I am quite familiar with and love using git, among other reasons due to its distributed nature. Now I’d like to set up some similarly distributed (FOSS) Project Management software with features similar to what Redmine offers, such as
- Issue & time tracking, milestones
- Gantt charts, calendar
- git integration, maybe some automatic linking of commits and issues
- Wiki (preferably with Mathjax support)
- Forum, news, notifications
- Multiple Projects
However, I am looking for a solution that does not require a permanently accesible server, i.e. like in git, each user should have their own copy which can be easily synchronized with others. However it should be possible to not have a copy of every Project on every machine. Since trac uses multiple instances for multiple projects anyway, I was considering using that, but I neither know how well it adapts to simply giting the database itself (which would be be easiest way to handle the distribution due to git being used anyway), nor does it include all of Redmine’s feature.
After checking http://www.wikimatrix.org for Wikis with integrated tracking system and RCS support, and filtering out seemingly stale project, the choices basically boil down to Foswiki, TWiki and Ikiwiki. The latter doesn’t seem to offer as many usability features, and in the TWiki vs Foswiki issue I tend to the latter. Finally, there is Fossil, which starts from the other end by attempting to replace git entirely and tracking itself. I am however not too comfortable with the thought of replacing git, and Fossil’s non-SCM features don’t seem to be as developed.
Are there crucial features of Project Management software like Redmine that Foswiki does not provide even with all the extensions available?
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I’d argue no, distributed project management apps just don’t make sense — the fundamental point of project management apps is to generate hivemind by having everything for everyone in so that pretty much means you are looking at something centralized by definition.
Now, some sort of project management tool with an offline mode so your people can access and perhaps even update things when off the grid might be worthwhile. Then again, the slice of the world where one cannot get internet access is getting pretty small for most intents and purposes.
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