Fedora testing repository - status of packages

[Nifty Fedora Mitch]

Excuse the top post... I do like to reply in kind.

Adrian,

Many packages do have test suites.  The largest I know
of is under the GCC compiler suite.  When they exist the 
patched code is commonly tested against the suite.  Many 
applications and do not.

If you reported the bug and it was fixed you did have
enough info in your bug report to reproduce it perhaps simple
data like: it happens once, all the time or randomly, used to work
and so on.

Many bug reports do have "test cases"... often, the bugs that are 
addresed quickly have precise tests cases to reproduce the problem.   

If there is no test suite write one. ;-) or part of one.

To write a suite start with a list of functions in the library
and craft one or more programs for each function call.   
Walk through the input data choices and match the output
to the expected result.

In practice this can be very hard.   Knuth once commented on his development of the
TeX program that the test cases took ten times longer than the primary code
base and his expectations.  

Full, random combinational testing can take more time than
there is in the lifetime of a star for some programs.

Bottom line -- test what is important to you in any way that you can
and let others do the same.     Your comment on 'yum' is spot on.


On Tue, Jul 08, 2008 at 12:21:40PM +0430, Adrin Jalali wrote:
> Sender: fedora-test-list-bounces at redhat.com
> 
>    Thanks.
>    Another question in my mind is that, how can I test packages? I mean, I
>    know how to test packages such as yum, I can just try use it and update
>    it, and just see whether it works for me or not (having in mind that I
>    would be unable to check the exact bug which is fixed in the release).
>    But for some packages, specially lib* ones, how can they be checked? Is
>    there a place to see the test instructions?
>    Best,
>    Adrin.
> 
>    On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 10:43 AM, Rahul Sundaram
>    <[1]sundaram at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> 
>      Adrin Jalali wrote:
> 
>      Hi there,
>      I remember there was a page in which packages in updates-testing
>      repo. were listed and testers could place comments on them and
>      people who tested them successfully could confirm those updates, but
>      I lost the link and can't find the link from the
>      [2]fedoraproject.org <[3]http://fedoraproject.org> website. Would
>      you mind sending me the link?
>      Best,
>      Adrin Jalali.
> 
>      [4]https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/F9/testing
>      Rahul
>      --
>      fedora-test-list mailing list
>      [5]fedora-test-list at redhat.com
>      To unsubscribe:
>      [6]https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list
> 
> References
> 
>    1. mailto:sundaram at fedoraproject.org
>    2. http://fedoraproject.org/
>    3. http://fedoraproject.org/
>    4. https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/F9/testing
>    5. mailto:fedora-test-list at redhat.com
>    6. https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list

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-- 
	T o m  M i t c h e l l 
	Looking for a place to hang my hat :-(