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TestLink CI edited this page Sep 9, 2026 · 3 revisions

Bug Severity (Test Strategy)

Bug Severity is a part of the Test Strategy in TestLink 2.0.1: the severity/priority levels of a test effort are not hard-coded UI labels — they are defined in the Test Strategy of each test project and drive how defects found during test execution are classified and prioritised.

TestLink splits the classic "bug severity" concept into three coordinated levels that together form the project's severity model:

Level Where it lives Values
Priority (importance) test case version (tcversion.importance) High (3) / Medium (2) / Low (1)
Urgency test-plan ↔ test-case link (testplan_tcversions.urgency) High (3) / Medium (2) / Low (1)
Execution priority computed = importance × urgency High / Medium / Low (thresholds from urgencyImportance config)

The toggle that turns this model on per test project is the Enable Priority project option (testPriorityEnabled) — the first place the severity level scheme is "defined" in the strategy. When enabled, TestLink shows Importance / Urgency / Priority columns in the Test Case Specification and the execution-oriented screens; when disabled, the whole severity layer is hidden.

Enable Priority project option

1. Where the severity levels are defined

1.1 Project level — Enable Priority

The Test Strategy of a project is configured on Test Project Management > Create/Edit Test Project (gui/templates/projects/projectEdit.html, BFF api/projects/index.php). The Features section holds the Enable Priority checkbox:

  • ON → the project's test cases carry an Importance and can be assigned Urgency inside a test plan; priority-aware reports and columns activate.
  • OFF (default) → severity/priority is not tracked on this project.

Server-side write path: api/projects/index.php:209-210 ($options->testPriorityEnabled = isset($input['optPriority'])).

1.2 Test case version — Importance

Each test case version stores an Importance (tcversion.importance): 3 = High, 2 = Medium, 1 = Low. This is the per-test-case severity the author assigns while writing the test (how severe is the defect this case is meant to catch).

Modern screens exposing it:

  • Test Case Viewer (gui/templates/testcases/tcView.html) renders the value as a badge (tcview.importanceHigh/Medium/Low, mapping in tcView.html:248-250): "HIGH PRIORITY" / "MEDIUM PRIORITY" / "LOW PRIORITY".

Importance badge on the Test Case Viewer

  • Test Specification (tspec.importance*), Search (search.importance), My Test Case Assignments (tcPerUser.colImportance), TC Assignment Overview (tca.colPriority), Set Test Urgency (turg.colImportance).

Set programmatically via testcase::setImportance() (lib/functions/testcase.class.php:7709).

1.3 Test plan link — Urgency

When a test case version is added to a test plan, the strategy may assign an Urgency to the link (testplan_tcversions.urgency), again High / Medium / Low. Urgency answers "how urgently must this test be executed" and is managed from:

  • Set Test Urgency (gui/templates/plans/testUrgency.html, BFF routes GET/POST /urgency, /urgency/suite, /urgency/tcases in api/plans/index.php), legacy lib/plan/planUrgency.php.

Write paths: testPlanUrgency::setTestUrgency() / setSuiteUrgency() (lib/functions/testPlanUrgency.class.php:33,65).

1.4 Computed execution priority

The final severity-driven priority is the product of the two strategy levels:

priority = importance × urgency

Level thresholds come from the global Test Strategy configuration (config.inc.php:2041-2048):

$tlCfg->urgencyImportance = new stdClass();
$tlCfg->urgencyImportance->threshold['low']  = 3;
$tlCfg->urgencyImportance->threshold['high'] = 6;

priority_to_level() (lib/functions/common.php:766-781):

  • priority >= 6 → HIGH
  • priority < 3 → LOW
  • otherwise → MEDIUM

Example (credit-card banking flows): a High-importance × High-urgency case scores 9 and gets HIGH priority; a Low-importance × Low-urgency case scores 1 and gets LOW. Reports that slice results by priority (e.g. "Results by priority", rgm.priority in the REST BFF api/reports/index.php priority rows) rely on exactly these levels.

