a comma-and-space-separated list if multiple values were added.
  • removed (string) The values that were removed from this field, possibly a comma-and-space-separated list if multiple values were removed.

Currently, some fields are not tracked in changes: comment, comment_is_private, and work_time. This means that they will not show up in the return value even if they were successfully updated. This may change in a future version of Bugzilla.


This documentation undoubtedly has bugs; if you find some, please file them here.