The proper way of using fixversion label

Question

Hello,

I've been using Jira for a few years now and I'm seeking guidance on whether I'm utilizing it correctly. In our workplace, Jira is integral to our processes, particularly for software development. Developers utilize Jira to address and resolve recorded bugs. Once they've addressed these bugs and merged their changes to the master branch, they mark the corresponding Jira ticket as closed.

Typically, these bug fixes are bundled into releases, denoted by a filled "fixversion" field, such as "release123." However, there are instances where we don't need to make a release, and thus, we only merge to the master branch without associating it with a specific release.

There are stakeholders beyond the development team who need to track whether a particular Jira ticket has been merged into the master branch. To streamline this process, I'm proposing a new practice for developers: before closing a bug ticket, they should add a "fixversion" label indicating "master" if we aren't planning a release.

I'm wondering if this approach aligns with the appropriate usage of the fixversion field in Jira.

Ingo Mohr · Answer

Hi @Daisuke

the fix version is useful when you want to list _all_ issues that have been/should be resolved with a given release - e.g. for documentation- and planning purposes.

Documentation purposes

So, in our teams, every issue that makes a change to the repo the release is built from has to have a fix version by the time the issue is being closed - no matter if a release has to be created right away or in a month's time. This helps stakeholders to see what changed with the release - and also we can easily setup all the release documentation we need based on a JQL filter that includes the fix version.

Planning purposes

Also, the fix version helps to plan a release - or to know when you can ship it. The roadmap gadget on a dashboard displays a progress bar based on the resolved-status of all issues that have the respective fix version. So, as a project manager / release manager I can easily check whether all issues have been resolved so I can start the release.

Also, I could use that JQL for automation of that check in the release pipeline.

Of course, in this case the fix version should be set as early as possible in the issue process.

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Daisuke

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Will you update the Fix Versions on those issues at a later date, when you do pull a new release from the master branch? If you don't do that, how would you ever know which was the first release to actually contain the fix for that bug?