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List:       listar-dev
Subject:    [EDev] The need for a test suite
From:       Erik de Castro Lopo <erikd-100 () mega-nerd ! com>
Date:       2004-04-25 23:36:08
Message-ID: 20040426093608.2a9ac2e9.erikd-100 () mega-nerd ! com
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Hi all,

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it is my understanding that the way 
changes to Ecartis are currently tested by one of the maintainers
running the new version on their sites for a couple of days and it 
nothing goes wrong, the patches are applied.

With this testing regime, I'm sure the maintainers are nervous about 
applying any large patch for fear of breaking something and not finding 
out until after the patch has been applied and many people are now 
running the now broken version.

I would therefore suggest that since Ecartis is relatively stable and
bug free, that rigourous, repeatable and reliable testing is actually
the the most urgent need for this project. 

Obviously, testing something like Ecartis which relies on mail servers
and multiple users etc is not going to be all that easy. From my own
Linux centric point of view, the obvious solution is User Mode Linux
(http://usermodelinux.org/) which allows one or more linux virtual
machines to be run on one physical machine. (I've heard that the Exim
mail server developers use UML for testing their mail server).

Once you have access to a number of virtual machines that can be 
networked together it suddenly becomes much easier to do some really
thorough and repeatable testing.

So, my questions for the group:

  - Is limiting the test suite to run on Linux too limiting?
  - Is limiting the test suite to run on Debian GNU/Linux too
    limiting?
  - If I set up a test framework and some initial tests would other
    people be willing to contribute tests?

Cheers,
Erik

PS : Like most people, my free time is very limited. I offer no
     promises, but I would certainly like to give it a try.
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  Erik de Castro Lopo  nospam@mega-nerd.com (Yes it's valid)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
"The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to
explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first
cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing
is left to chance...logic can be happily tossed out the window."
- Stephen King

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