This page assumes that you have either downloaded or built the installer, DisTractInstaller. If you haven't got that, either see the Downloads page to download a binary or see the Compilation page to compile the source.
The DisTractInstaller program creates new DisTract bug databases. It requires that you have Monotone installed and configured. In particular, the key you choose to use must not require you to type in a password. Currently, monotone version 0.34 is supported. DisTract will probably not work with older versions.
There are 3 optional arguments and one required argument. The required argument is the path underwhich the bug database exists. This must be a path to a directory which does not yet exist. The optional arguments are:
-d /path/to/monotone.db or —db=/path/to/monotone.db. This allows you to get DisTract to use a monotone database outside of the bug database. By default, DisTract will create a new monotone database within the bug database. If the database specified does not exist, it'll be created for you.-k myKey or —key=myKey. This allows you to choose which private key will be used to sign all the changes you make to bugs. By default, DisTract will take the first private key that comes out of mtn ls keys, but if you have more than one, you can set it here. The key used must not require you to type in a password. You should specify the key by using its email address.-b myBranch or —branch=myBranch. This allows you to specify the base branch for DisTract. DisTract creates many branches, one per bug, and then some! The value set here will be used as the prefix of all the branches that DisTract creates. By default, DisTract will use a branch base of DisTract.
Hopefully you can now run DisTractInstaller, with the optional arguments first and then the required path. Then have a hunt around in the path you specified and you should find various files.
Now, assuming that the path you suppled was /path/to/my/bugs, in Firefox, navigate to file:/path/to/my/bugs/html/. You should get the directory listing. You should see a file called newBug.html''. Try it. Create a bug. Enjoy!
You may like to read Merging and Fields. Also, have a look at the Config page to see how to configure DisTract.