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Atlassian finally gives users Bitbucket code search

Aussie giant gears up for next round of feature-request-whack-a-mole

Atlassian has finally delivered code search for its Bitbucket code management product, putting an end to a multi-year, increasingly grumpy wait for its users.

The feature will appear in Bitbucket Server, the enterprise version of the product, but should appear in the vendor's cloud product before too long.

Jens Schumacher, head of Bitbucket Product Management, said users had been requesting the search feature for some time: “It took a little longer to deliver...we wanted to make sure it scales, not just throw it out,” he said.

“It’s something we’ve spent more time on than other people,” he added.

Users will be able to filter searches by project and repository, as well as language or file extension. They can also use operators like AND, OR and NOT. A blog by Atlassian product manager Steve King’s blog helpfully points out, “This is useful for further filtering results when you get too many.”

Which is exactly the sort of thing you’d expect a search function to do, let’s be honest. The function is available via the Bitbucket Server early access program.

Schumacher said search had been the top of the request charts from users for a couple of years. Certainly some appear to have been getting grumpy over the wait for the feature.

At the same time, other parties have taken the matter into their own hands, launching their own search tools for Bitbucket users.

Schumacher said these home-brewed third party options didn’t always translate from one user to another. “What works with one company doesn’t necessarily work with another.”

Of course, once you deliver one long awaited, most requested feature, another one pops up in its place. Schumacher said a commit graph had been the previous number two, so presumably this will now become the main point of frustration for demanding users. ®

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