Priority computation in the Set Test Urgency screen

2. Priority grid

Importance \ Urgency High (3) Medium (2) Low (1)
High (3) High (9) High (6) Medium (3)
Medium (2) High (6) Medium (4) Low (2)
Low (1) Medium (3) Low (2) Low (1)

3. Bug severity in the defect-report flow

The severity level of an actual bug is defined once the test fails and a defect is filed. In TestLink 2.0.1 the execution screen (gui/templates/execute/execTest.html) links or creates bug/issue IDs against the configured Issue Tracker (exe.bugId, exe.createBugDone): the tracker (GitHub, JIRA, Redmine, Bugzilla, Mantis ...) owns the bug severity field (Critical / High / Medium / Low etc.). TestLink keeps the priority model (Importance × Urgency) so the test strategy severity aligns with what the team then files in the tracker.

4. Rights model

  • Changing test project "Enable Priority" requires the project management rights enforced by api/projects/index.php on the create/edit routes.
  • Setting Urgency on a plan requires testplan_planning (testPlanUrgency.php legacy parity), enforced server-side on every /urgency* route.
  • The urgency menu entry keeps the testplan_set_urgent_testcases grant gate.

5. Legacy parity

Legacy 1.9.20 Modern 2.0.1
tcversion.importance 3/2/1 unchanged schema; displayed via tcview.* / tspec.* labels
testplan_tcversions.urgency 3/2/1 unchanged schema; managed by the modern Set Test Urgency screen
priority_to_level() thresholds (urgencyImportance) the modern BFF prioLevel() (api/tcassignments/index.php:103, api/execassignment/index.php:110) uses simplified hardcoded thresholds (<=2 low, <=4 medium, >4 high) — functionally similar to the config thresholds (low=3 high=6) but diverging at priority value 5
testPriorityEnabled project option still stored on the project; exposed/edited in projectEdit.html

6. Test cases

Suite in tmp/TLU_Test_Cases.md — Task — Issue #1291: Document Bug Severity (see the repository test-case document for steps and results).

7. Modern Severity Configuration screen (severityConfig, Refs #1294)

The per-project Severity Configuration screen (gui/templates/projects/ severityConfig.html + api/severityconfig/index.php, ASIDE → Product → Severity Configuration) is a Dashio modern screen where the Test Strategy severity scale is defined:

  • Project selector lists all projects; the current tproject_id URL param preselects a project.
  • Severity in the Test Strategy card shows whether the project's Enable Priority (testPriorityEnabled) option is ENABLED/DISABLED.
  • Severity levels card: one row per level (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/CRITICAL) with a custom label (max 40 chars) and description (max 300 chars). Editing marks the scale dirty and enables the Save buttons; the default badge is shown next to a customized level.
  • Severity / priority preview grid renders the computed mapping importance × urgency → severity level live (as you type): products <3 → LOW, >=6 → HIGH/CRITICAL, otherwise MEDIUM; 3×3=9 → CRITICAL.
  • Save persists the scale into the project options blob under the severityLevels property via testproject::update() and logs an AUDIT event (severityConfig_saved, objectType testprojects).
  • Reset to defaults drops the severityLevels property so the default scale is served again.
  • The toolbar Bug Severity guide link opens documentation/bugSeverity.html.

API contract (api/severityconfig/index.php):

  • GET ?action=projects — accessible project list (id/name/prefix) for the selector; authenticated session only.
  • GET ?tproject_id=N — returns project, priorityEnabled, levels (default scale when none stored, merged scaffold otherwise), canEdit (mgt_modify_product); 401 anon, 404 unknown project.
  • POST/PUT ?tproject_id=N body {levels:[{level,code,label,description}]} — 403 without mgt_modify_product; 400 no/invalid levels, 404 unknown project; empty levels array = reset-to-defaults; writes the AUDIT event.

Rights: writes gated on mgt_modify_product (403 with a no-rights user); reads require only a valid session (401 anon). This mirrors the project-edit surface.

i18n: sevcfg.* (36 keys) + footers.severityConfig in all 10 locale bundles.

Regression suite: Suite 1294 in tmp/TLU_Test_Cases.md — 11/11 PASS (load, ENABLED badge, preview grid, custom-label save + DB persistence, reset-to-defaults, 401/403 gates, i18n completeness, Event Viewer clean).

Severity Configuration screen

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